Ferts for not changing water

[JeremyWoods]

I am wondering if there is a fertilizer that can replenish all nutrients for fish, plants and shrimp that I could use so that I can just top off water as long as the nitrate cycle is good? Not trying to be lazy I just want to try and get a tank to be balanced with little water changes as possible. I currently have enough plants that I barely have to change water because of ammonia or nitrate but I keep changing because of a worry of nutrient deficiency. I didn't know if the aqurium co-op ferts could do this? Thanks in advance. 

[ADMWNDSR83]

Hopefully someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but the water changes shouldn't make a difference in decreasing water changes.  The plants will feed off the ammonia, nitrates and nitrites, but fresh water doesn't add to those.  EasyGreen says it should be used weekly for water column nutrients, but there, to my knowledge, would not be a nutrient deficiency caused by not changing water.

[AdamTill]

It’s usually a case of too many nutrients with no water changes as opposed to too few, actually.

A lot of fertilizer systems are designed for large water changes to avoid nutrient buildup. Likewise, a lot of tanks are stocked too heavily to avoid needing them. Both are because of excessive nutrient buildup over time.

Some systems have options to minimize changes being needed (Walstad, PPS etc). They make it more critical to have a balanced tank, but it’s possible.

I still personally like large water changes to avoid building up alleopathic chems and fish hormones etc, but I can see where some people might prefer a less labour intensive approach.

Dirted tanks with very mild water column ferts and moderate to light stocking would be a good option.

Edited December 20, 2020 by AdamTill

[ChefConfit]

Also only doing top offs would lead to harder water overtime. Because only water evaporates not any of the stuff dissolved in it. May not be a problem for a long time if you have very soft water, but can be one quickly if you have very hard water or are keeping fish that need very specific water parameters. 

[AdamTill]

Could do top offs with RO though, the salt folks do that to keep salinity

[JeremyWoods]

Thanks for the input