# Fewer water changes in low tech planted aquariums?



## wellbrewed (Nov 26, 2006)

Aquarium Plants | My views, Steve Hampton, on how to succeed with aquarium plants

To quote:

"Here’s the part that makes most people cringe. Leave it alone. No water changes, no fertilizer. Only add tap water weekly or as needed to top off the tank due to evaporation. If your plants show signs of nutrient deficiencies such as yellow leaves or holes in the leaves you can add a Comprehensive fertilizer such as Flourish or Tropica Master Grow once a week until improvement is noticed then only add it once a month thereafter. Limit water changes to times immediately after you’ve uprooted plants or done a major pruning. Personally I change water in my low tech tanks about once every 3-4 month at pruning/replanting time."

Is this true?


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## Solstice (Jan 9, 2006)

Makes sense to me. Less polutants in the water in the form of fertilizers would require less water changes. Beneficial bacteria and plants filter out fish waste. You probably wouldn't see very fast plant growth, but I could definitely see it working....


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## IceH2O (Sep 29, 2006)

If I had a plant only tank I'd follow that advice. You're not hurting anything.

But with fish in the tank I don't think its a good idea. Nitrates would never get to a high level because the plants use them but nothing uses DOCs, dissolved organic compounds.

The more DOCs the thicker the water becomes, the thicker the water the harder it is for the fish to breathe.

Run 2 tanks exactly the same but don't do water changes in one. The DOCs and TDS will be out the roof.


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## AmoAquafish (Jun 5, 2004)

Something very similar has worked for me. Quite awhile ago I read an interesting book called Americans Boys Handybook, by the guy who started the Boy Scouts. It was written about 100 years ago. Very interesting. Anyway, it had a section on aquariums and it pretty much suggested a set up almost exactly the same. So I started one. It is actually a Rubbermaid instead an aqaurium, because I couldn't find an aquarium with enough surface area in comparison to the number of gallons. I set it up like a natural stream. On one end is a beach and it gets deeper at the other end. There is less than 10g of water in there. I have tried to make it a completely natural. The substrate it sand and some soil on the part that is never under water. It has tons of plants and moss, in and out of water, mostly native ones I have gathered. There is no light, just a southern window. No filter or water changes either, but is is always sparkling clear. This 'tank', of all my tanks, has been the healthiest. The inhabitants are native fish and minnows, tadpoles, snails and other water creatures. I don't fertilize. Anyway, it is really one of my favorite tanks. AND, it has cost me so little. The rubbermaid was about $8, the sand almost nothing, and the plants free. The fish are mostly intersting specimans that came in with bait minnows at the local bait shop. If you know what to look for, you can find all sorts of interesting things in the bait minnow tanks. And the best part is they cost like 2 cents a fish! The only thing I would do different is just get a real glass tank right away. Anyway, I had never heard of anyone doing something exactly the same so I thought I'd write what I have done and has worked for me. Thanks for reading


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## Solstice (Jan 9, 2006)

Where's the pic, Amo!?!?!?!?


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## plantbrain (Dec 15, 2003)

wellbrewed said:


> Aquarium Plants | My views, Steve Hampton, on how to succeed with aquarium plants
> 
> To quote:
> 
> ...



Yes, 
There's a bit more than the piece mealing here, but the staement within the context is most certainly true and repeatable consistently.

Regards, 
Tom Barr


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## plantbrain (Dec 15, 2003)

IceH2O said:


> If I had a plant only tank I'd follow that advice. You're not hurting anything.
> 
> But with fish in the tank I don't think its a good idea. Nitrates would never get to a high level because the plants use them but nothing uses DOCs, dissolved organic compounds.
> 
> ...


Friend in LA bred discus without doing a WC in 2 years. Fish health is excellent in such tanks. 

DOC's do not build in concentration infinitely, they actually level off and bacteria oxidize them. The same is true in tanninc waters in natural system also.

And fish live there as well........

So yes, there are plenty of things that decompose DOC's, they are just really small

Regards, 
Tom Barr


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## sayn3ver (Sep 1, 2006)

i have confidence in your advice tom, as i am setting up a 75 no co2 tank, and planning on just keeping an appropriate size school of glow-light tetras and was hoping to minimze my waterchanges to a minimum.


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## Ryzilla (Oct 29, 2005)

I have a 38g. I do water a 30% water change once evry 3 months, and top of the water when ever it needs. My apistos breed like crazy, and my angels in the same tank were breading like crazy until the male decided he hated his wife. Oh yeah, i dose NOTHING. not a single thing.


