Do Aquariums Need Water Changes? Filterless, Deep Substrate, Planted Tanks & When to Change Water.
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 23 พ.ย. 2023
- Who Needs Water Changes?! Filterless, Deep Substrate, Planted, or Aquascapes & When to Change water.
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Thanks friends. Cheers.At dansfish.com/catalog
At Dans fish just use discount code "Alex" or "alex" to recieve 5% off on top of any existing deals & to support the channel.
Use the code "FISHTORY15" at AquaticArts.com or "Fishtory10" if you already used the 15% code in the last 90 days.
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message me for details or use patreon link below.
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Hey Alex, I just wanna say that as someone with lots of anxiety and sleep issues, your videos really help calm me down while learning about new things, have a good one!
Aw thats awesome. Thanks for letting me know. Hopefully my boring videos are at least like ASMR for some people with insomnia lol. I struggle with insomnia big time
I am using TH-cam as well to calm down my ADHD at night time 😅
Aye, weird brain gang, me too
Same! Thank you!
Same! ❤
"Everyday a week"😂 my favorite ❤ line
I really appreciate the balanced approach you take in your videos. I am over the whole "if you are doing water changes, you are killing your fish" and such. Teaching me the whys and how's so I can apply the info to my tanks is so helpful!
My goal is just that... present the info, maybe how i apply it, hopefully in a functional way lol. Then hopefully people can make whatever choice works best for them, their resources and goals
"if you are doing water changes, you are killing your fish" said no one, even FF said it's impossible to never do water changes. The only way people get the idea to NEVER do them is they're just reading titles and not watching the videos.
Nope. Ff literally said that in a video. I watched the whole thing.. it was several months ago. It is one of several reasons i unsubbed from his channel. Thanks for your feed back though 😁
The single greatest thing about this video and the author.... he understands that 1 way may not be the ONLY way for every person's tank.
Different plants, fish, water types... it all matters, and to suggest that you must not do a water change OR don't have to is simply bad advice.
You must do what works for the health of your tank. If a small water change or topoff works... then that's what you should do. Not doing it because it doesn't work for someone else is simply a bad idea.
Great attitude! Simply great.
Thank you. Very well put! I think the video would have been much more concise if you helped me write it lol 😆
@@Fishtory you do fine. Happy holidays to you and your fish
Now in my 80's I've been around the aquarium hobby for more years than I care to remember. This is the most wonderful hobby and I've learned there are so many ways to enjoy it. I would never criticise people who don't water change but my way is to change water weekly. I live in a hard water area so I carefully choose plants and fish that are compatible. It's not always been the case, I've also lived high in the Pennines here in the UK where water was sublime at 6.8 to 7 PH and soft. Changing water regularly enables me to clean and prune and keep my tank sparkling and pristine, the way I like it. I love your videos and can still learn a lot from your knowledge and I thank you for this. Thanks for sharing
I am honored to have you as a community member and viewer! Thank you. I learn so much from you all, and i also still learn just staring at the tank and suddenly some idea "clicks" due to noticing something. Its a lovely life long hobby. Im 25+ years into it and i sure hope i will remain involved until im 80!
Dont be a stranger, and keep in touch. Have a wonderful week, cheers!
- alex.
How high is your ph? Must be insanely high? My water is always 8-8.2 no matter what and just about every aquatic plant I could find grows great in a 20 gallon I have, rarely change water in it and it stays pristine. Mostly all fish in our hobby can adjust to high ph no problem... the real problem is buying fish that don't already have some disease or parasite and don't show any symptoms for a week or month. Whenever they have fry that grow up in the tank, they seem completely bulletproof though. I even think the same is true for new growth on the plants, the old growth dies off and the new growth is so much more vibrant green and healthy. It seems that it just needs to adjust to the water or start off with a totally healthy plant. Also with high ph you can easily hatch brine shrimp.
@@otallono I've also been around long enough to know there's always one who can do things better..well done you.
Plant wars very interesting.
Boosting for the algorithm 🙌 Love your work, keep it up! 🌻🐝
Always liked how you present the why and how of any controversial topic and simply point out...if you want these results take approach A. For other results approach B. or C. is what you might try.
So many ways to achieve various results in this hobby.
