# Anyone NOT do water changes on there shrimp tank?



## TRENT (Nov 25, 2009)

I have a heavily planted 8 gallon tank that's about 3 months old and am wondering if it's bad to not ever do a water change? I just add RO water for top offs and that's it. I have tested parameters and everything looks good. I have RCS and OEBTS. 3 or 4 of the RCS are Berried right now. 

So the question is anyone else never do water changes with good results?


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## Rodan76 (Jul 11, 2014)

i've had a tank with RCS that i have never done a water change for almost a year. just top offs and those little guys are thriving. But i think since they are hardier i have never worried about it.


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## Raith (Jun 27, 2014)

Changing water hurt more than not changing water for my RCS' in my case.


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## Betta132 (Nov 29, 2012)

There is one thing to consider: ONLY water evaporates. If there is any kind of impurity in the water, the impurity is building up.


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## MantisX (Aug 25, 2004)

I was killing them left and right with every water change. Treated and everything. Gave no damns and I just top it off now. Now I have pregnant shrimp and 0 deaths. Not telling you to do it, but it works for me.


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## beedee (Jul 1, 2010)

I only top off my 5g SFR tank.


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## shrimpzoo (Sep 27, 2011)

I do no water changes on my 30gal crystal bee tank. Nothing bad has happened yet  I only do top-offs.


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## Jesseter (Jul 28, 2013)

If you don't want to do water changes every week, then at least test the parameters to make sure they are stable. Good luck!


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## JustJen (Jun 20, 2011)

I do top offs only on one of my shrimp tanks just because it's a pain to vacuum and it's open top so evaporates quickly. The important piece is top of with RO or otherwise purified water. Otherwise, the minerals and whatnot in the water continue to build up. In my rock hard water, that'd be a very very bad thing!


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## Master503 (Feb 8, 2012)

Personally, I only do WC once per two weeks, at 5% - 10% each time. Otherwise, I just do top offs for all of my shrimp tanks.


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## TankFreak420 (May 31, 2014)

Not to jump off subject, but why are you guys using RO water for RCS? They do great in my liquid rock that I only treat with Prime.


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## Neatfish (Jun 22, 2012)

I only do top offs on my 10g only changed the water once a year around 10%.


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## JustJen (Jun 20, 2011)

I don't use RO for my shrimp. My tap runs 8.2, kh of 19, and they do fine in it. I DO use RO (actually, usually buy distilled or something along those lines) to top off after water has evaporated. The actual water is all that evaporates, all of the minerals and whatnot don't. If you're only doing top offs and not actual water changes, the minerals and such would continue to accumulate to extremely high levels - amplified by the liquid rock my water is to start with. By using RO for top offs, I am able to keep the parameters consistent despite not changing out any of the water.


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## TankFreak420 (May 31, 2014)

JustJen said:


> I DO use RO (actually, usually buy distilled or something along those lines) to top off after water has evaporated.


That makes much more sense then what I thought you guys where doing.


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## TRENT (Nov 25, 2009)

Thanks for all the replys. I have a 300 gallon that I do weekly water changes of 150 gallons so it's not a lazy thing. I just figured since its a planted maybe it has a Eco system that is working to keep everything balanced? I will perform a water change a few times a year and see how it goes from there. Thanks again.


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## tobinkinz (Dec 25, 2012)

I have a 20L that is crawling with CRS. Been up and running for about 14-15 months now. Think I've only done 1 or 2 water changes. It's almost overgrown with moss, so I think it's just balanced enough. We watched and measured and worried for like the first 3-4 months, but TDS/nitrates never changed. So all we do is top off with our well water which is practically RO (TDS of like 5). Shrimps are happy, breeding like mad. YMMV


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## CPD (Feb 7, 2012)

I'm the exact same way. My 20L gets RO/DI water top offs and very occasionally a 10% change. Keeps all the shrimp happy especially if I've got my SSS+ berried


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## wicca27 (May 3, 2009)

the way i do it is check your parameters and let them tell you if you need to do a change or not. if all your doing is adding ro your going to lower your parameters and that can be bad for shrimp just like if tds gets to high.


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## westerlies (Mar 16, 2014)

I do very infrequent water changes, but my cats love drinking from the tank bc of the flow, so I figure that counts in a way lol. It's like a 1-2% water change every day or something.


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## Biotope (Aug 30, 2014)

Hey! I've never done a water change for 2 years, only water top up! In it are pygmy cories, RCS and otos. I'm harvesting them every week!


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## Clear Water (Sep 20, 2014)

Before your w/c do you age your water? My water from the tap is about 8.2 and after it sit for 24 hours it 7.8. I would recommend ageing your water over 24 hours and maybe longer. 

How big of w/c 20%? Could you make them a lot smaller? Say 1/2 gallon or less every other week.


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## Ameisen (Sep 8, 2013)

Any time I did legitimate water changes on my 4g tank with PFR, there would be a dieoff, even though the water was distilled + adjustments to match GH, KH, and pH. I suspect there are other chemicals in there I am not accounting for. When I to topoffs (adding in select nutrients for plants), fewer die (there is still a change in chemistry since the levels of chemicals stay the same but the volume increases).

In the future, I plan to avoid water changes when most large females are berried.


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## rollinghills (Sep 19, 2011)

Sometimes I wonder if all this treating water thing is a bunch of baloney that's not based on science. I have a small shrimp tank going on couple of years that I barely ever change water and I don't have any death yet. I think having enough plants in your tank keeps the water clean enough. I don't even treat the top off water. Just straight from tap to tank.


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## CatFishStryk (Sep 3, 2013)

I'm a terrible shrimp mom. I never do WCs, top off with dechlorinated tap water that has not been sitting more than 1 hr, never test my parameters, and don't own a TDS meter. But that's also why I only keep RCS and nothing more advanced.  They are thriving in my 8 gal planted tank.


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## dzega (Apr 22, 2013)

top offs should be done using RO/DI water only because that is what evaporates from tank.
using tap for topoffs builds up PH and hardness over time


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## Ameisen (Sep 8, 2013)

dzega said:


> top offs should be done using RO/DI water only because that is what evaporates from tank.
> using tap for topoffs builds up PH and hardness over time


Problem is that every time you to a top-off with RO/DI water, if it's a significant amount, the water chemistry suddenly changes since you have suddenly increased the volume of water the same amount of chemicals are in.


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