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## KevinC (May 24, 2004)

IceH2O said:


> If I had a plant only tank I'd follow that advice. You're not hurting anything.
> 
> But with fish in the tank I don't think its a good idea. Nitrates would never get to a high level because the plants use them but nothing uses DOCs, dissolved organic compounds.
> 
> ...


More accurately, high DOC's being broken down by bacteria is an aerobic process - it uses up some of the oxygen in the water. So in a tank with little current and little surface disturbance, you could get oxygen depletion. With enough current and surface movement (even an airstone) it wouldn't be a problem.

The TDS issue is significant at water change time - I would suggest avoiding one large water change as the rapid TDS change would stress the fish. The alternative is topping off with RO water to keep the TDS from rising as quickly.


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## plantbrain (Dec 15, 2003)

While aerobic bacteria do oxidize the DOC's, not that much is produced relative to O2 supplies.
Also, plants produce large amounts of O2 as a by product of splitting water for energy.

This is one reason why planted tanks tend to do well with respect to bacteria(they) have plenty of nutrients and O2 to decompose and cycle a tank's waste load along with the plants which remove the mineral nutrients and NH4 directly.

If you suddenly pull up lots of sediments from deep in the soil where it is anaerobic or close to it, this will rapidly reduce the O2 levels and pull up some NH4 and organic N that bacteria will go after rapidly.

This is why you should do a water change after such maintenance soon after!!

But many folks do not add anything other than their fish food/fish population to non CO2 plant tanks.

I suggest adding a little once every week or two to top off any potential limiting nutrients in tiny amounts.

Limiting nutrients are much much less of a time related issue in a non CO2 plant tank, things grow 10-15X slower.....so you have a lot more wiggle room in a fertilizer routine.

Still, better plant health can be achieved without having to use test kits or dosign routines, adding 1-3 things once a week for the plants in small amounts will relieve the limitation, but not overdose.

This will allow you to grow many more species of plants that many non CO2 folks claim just will not grow without CO2.

I think you might have issues with Tonia, but not with Hair grass, gloss etc after some time and balance has been achieved using the ferts.

Some folks do not use soil and want to avoid it, so dosing can help also.
A combo of both is ideal for CO2 and non CO2 methods though.

Dose the water column and the substrate.

Rather than these boho's who claim this "either or" business is superior.
Nothing would suggest that to be the case, rather, and combination would yeild the best growth in practical terms.

Does not matter if it's with adding CO2 or not.


Regards, 
Tom Barr


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## wellbrewed (Nov 26, 2006)

Thanks guys. I didn't think low tech planted aquariums could get any easier... but it all somehow makes sense. I'll give this crazy no-water-change thing a try. Wish me luck.


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## haydns (Mar 2, 2006)

*Certainly an eye opener*



plantbrain said:


> While aerobic bacteria do oxidize the DOC's, not that much is produced relative to O2 supplies.
> Also, plants produce large amounts of O2 as a by product of splitting water for energy.
> 
> This is one reason why planted tanks tend to do well with respect to bacteria(they) have plenty of nutrients and O2 to decompose and cycle a tank's waste load along with the plants which remove the mineral nutrients and NH4 directly.
> ...


I am really fascinated by this thread. 
Having spent a lot of time browsing the Simply Discus Forum where once a week water changes are frowned on and regarded as an invitation to disaster I am particularly intrigued by the reference to a successful discus keeper/breeder who does annual water changes.
What sort of stocking levels, both fish and plants does he have?
I will be giving fewer water changes a try, say once every two weeks in my case as I am stocked on the heavy side. Interestingly I have found that my plants and fish appear their best just before my present weekly water changes and appear less active and vibrant just after a WC (30%).


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## sayn3ver (Sep 1, 2006)

that depends on who you talk to, i know the puffer keepers insist on weekly changes because due to the messiness of pufferfish(they hunt snails, live food,etc) and that their fish look better after the change.

I feel that no waterchanges is best for a low fish load and less demanding fish, but i may be willing to experiment to prove myself wrong.


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## Naja002 (Oct 12, 2005)

> Having spent a lot of time browsing the Simply Discus Forum where once a week water changes are frowned on and regarded as an invitation to disaster


Here's a quote from a SD Member:



> I would pull theplants, they will cause the water quality to drop. I think protozin is safe to use on cardinals, so I would treat the main tank with that too, after removing the plants.
> 
> Reason the plants were doing so well was the accumulated nitrates and phosphates from the food/waste. Good for plants bad for discus.