👍❤️👍
Thanks...im hoping it's the most fair way, when there isnt a clearly dangerous or ethically problematic topic at hand. I always cherish your comments and support! Thanks 😊
I really appreciate your perspective of things here. It's grounded and makes good sense in practice and ecologically. I don't really care for the "water change war" between people that think you always have to do water changes, vs. people taking (to name the most obvious example) FF a bit too literally. The adorable honey gourami always distract me when they make an appearance in your videos as they seem kinda cat-like in how they seemingly always want to know what you are up to (the knocking on the black box from a previous video still cracks me up).
Haha well thanks. Im glad im not too insane for your taste my friend!
@@Fishtory Dogmatic beliefs are what bothers me, which are very much a "normal" thing. Critical thinking is in short demand all around. Like if one person says _"you don't have to do water changes, here's how"_ and another comes in and says _"the presentation of this information is a bit irresponsible imo because people will misinterpret it as it's OK to not care for your tank"_ ,and that's all fair until it becomes "you have to" vs "it's bad to" do water changes. Your approach is more to evaluate each method on their own terms, pros and cons, and that's something I always adore.
Great video, thanks :) A small note - if you have water in the aquarium with a pH of 7 and the tap water with a pH of 8, then after doing a water change to 50% you will not have a pH of 7.5, but lower, around 7.25. This is because pH is not a linear measure but a logarithmic one ;)
I realized that as i was saying it lol...then thought "eh no one will notice" haha but thank you for letting me know... if i hadnt it would be bad in other videos like the sublimation point of ammonia and ammonium or kh and gh /ph and tds talks. Thanks!
Using the master kit, not strips, my tap's pH always measures 8.0-8.2, hard to tell which one on the chart but it never changes. Never ever changes from that measurement out of the tap or in the aquariums, regardless of what I put in them, leaves, driftwood. Seems like people with lower levels have a hard time getting it to be consistent.
7.26 pH on paper, but it really depends on the constituents and concentration of the buffer and what your test strip/kit is measuring. If your tap water is carbonate and phosphate and your aquarium water is reconstituted with only KHCO3, then the result isn't going to be 7.26 pH. Anyway, good call for pointing that out.
@@otallono So, to make it easy for you. If you are going for slightly acidic water, then for your 8 pH tap water, you need to add 4x more RO or distilled water than tap water at each water change. 4:1. Remove 5 liters or gallons (50%), for example. Then, add 4 liters or gallons of RO or distilled water and 1 liter or gallon of your tap water. Do this every week. Over time, this will put you at roughly 6.6-6.8~ pH because of other acids and TDS in your aquarium. Leaves and wood aren't going to acidify water with a pH of 8. Again, this is just an example, so extrapolate the 4:1 ratio based on how much water you remove/size of your aquarium.
I’m raising guppies and tetra and some betta
Once again, a home run! And a service to the hobby. This really is yet another presentation that will help transform a beginner into an actual thinking hobbyist- like a continuing ed credit towards an aquarist degree. Thank you for all you do for the hobby, Not many are providing real education.At least not on the level you are.
Thank you. I will try to keep at it. It never seems to hit the youtube viewers like the controversy or escapades of some channels, but hopefully a core of all us true nerdy nature lovers will want to hear what im learning about as i learn it lol . It sounds like you do. Thank you
well, you know as well as I, that the sensational tag or teaser line gets you the numbers out of the gate. It's the nature of social media and shock marketing in general- capturing eye balls.
But many of those beginners will be a flash in the pan as they tend to leave the hobby within a year.
I like to think that of every 100 people setting up an aquarium and 'shopping for a philosophy', 80% burn bright and hard for 6-8 months or so.
Then algae, disease or disenchantment will have them leaving stage left within a year.
But we can be encouraged by the fact that 20% will make it! And you will be responsible, in part, adding to the ranks of true hobbyists interested in natural aquariums and planted biotopes. @@Fishtory
One thing I’ve wanted to dive into is the need to do water changes (or lack of need to) in Father Fish/LRB style natural aquariums due to the supposed secretion of a hormone in fish that could potentially build up in the water and stunt growth in fish. We need to bust this myth or prove it!
I’d be VERY curious to learn about this. Sounds like one of those urban myths that propagates without basis.
@@monkeymanchronicles That’s what I also belive it is, and proof for me would be the growth in tanks of Father Fish and those style tanks with no water changes and only BALANCE. But I would love to see it busted scientifically OR proven!
So i agree we need some science of the growth thing. We know horemones cause stress and also decresse stress...depends on the circumstances. Hoepfully i can talk with an ichthyologists and find out what endocrine disrupter would be responsible for growth in fish...then perhaps we can test for it in an experiment!