Post #29

That was part of the advice given to a guy who was doing 25% WC 1x/wk and only feeding 2x/day. 

Yeah, Pull the Plants or they'll cause "Water Quality" to drop........:thumbsdow


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## Ankit (Dec 15, 2006)

Here are my thoughts, which are probably a bit lacking in thought since I'm newer to this, but I thought I'd give my 2 cents anyway:

Plants only - no issue at all, monitor the levels and this may do well 

Fish and plants - there is a difference between surviving and thriving. We want our fish to enjoy themselves and *thrive* in their environment, it's the least we can do when we've already limited them by keeping them in captivity!

As for that guy above who was told to pull the plants, blasphemy! Fish prefer real plants over fake ones anyday! Watch them for all of a full minute in both situations and it will be easy to see.


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## Alain Pascal (Dec 15, 2005)

*No tech aquarium*

Go visit this site, very interesting.

Natural Aquariums

This lady, Rhonda Wilson, seem very knowledgeable.

Still, no idea of the Bio load vs the size of tank vs the amount of plants necessary to achieve a balance. I wonder if a formula could be derived accounting for the type of fish how messy and tolerant of water qualiy they are etc...

I guess you cold put all that in a tank and let it stabilize/balance itself.

...Cause it is all about balance isn't it?
Enough plant to create the o2 for the fish, enough fish to produce the right amount of nutrient for the plants and enough critter to chew "left over" food/leave/algea to permit rapid decomposition and avoid N2 released in the water.
If you achive this balance a water change is the worst thing one can do.
On the other hands do you have the balls to risk a few hundred $ worth of fish on perfect balance gamble? I do not know myself...
:icon_roll

Cheers,

a.


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## kzr750r1 (Jun 8, 2004)

*It works*

I've had a 10 gallon on the kitchen counter for four + years. It's currently loaded with a single barking cat and and snails. I didn't have the heart to give up the fish when we moved and still haven't, haven't tried that hard to be truthful. I have kept other fish in there with him but at times things just disappear. 

From the beginning it has been planted. I'm using only the standard canopy so really low light. At first I was using Sechem products to maintain. It worked out great till I ran out and didn't pay much attention to it.

Things turn around though and it's a little gem again in a rough sort of way.

Currently following a monthly half WC ritual with 100% RO, dosing NO3 PO4 dry and Micros once a week. Add a grain or two of Mg and Ca every once every other week. It's turned into a nice collection from a clipping pile of plants. All are growing slow but healthy. All of my java fern offspring end up here. Crypts bronze and luta, Brazilian penny wort, Dwarf sag and recently green hygro was added, doing fine it seems. Java moss and algae stuck to the rock cave but it almost looks natural.

In all it's easy to care for lately.

The substrate is 5mm pea gravel over 3mm gravel that has mixed over the years. It's loaded with mulm as I do not stir things up much but it's due... 

Thanks for the cleanup tips here. roud:


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## bastalker (Dec 8, 2004)

Naja002 said:


> Here's a quote from a SD Member:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


First of all, I think the folks here should read the entire thread! Not just one sentence out of a thread where a member was trying to keep 4 adult discus and 11 other fish in a 25G planted tank (which is completely undoable). I think they should also read the previous responses from the same member you are quoting!

SimplyDiscus - Rules And Agreement This will take you to the thread. Follow the directions.



haydns said:


> I am really fascinated by this thread.
> Having spent a lot of time browsing the Simply Discus Forum where once a week water changes are frowned on and regarded as an invitation to disaster I am particularly intrigued by the reference to a successful discus keeper/breeder who does annual water changes.
> What sort of stocking levels, both fish and plants does he have?
> I will be giving fewer water changes a try, say once every two weeks in my case as I am stocked on the heavy side. Interestingly I have found that my plants and fish appear their best just before my present weekly water changes and appear less active and vibrant just after a WC (30%).


Anyone having discus in a low tech planted tank will not get away without WC's! 

You are mixing apples with oranges now. Discus come from pristine water condition enviroments. Discus will create more waste than the average community planted tank fish. They are larger fish requiring more feeding, an in turn equals more waste. Dont do a WC for a couple of months an see what happens to your discus. Dont feed your discus enough an see what happens.

That being said, if in fact you have 6 discus in a heavily planted 125G aquarium, I imagine you can go awhile before having to do WC's. If you have 6 discus in a heavily planted 75G, the WC's will have to be more frequent.

Plantbrain (Tom Barr) will probably agree with me when I say that having a low tech planted tank is a balancing act. You have to have the right amount of fish for the size tank that you have. If you have the right amount of fish, everything will fall into place after that.


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## bastalker (Dec 8, 2004)

Alain Pascal said:


> it is all about balance isn't it?
> Enough plant to create the o2 for the fish, enough fish to produce the right amount of nutrient for the plants and enough critter to chew "left over" food/leave/algea to permit rapid decomposition and avoid N2 released in the water.
> If you achive this balance a water change is the worst thing one can do.
> 
> ...


Thats pretty much the size of things!. Discus will produce more waste than the plants can keep up with though if they are bein fed correctly, an feel more frequent WC's will be required because of this. JMO


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## Naja002 (Oct 12, 2005)

Hi Bastalker,

The issue of the original poster in that thread is that everything had been fine for a long time with 1/4 (25%?) weekly WCs. Then He started reading at Simply Discus about all of the frequent WCs and gave it a try. Everything went downhill fast. 4 Discus and 11 other fish in a 120 litre tank and everything was fine *Until* he started doing *More* water changes. I understand what You are saying. I'm not a Discus person, so I ready don't know. But what You are saying is in line with the norm. So, I have to assume that it is correct. However, their are others out there that don't do frequent WCs with a heavy load that have success. What's up with that? I don't know.

Anyway, the OP apparently was not up to snuff with Planted Tanks--so they told him to pull them out--instead of saying "Hey, What You were doing goes against everything I know, Think, Feel, Believe, Have been told and tell others: Wonder Why?"

You may find Post #7 in this thread interesting.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Jan 27, 2006)

bastalker said:


> Plantbrain (Tom Barr) will probably agree with me when I say that having a low tech planted tank is a balancing act. You have to have the right amount of fish for the size tank that you have. If you have the right amount of fish, everything will fall into place after that.


I agree 100%. That's Tom's advice to me, was to reduce the fish load because I had two huge Chocolate cichlids in my 125. I am not able to because of various reasons, so to achieve that balance, I do it with maintenance. I change 30% of the water in that tank twice a week.


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## haydns (Mar 2, 2006)

Alain Pascal said:


> Go visit this site, very interesting.
> 
> Natural Aquariums
> 
> ...


Yes it is about balance and testicular fortitude.
I decided to try fortnightly water changes but chickened out when one of my favorite discus flashed a few times. Immediately went back to my WC every four to six days.
I also experienced a lesson in "balance" when I took the seemingly innocuous step of changing the position of my spray bar so that its output would be directed vertically along the rear of the aquarium with minimal surface agitation. Next morning my discus were all breathing heavily and a neon tetra was dead. Changed it back to have some surface agitation and things returned to normal.
I have now settled on regular water changes and am currently experimenting with my fertilizing regimen to obtain good plant health.


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## Nbot (Apr 15, 2007)

I guess the flip side would be, instead of getting a lower fish load or more water changes, increase the plant load to deal w/ the fish waste better, correct?


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## jake (Feb 20, 2004)

If Steve Hampton posted something, you can rest assured that (as Tom said), _within the context of the entire explanation associated with that block of information_, it is factual and repeatable. 

A person can't say " Good, I don't have to do waterchanges so much anymore." They need to read that whole section there, not just the portion quoted to begin this thread.


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## CrazyMidwesterner (Oct 19, 2006)

I believe the idea is that water changes add CO2 due to dissolved CO2 in tap water. This in turn causes an increase in CO2 say once a week. We all know that plants don't adapt well to CO2 concentration changes but algae adapts quickly. 

So it's not just do away with water changes because I don't have to or want to do them. The less water changes actually serve an purpose and that is to help prevent algae. 

I did this method for about 3 months and had zero fish loss or obvious signs of stress. Neon Tetras and amano shrimp were the most sensitive things I had in there though.


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## plantbrain (Dec 15, 2003)

bastalker said:


> That being said, if in fact you have 6 discus in a heavily planted 125G aquarium, I imagine you can go awhile before having to do WC's. If you have 6 discus in a heavily planted 75G, the WC's will have to be more frequent.
> 
> Plantbrain (Tom Barr) will probably agree with me when I say that having a low tech planted tank is a balancing act. You have to have the right amount of fish for the size tank that you have. If you have the right amount of fish, everything will fall into place after that.