Anecdotal evidence but: I did not do daily water changes for a betta channoides spawn, which I assumed was fine because they were in a cycled aquarium. The spawn ended up growing EXTREMELY slowly, much slower than any breeder logs I could find online. The spawn ultimately did very poorly, and a year later I still have one very stunted fry.
I learned about the growth-slowing chemical and thought that my lack of daily water changes was definitely the cause. I would love to learn more, though!
@@erinfee5104 See this is great! This is the kind of stuff I want to see and hear about in a video. Maybe I could talk Alex into a live discussion with me on this subject hmmmmmm lol
Thanks so much Alex! Happy late Thanksgiving. I really wanted to know about this topic. Also I got my scans to see if chemo is working. Will find out on Monday. Needed a distraction and this sure was a good one.
Another great video Alexander well done, sir 👏
Glad you enjoyed it 😊
Always know its a good fishtory video when he starts with some singing 😂
Haha or something like that 😅
Great Content Alex. Keep up the good work
Thanks, will do!
Alex, thanks for your supports.
Always! Thank YOU as well
Nice thank you for sharing Alex! 😊
Glad you liked it!
Hi, I'm using building sand (river sand ) as a substrate.
My question...
Can I, by adding small amounts of potting soil, bunny poop, change the low nutritional value of the sand to one that is higher over time by these additions over time?
I'm pretty new to this hobby, say 2-3 years.
The reason I watch your content is cause I can hear by your literature that you have a mass of knowledge on biology, ecosystems etc.
Thank you for your knowledge 🙏
Yes you can, root tabs or aquasoil may be a bit safer, as it's designed not to disolve back into the water column, but given ample biological filtration, you could add small doses of nutrient rich substrates or amendments
Happy belated Thanksgiving Alex!
You too Alan! I hope this holiday season is a happy and cozy one for you my dead friend. Hugs and cheers!
NJ Replay Crew in the House!!
That tank is beautiful. Omg I love it . Great work.
Thank you very much!
hope you're doing well., Thank you for your content. Love to see you!
Thank you! You too!
This video came up when I was searching for the topic of water changes
Well thats pretty on point, correct? Or do you mean NON-AQUARIUM 🤔 ...
changes that occur within water? Lol
Thank you Alex!
Thanks for your amazing support
Thanks Alex ❤❤
Another great video 👌so much more going on in the water than you'd think at first. would be cool to learn more about "seed shrimp"
Good idea! They're one i didn't ever cover yet... i should. Theyre just tiny dots under microscopes with 2 arms/legs and an eye that spin around in spiral circles lol. But ill look into them more...i never did find a nutrient work up on them
@@Fishtory I heard in a video sometime ago that they make their way into sterile environments eventually in some very wild ways, maybe even in the air like spores? I can't remember too much, and having planted aquariums it's more likely they would have come on plants etc but interesting nonetheless!
A fun thing I've learned the hard way regarding changing water parameters.
I have hard tap water, 7.6, 150ish ppm gh/kh. I target that, then, for the majority of my tanks (it's easier that way, and I have a lot of shrimp and such that need it).
I assumed those levels would stay fairly consistent as they're not really removed from the ecosystem.
But what I didn't consider... I had a snail population explosion as I'm a chronic overfeeder.
To control the snails, I was manually removing them. Like 30 or so a week.
I was checking ammonia/nitrite/nitrate, but not really PH and hardness, as I felt with the water changes I was doing (not a lot, as I'm heavily planted, but some) that it would be fine.
Those snail shells, though, coming out of the tanks stripped them of calcium carbonate FAST.
Just something else for people to consider about how their tank water parameters might unexpectedly change.
Unfortunately my tap is 8.4 lol
Excellent point
Thank you for the laugh on the intro haha. Always appreciate your knowledge and videos!
Well thank you very much James!!
Thanks for another great video. I like the delivery and more importantly your somewhat scientific approach, rather than just a biased opinion like the overwhelming majority of youtubers. Making an ordinary mundane topic seem fascinating is what I also enjoy about your videos. I am working towards more heavily planted tanks and reduced water changes. A couple are there a couple to go. I think the science of light might be an interesting topic too. Most of my lights are cheap no-brand lights so I haven't tested whether a more high end light makes such a difference. Might make my job too easy then though haha. But then you have a higher balancing act with algae & C02 etc. If only I could reduce water changes in my large cichlid tank!
So i have a 3 livestream lecture from years ago, called "let there be light"... and i think you'd really dig that. Its out of date pricing and brand option wise...but the info is all still the same in physics and biology :) cheers and thanks for your comment
Good info. Every day's a training day!😊
Thank you...and yes, 100%
Great video, very balanced and knowledgeable. Preaching not to change your water as some do is way too one-sided and dogmatic for my taste. Explaining how, when and why to do water changes is way more helpful, certainly for those new in the hobby. Keep up the great work.
Thank you. I think people can make their own choices...and need to, in order to learn. But hopefully on any video, im presenting the info from a fair and minimally biased viewpoint. Cheers and thanks for coming by
Good stuff.
Glad you enjoyed it! Good to see you my friend
Good video.. What happened to the cutie in the preview photo, though? 😂
Shes at work lol
I don't even tested my pH for 7 years but still have no problems 😬😬
Every fish i put they breeding like angel, guppy, platy silvertip tetra, mountain minnow
I'm just enjoying❤️
That's great!
Replay crew here. Thanks for the stream. lots of good information there
Thanks for coming
What up from NC
Welcome! Haller ...North Carolina cmon and raise up!
Great content
Thank you Johnny!
One of my 4ft tanks I've never done a water change, all ive done was top up the water. Its 1 inch potting soil, 2 inch of sand. the plants are growing so fast ive bin selling plants every 2 weeks making $20 a fortnight. Its a pleco breeding tank, i do overfeed with algee wafers and cucumber but they look so healthy, and the water is crystal clear. The tank is 4 months old.
Nice. Just watch the nitrates every now and then, its still young. But it sounds like things are going well!
The need water changes when the aquariums are not balanced is the short answer.
Algae is nature's way of balancing out your tank 🤷🏾♂️
Very very true 👍
Nice informative video. I love your aquarium grass...what is the name of it ? and how long does it take to grow so nice ??Lovely shrimp !
Cypress helferi and dwarf hairgrass are the 2 main ones you see probably... and its taken 14 months to grow in super solid and lush
I am not doing regular water changes, which works very well. (At least) one value I need to have an eye on is however the potassium concentration. It tendd to increase slowly over time, although I am even not doing liquid macro nutrient dosing (potassium is used also as counter-ion in simple nitrate fertilizer). Thanks for the great content!
Oh interesting... thank you for teaching me that! i have the opposite issue since i stopped dosing fertz other than what i put in my substrate...now i only add potassium 😆 lol
Alot of people around the world live in an area where water is really scarce, I love this hobby, but I also know how water intensive it can be. You might not realize it at first but with the "common" practices people are using so many gallons/liters of water it makes my stomach kinda sick thinking about it.
I say "waste" loosely as alot of people use it for gardening so not a complete waste.
But I live in texas, and it doesn't rain all the time.
So by far in this hobby what i like, beyond figuring out what fish like and how to make a home for them, is saving as much water as possible.
I know it's not practical to "save" the water because the parameters can change so much, but I think that's what people also don't comprehend too well, of course in nature it's easy to explain how the water is maybe evaporated,and remineralized flowing through streams, but the hobby as a general practice doesn't include much of that in keeping fish.
So that's what i'm playing science with at least haha
Once the fish and plants ravage the water parameters, how do i reverse the damage without just "dumping" it?
I wanna recycle my dirty water but like in the right way.
Yes, that's also a big reason why I've done so many no electricity, no filter, no water change related videos the last 3 years. But i wanted to even out my own bias of basically only doing water top offs for the last 3 years
I’m no filter-less wizard like yourself. a large canister filter mostly biological helped me tons. less water changes but I am topping off with RO with fertilizer drops more frequently. It’s helped with big ph/kh swings. It’s all so much to balance if your trying to balance it all yourself.
Great point! Do what's best for YOU.
Hey you're looking good did you change something looking real healthy
Hah um im just super sick at the moment of filmed ...which was actually a few weeks ago haha thanks though. Im sure ill look like crap later this week haha
Great explanation, man! This is some deep substrate wisdom! Haha
Glad it was helpful!
You always brighten my day! Also, first of all- you just solved a huge mystery in my fish life! I love duck weed and I have a few tanks that I COULD NOT get it to grow in. While others it was going crazy. Suprise, suprise the tanks that it wouldnt grow in are tanks that have lots of the plants you said dont like the Dweed.
Secondly, my pygmy corys are in my neo green jade tank. I would like to breed them (the pygmys) however, I imagine I would have to remove them into their own tank for breeding? I would think the rapid change to the water could be harmful to my little water spiders.