I do:icon_mrgr 

Yes, Discus can be done, but I do a few things, most will not have 240 gallon tank with 6 fish.

They typically want 18 fish etc is such a tank, sometimes more:thumbsdow 
So what to do?
Well, use a plant hydroponics plant filter, cram a ton of more filtration in a wet/dry style filter and add lots of terrestrial plants etc and add some extra light for them in the sump.

Works very well.

A 150 gallon tank with an added 80 w of lights in the sump(no plants in the tank), 6 large peace lilies(they get big fast), 10 adult fish, no water changes for.........two years.

Now if you want plants in the tank, sure, less fish will make it easier to balance.

You have less risk with external plants though.

The other option, a bit harsher on the plants, continuous or daily automated water changes.

If you knew Dorothy Reimer, she was one of the orginal proponents of the non CO2 methods and Diana got a lot of good info from her I'd imagine, as well as Rhonda.

I did. She'd be my plant "Mother", Neil Frank, perhaps my plant "Father".


Regards, 
Tom Barr


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## 2wheelsx2 (Jan 27, 2006)

It's more difficult than one might think. I only have 3 large cichlids in my 125 gallon (plus 4 silver dollars, but that's a different story) and it was way too difficult. Unless your focus is plant only, it's waaaaay easier to go med/high tech and inject CO2 and do EI. I started the CO2 3 months ago and have starting dosing EI and FINALLY, my algae problems are going away.

IMO, unless you have a plant focussed tank only, it's pretty difficult to find that balance. EI and pressurized CO2 makes things so much easier by removing the limiting factors.


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## plantbrain (Dec 15, 2003)

2wheelsx2,
I recall your battles.:icon_cry: 


Alan suggested another method with his massive three 3ft Fire eel and other giant monster fish in his large tank, daily automated water changes and non CO2. Bolted some wood together to prevent movement, added lots of Java fern to the wood and the tank looks awesome.

The daily removal reduces the NH4 and adds stable CO2.

Works well.

Regards, 
Tom Barr


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## 2wheelsx2 (Jan 27, 2006)

plantbrain said:


> 2wheelsx2,
> I recall your battles.:icon_cry:
> 
> 
> ...


I figured you would. Your advice has finally helped me to conquer the problem. I am now doing 50% water changes 3 times a week, injecting CO2 and doing EI. I also did the 3:1 Excel using a spray bottle. I've cutting the photoperiod with full lights down to 5 hours, and half lights to 8 hours. The BBA is finally receding. Unfortunately, my forest of corkscrew vals took a heavy casualty. But it's starting to come back.

I just wanted to relate my experience to those who think low tech is easy. It is if you have plants as your primary concern, but if you have a significant fishload, forget it....go high tech all the way.

I'll have to update my thread with a pic soon, once the vals come back. I am currently using lots of Java Fern and moss to wood and rocks with some watersprite and a few swords.


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## bpimm (Aug 2, 2007)

plantbrain said:


> I do:icon_mrgr
> 
> The other option, a bit harsher on the plants, continuous or daily automated water changes.
> 
> ...


Tom,
Why do you feel that continuous water change is harsher on the plants?

I have been using a continuous system for 15 years, mainly out of laziness, I didn't like the hassle of doing the water changes.

Brian


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## adamprice271 (Jun 10, 2006)

This is a good thread, and I would like to throw in my personal experience. I keep a 55g tank with a TON of watersprite in it (all floating, roots hang to almost the bottom of the tank, and there is a 6" opening for feeding). I have 1 lavender gourami, 15 glo lights, 8 serpaes, and a few other small schools of tetras, as well as a pair of kribs, and 3 flying foxes. I do a 5-10 gallon water change every 6-8 months (sometimes longer) other than that, I only top off with de-chlorinated tap water. I have had 1 death in the past 4 years I have been doing this, and my kribs breed religously every few weeks. No co2, 1 48"
dual bulb shop light with "daylight" bulbs and the water is yellow (from the wood). I run an Emperor 350 on the tank and most of the time I don't even have filters in there, I just use it for circulation. The only fish I have "replaced" was a female krib after she died shortly after birth of her 2nd batch of young. Other than that, these fish are original (I even have 2 pink and 1 blue white skirt tetra that have been with me for over 4 years.) I also keep the light on 24/7 (unless the power goes out). 