Oh right on! Glad to hear that one mystery is solved hah
I never realized you are in seattle. I’m from Port Orchard across the ferry. I moved out to Vegas though 5 years ago.
Yes indeed. Shoreline/edmonds now, we got out of the city after cars got stollen 3x in 3 years and 2 people were shot on our block
Nice tanks Alex 😜🐠🤓🎸
Thanks! I hope you have an awesome long weekend
Hey there Alex! Remember me?
Lmao❤😅 thanks for the educational content so helpful as allways ❤ much love as always 😊 hope you had a great Thanksgiving ❤
Of course... you and yours as well!
Thanks mate, lots of info packed videos. Now i know why duckweed will barely grow in my 105L with a solid wall of vallisneria, but it does great in my 30L that has no vallisneria. Not that I particularly want duckweed to grow, but its fine i dont mind it.
Glad it helped
Brilliant
Great video. My buces love water changes, the no water change/no maintenance crowd just take it to an extreme. New aquarists try these no hands methods and get destroyed
Yeahhhhh thats what i fear. I *Think* most people watching my channel tend to be experienced aquarists, but i forget that things like the nitrate cycle or nutrient deficiencies in plants...or treating "ick", arent just known by everyone...so i figured i should make a warning video while also no saying "dont do that"... because i keep all sorts of tanks just as a challenge or out of curiousity
for the algorithm 🤗
Love your intro! hahaha.
Haha thanks. I was hesitant that i might be "acting too strange " lol
@@Fishtory naaah - i think you are doing it correctly lately, by having a half-triggering title or/and triggering opener.
I almost spat my coffee out 😂
I was thinking:" That's not how he normally talks" 🤣
The speed of speaking and the speed of coming to the point was really good.
I hope that you know what I am trying to say(in a technical sense).
When I started in this hobby decades ago water changes
Were a big no no you just top
Off what was evaporated
And it can work , but both
Have there own pros and cons
By the way great channel
Welcome. And thank you. Yes, it is my preference to just use my soft local water to replace evaporation in all but my breeder tanks
Hi Alexander, should I put some local pond water in my new tropical tank? Good video!
Actually... id refer you to my video "should i put pond water in my aquarium"... it is a fairly complex topic and there is a safe way to do it, vs a more "who knows what will happen" way to just pouring it in a tank. Im a little more cautious than say father fish...but i still use local water and culture local aquatic microorganisms heavily in most my tanks. Cheers
I use volvic mineral water to do top offs, is that bad? I have crystal clear water and perfect parameters. Never done a water change since i started 5-6 months ago.
Not if its working for your parameters :) keep on doing what works FOR YOU :)
@@Fishtory thanks Alex, happy holidays from Ireland dude 👍
good stuff per usual! look at saving up for a microphone so you can start putting together really high quality presentations and videos!
So i often use a mic...but they're not so good. I think, i need a reciever and mixer unit to record the sound totally seperately .. as you recommend. Its just been medical bills hammering me lately. But its definitely a high priority. Thanks for being patient
@@Fishtory you probably know* more than me so I hope it wasn't rude of me! I always see youtubers with the Rhode mic or DJI and stuff so thought it my help with club presentations too. These videos are still perfect and I love the fishtory I get! please keep it up
Sir, I want to ask: 1. For a 20x20x25 tank, do you need an aerator? There's already a hanging filter...
2. In the morning and afternoon I turn off the lights because there is sunlight, do I need to provide an aerator?
3. I will turn on the lights at night after I get home from the office around 9pm (because I'm in the bedroom, the AC is on 16°C 😅 so I need a light so the water isn't too cold🙈..
4. Fill with low CO2 plants, bright fluorescent fish, guppies, mollies, platties, and ornamental shrimp..
5. The tank is new and will be filled with tap water (in Indonesia, you can't drink tap water because it contains iron and chlorine).
6. what should I do and what do I have for my tank?
If you have a HOB no extra aeration should be needed :)
@@Fishtory ooh, yes i have hang on back filter
Great video Alex. I'm m new in the hobby. I'd really appreciate a video specifically on Oranda goldfish. That's the fish I started the hobby with.
I really like My goldfish. Seems to Me they're delicate fish. Tend to have digestion difficulties. Also seem prone to infections or fungal problems. Many people have different opinions on what the temperature should be for oranndas
A deep dive on orandas would be Much appreciated. Thanks. BTW just subscribed to Your channel.
Sure im due for a new goldfish video! Ill put it on my list. Also, welcome!
Great video, thank you for the content you provide. If the parameters remain perfect should I avoid water changes? Would you recommend adding trace elements for the fish in this instance? If I can’t test for fish hormones and other build ups, should water changes be carried out as a precaution even if the parameters I am able to test for are perfect?
Yeah if it aint broke..dont fix it haha. If you do fix it, change one aspect at a time, so you know what caused which outcome. Cheers
this video was very informative. I base water changes on what types of tank I'm running, what fish are in it, are there any problems with the tank. The older the set up the less problem there are.
Truth
When I finally had enough plants in my sump to keep my nitrates from climbing and thus “no water changes needed”, what eventually happened was the pH slowly dropped from 7.8 to 6.7. The plants slowly pulled out all the minerals and pulled out the ions that kept the water harder. I spotted the problem because my Oscar developed some hole in the head spots. At that point I tested the water and found the pH had dropped a full point and kH and GH also dropped. I returned to normal water changes and my Oscar’s hole in the head stopped progressing and even healed a little over a several months.
Yeah, thats why i add crushed coral and dose potassium and sometime nitrates if the fish load isnt keeping it above 5ppm. Nitrate crashes are nasty
@@Fishtory I didn’t have any luck with crushed coral in keeping calcium levels up. I needed calcium carbonate (wonder shell) - something that acted quicker. The crushed coral wouldn’t keep up with the amount the plants were pulling out.
I have never heard of "Nitrate crashes" do you have a video on that? @@Fishtory
@jonisolis9645 indeed just search @fishtory and nitrate crash or lack of nitrates
I'd love to hear more on pygmy sunfish from you
Sure thing. I have videos put catching them with grant eder and Dr. Anthony Mazeroll in FL. & some more generic info in a species spotlight if you search for it via latin name. Elassoma Gilberti @fishtory
Hi awesome video.. Can you recommend me how much lumen light should I use for 50 gallon dirted tank?
Id aim for 1500- 3000. With the higher end being if you want to use co2 and fertz...and less intensity if you focus on java ferns, anubias, bucephalandra or crypts.
Good information as I have very hard water here and I probably don’t need to make it worse by not changing enough water, my tanks are heavy planted and I don’t do much water changes?
Or you could send money on 5 gallon jugs of distilled water / save rain water and then only do water top offs from evaporation.... the hardness would gradually increase, but you could have that last a couple years as i hear from other aquarists ... or there's always RO/DI, BUT that's more expensive and probably only worth it for many tanks
@@Fishtory thanks again I was thinking about that last night I live in Wisconsin and yesterday it was a record high temperature of 67 F and this morning we have a inch of snow 😀I will definitely be saving rainwater and or using distilled
Had to do a 50% WC today. I put too many leaves and botanicals in the tank without boiling and fouled the tank. I have to use distilled water, with some tap water to keep just under 7 ph.
Right on..thats good you know when youve hit the limit haha. Dont need 3.5 ph or whatnot
Thank you for sharing!
My pleasure!
We shall anoint you the deep substrate wizard! Haha
Hey Alex, I'm curious... I've got a couple tanks, relatively small (5 and 10 gallon), which I almost never do changes on. I've done the 5G twice in around 4 months, and the 10G three times in the last year. The reason is that the plants and animals are absolutely thriving, and I'm hesitant to mess with a good thing. But I worry that I might be missing something, too... In the 5G, I did have some green jades die and not reproduce, but I highly suspect they were sold to me fairly old, and the transition to my tank was too stressful (despite a very slow drip acclimation). Otherwise, everything is eating well, brightly coloured, reproducing, etc.
Would you recommend that I give them more frequent changes regardless, or just keep running with what seems to be working well? I do test parameters, and they seem to be in reasonable bounds. Is it possible that aqua soil, running good filters, and having a lot of plants (aquatic and terrestrial) is doing a good job stabilizing the water? I typically top off with RO or water from my berkey (it removes just about anything potentially harmful and yields something akin to rainwater).
I did listen to the entire video, but I was left a little uncertain. I figured I'd toss this out here in case you've got any thoughts on the matter.
And thanks again, as always, this was a great video.
So ill say i have made filterless, only water top off- and only a light (no heater, only feed them vitamin enriched food 1 or 2 x a week and they eat algae mostly). I have videos on that about my yellow neocaridina filterless "no-tech" tank.