Adam


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## Fishstein (Jun 5, 2006)

This is a fascinating thread and new turf for me, as I've tended toward hi tech and medium-tech tanks (the latter with home-made yeast C02 generators). I'd sincerely appreciate all your advice on dosing ferts for this particular tank - my wife and I set up a 29 galllon office tank to benefit a friend's cardiac stent recovery last year. We overbuilt the filtration/circulation by cutting an Aquaclear 50 filter into the side of an Eclipse hood with a biowheel in it and it's been thriving. We're about to add low light plants like various Cypts, Anubias, Narrow Leaf Java Fern and moss to his tank. These parameters are in this thread: http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/low-tech-forum/50650-help-please-your-advice-dosing-strategy.html

This is very much on topic - this is a 29 gallon with a robust (but not overdone fish load given the filtration), lower power but high quality light (two 18 watt bulbs with high photosynthetic efficiency ratings and some bright diffuse sunlight from windows across room) and no more than 10% water change per week. No C02 but Flourish Excel will be dosed. This is new turf for me and I want to make sure we get the dosing right for this.


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## plantbrain (Dec 15, 2003)

Bpimm, 

You are right.
I was thinking about the darn chlorine they add here at the lab.

These issues(Dechloriated) can and should resolved if you plan on it, so yes, that's not a good statement. I think it's fine on the plants(I use it at the lab, but we have some water with Chlorine and another that is run through a huge DI filter, the DI filter is great! So it's not really the automated daily water changes, I'd suggest even that you cannot over water change a planted tank with such methods).

Not sure what I was thinking there:icon_redf 


Regards, 
Tom Barr


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## bpimm (Aug 2, 2007)

plantbrain said:


> Bpimm,
> 
> You are right.
> I was thinking about the darn chlorine they add here at the lab.
> ...



I agree with the idea that you can't over do water change, with my well water I have killed off a green water outbreak by starting a siphon at one end of the tank and add water at the other end as fast as the siphon can drain it, let it run for an hour or so, or until I run out of hot water, no more green water. I don't think I'd try it on a treated water system. 

When I have done this the fish tend to play in the incoming water and are much more active for a while after the WC.

Brian


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## plantbrain (Dec 15, 2003)

I would highly encourage all of you to try a small 10-20 gallon non CO2 tank, add some shrimp(cherries etc, small small fish, some SAE's) and a nice little school of something, even fancy guppies, white clouds etc, a small Hagen HOB filter, soil or commercial sediment if you wish..........bake or allow the soil to mineralize for 3 weeks in shallow water........

Pack the tank with lots of easy to grow weeds from the 1st day. Add zeolite, activated carbon etc.

Regards, 
Tom Barr


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

Planted tank conditions differ from place to place, some have cover, some does not. Some evaporate fast while some retains most of the water to itself.

So lets have a case : low-medium light tank. Balanced bio load to plant growth. High evaporation. Less frequent WC and frequent topping off with non DI/non RO water to compensate the evaporation.

I've been wondering what happened to all the minerals coming from months upon months of just topping off with (sometimes hard) tap water.

So just a thought : the plants may be partially consuming them but I'm sure those minerals such as magnesium, calcium, etc will still be accumulating at much faster rate. Since this happens slowly and builds up over time, fish and plants also evolved to cope with the condition. A sudden change by doing a large WC at once has the possibility to bring this evolution-balance act to a sudden crash. How far can your creatures/plants inside can adjust to the accumulation? I dont have any idea.

Still out there there are people with running and seemingly good looking planted tanks that never see WC for a year.


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## SearunSimpson (Jun 5, 2007)

I myself have sorta done this with most of my tanks. I have a very well established 10gl with a school of neons, one dwarf red honey gourami, two pepper cories, and some shrimp, along with some male guppies I had to seperate from the females (breeding like rabbits). I only top it up with dechlor. water. I have an ACmini on it and thats it. it is heavily planted with hygro, wysteria, dwarf sag, crypts, java fern and moss, anubias nana and a lone banana plant. It thrives very well and I have had no deaths in almost a year. I attempted to put in some daph hoping that there would be a constant colony in it (natural filter, live food, etc), but the AC sucked them up and the rest just got demolished by the tetras, hahaha. 
I have had very good results with zero waterchanges, and only topping up. This goes for my 5.5 rcs tank and my 3gl hygro/amano tank.


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