But if i were you, I would just let it be if they are healthy now. ( not still dying frequently). But my guess is its all about ph and kh/gh ..my easy rule is use aquasoil... and every 5 gallons add a cup of crushed coral scattered on the surface to keep calcium and carbonates in the water, while the aquasoil ( Brightwell is my preferred... with Fluval Stratum for substrate). Then something with lots surface area like wood or lotus pods (Preferably already cycled with bacteria from sitting in a healthy tank for several months). And then a fast growing stem plant and or floating plant to handle nitrates as well, and then a few slower growing plants for the substrate and mulm nutrient conversion and cycling.
Also a few cubic centimeters of activated carbon/ aquachar aka biochar.
But id just get that ph between 6.7- 7.8 and a tds of 100- 400 ppm and thatll keep most neocaridina spawning also.
Best of luck, and ask any questions you want
@@Fishtorywhoa, what a response! I never stop learning from you. Thank you so much! This gives me a lot more confidence.
Do you know the name of the plant you talked about at 13:10?
Its changed names 4 times since the 70s but currently,.it's being called Rhyncholacis clavígera
Did something happen Thursday night ? cause you weren’t live last night
Fridays are my usual night. But i had planned on thanksgiving...and my back hurt too bad. I was curled up with a heating pad and fell asleep at 4pm till 11pm finally after being up the night prior. Sorry
@@Fishtory are you going live Tonight?
If I have a dirted tank with a sand cap and hard alkaline (ph8) water out of the tap, will that cause issues if I have to change the water.
I mean after it's become a seasoned tank as I read that the same ph will lower over time. I'm a bit confused on that one. Would it be harmful to the fish?
And I also what to put in my black corydoras Andy pair of black Rams I want to put a young beer of true Siamese LG as some other fish don't know yet personals Petco's is it a good idea to put teeth together if you get back with me I really appreciate it my brother like I said before I love your tanks❤❤❤❤ have a blessed
Heyy alex, love what you do, appreciation all the way from india , just wanted to clarify something,
I have a tank going on from past 5 months with 1 inch of sand and with lots of botanicals ( complete black water ) have no filter currently, had a filter for a month when i had cardinal tetras in them ( had fishes only for a month ), from past 5 months i been adding leaves and it has been settled down like a layer on the sand and have a lot of house plants in it and they are growing in a crazy rates,
My question is does this tank need a mechanical filtration if i add a wild betta fish to it???
Hello! That sounds like a wonderful tank! But No, you should be fine because bettas breathe atmospheric air if need be... just make sure there are plants at the water surface to make them feel safe. i would start with all females ... and then if that goes well try adding a male... a few months later if you feel comfortable with it, add another. Take it slow if you add more than female bettas. ... and have fun, enjoy!
Hi Alexander. Thanks for the videos!
Ive been keeping fish for about seven months now. Inspired by you and father fish's lectures on netting fish and plants locally.
Recently collected grass shrimp and scuds, i never knew they existed here in the midwest. We are close to the mississippi river and im now fascinated by these creatures. Thanks for that!
Im now keeping several tanks using some form of the wallstadt(?) method via father fish.
One tank is a 40 gal and it has developed over seven months. Ive never done a water change, i just add water. Its got a hang on the back, a sponge filter, and an air stone.
It looks great to my eyes. It has pretty high nitrates but low ammonia.
If i continue the no water change habit, is this thing going to crash?
Thanks im advance.
Id just keep an eye on the TDS and or ph. If you see that the ph is getting much above 8.0 ( 8.4 is the highest ill ever let tanks go, personally) ... that is the main issue. But generally that would not be a sudden die off of fish or plants, but rather one or two may die in a week. Either way, usually there are warning signs before a total crash.
Ideally monitoring the nitrates and ph are the bare minimum things to check ever now and then. In my opinion. But if everything is happy and healthy- GREAT! Hehe
Why would high nitrates make your tank crash? This is why this father fish guy is damaging to the hobby. You have no idea what you are talking about lol. Read a book about basic fish keeping.
No, your tank won't crash unless you increase the bio-load and produce more ammonia than you can convert, but everything will be stressed and disease prone because you aren't doing water changes and your nitrates are high.
@scott1285 firstly, telling someone that who's just told you they've only been keeping fish for 7 months they've got "no idea what they're talking about" just isn't helpful. Secondly, whether or not you agree w Father Fish and his methods he's clearly done more for the hobby than you ever will. Try some constructive criticism instead of insults
Really good video Alex. My tank is a freshwater planted tropical tank, your general tetra, dwarf gourami, corys etc, and my tap water is hard and with a ph of around 7.3. My tank always reads 8.0 ph or slightly higher. I feel the fish would prefer it a bit lower in ph and hardness. Would you recommend I do RAINWATER water changes for the foreseeable future to bring the hardness down, just maybe 10 or 20% water change at a time, and then try to hold it at that ph level. . I have concern that as rainwater is pretty much void of anything, will doing this harm the plants in any way, or would they be fine as long as the test strips read what I want them to read in ph, kh and gh.?
Yeah id give it a try! You may get more color and more spawning behaviors from the fish then :)
Ok thanks let's see what happens 😊@@Fishtory
I've got Guppies but I want to put into the guppy rummy nose tetras will there be a wise choice
Much love from CT! Thanks for keeping on my friend. Something i've been wondering about which this video touched on...
Is it really truly possible to achieve low PH, mid-high KH through the use of botanicals and other additives? I have softer water on the acidic side like yourself.
I was trying to hit around 6.8 for my tropical fishies including Betta but I want to have KH for good PH buffering... can't seem to do that without raising the PH to mid - high 7s. I've tried adding eggshell, sea shells, and about to try crushed coral, on the tannin side i've used jackfruit leaves and local leaves, mostly maple i think. Gone through about 10 leaves already in a 15 gal over a couple months (shrimp snd snails been eating them lol)
Yes but you may need to boil down some tannins and make something full of tannic acid, hummic acid, nitric acid... and also co2 will help quite a bit.. you can also buy liquid blackwater or add weak organic acids in low amounts.... different people suggest different acids to use, but in the end its the same idea.
All that said, just keeping tds below 150 is going to help more than anything... starting with soft water and only add calcium or carbonates designed for your critters. Best of luck
@@Fishtory what do you mean by "calcium and carbonates designed for your critters" exactly? Egg and sea shells bad for tropical or amazonian fish? I will do further research on this but i've seen so many contradicting opinions.
And Wow I didn't expect you to still reply after all these days...I know and respect how much you got on your plate! You are so very kind, thank you for your advice on boiling down tannins and reducing tds, hopefully can do that and still keep KH up 🙏💖
@evergreenpsyche eggs and sea shells work fine. Other people use special mixes for lake sulawesi super hard water or salty shrimp mix for the caridinas that need 4 to 6 kh exactly
@@Fishtory thanks so much 💖 when I have a living wage again (stage 2 interview this week!), you will def be the first to get my financial support. Much love
@evergreenpsyche please put that last on your list of luxuries to spend money on lol. I know how expensive everything is now days
When i see more than few fish sipping on the surface, i change 50 percent.
I understand that for an indicator for river species. Cool tip!
I want daphnia to survive and reproduce in the aquarium. So that I don't have to bother taking care of my tank hh
Daphnia will eat your green water algae quickly, thats for sure. But usually fish eat 99% of daphnia too
So do Amazon swords cause Val to stop growing 😩 My Echinodorus Big Bear plants are aggressive growers but my Val and crypts are just struggling to grow. I’m about to just pull the Val out it’s that bad.
Nope
Just duckweed and val impact one another... and supposedly a few crypts...i cant confirm that first hand though
How can i kill scuds without harming cherry shrimp
P.s I have news good and bad
Uhgt oh? New tank?!
😊😊
What are shrimp sickness and how to deal with them?
Um the main two are scootalaria japonica ( tiny leeches that can cover them by the hundreds) ... and then planaria, hydra and scuds... can all kill baby shrimp or pregnant shrimp... scuds are untreatable, besides removing them, the other issues can be cured by salt dips of the shrimp, or low doses of praziquenquentinal/ levamisol.
Lastly there's eliobiopsidae or "the green hair" disease...and it usually requires killing the ones with bad infections sadly.
@@Fishtory I know about how to get rid of planaria but what about these leeches
@@Fishtory fuck the only fish that will eat leeches will also eat my shrimp
Got a shipment from Aquatic Arts today. Seriously bummed. Dead fish, itty bitty plants. 😭
Did you email them? That's very unusual. What fish were tiny and what died out of how many? As long as you took a photo of them in the bag ,.theyll refund you
@@Fishtory I haven't heard back yet. Took pics. The plants were tiny. The fish were too cold - lost one angel and six or seven rasboras. Hopefully they'll contact me tomorrow!
lost one of one angel, and seven of nine rasboras (Borg?)