The TRUTH about these 'No Water Change' videos!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 26 เม.ย. 2023
- Lots of discussion about water changes out there in Fish tube land. Don't do water changes or do water changes - if nothing else it seems to have people talking about it again.
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![3 Tips for New Tank Water Changes [Don't Make this Common Fatal Mistake - Watch This!]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/fCF-Rfb2ofU/mqdefault.jpg)
These people dont do it for the views they actually have researchers supporting their way of keeping fish
They can even keep tanks that they dont have to feed anymore. I have been watching this small group of unpopulars for years, and they dont get as many views as you claim because their aquariums look so natural that they dont have beautiful aquascape algae free tanks the bigger youtubers have
From experience.
I have noticed having a heavily planted tank even with gravel will reduce the number of water changes needed.
However I like many other, have chased the golden goose of a "water changeless" tank, the magical setup that allows someone to get away with not doing water changes.
Also known as aquaponics for those who really want to chase the golden goose.
My biggest beef, if you will, with the nitrogen cycle, as described by many, is that it doesn't actually involve the full nitrogen cycle.
Nitrates > Plants > Fish poop.
Those steps of the cycle are highly overlooked, nitrates will be absorbed by plants, but it's not like they can absorb ALL the nitrates, especially just one plant.
Ontop of that there are multiple ways to convert Nitrate, in the soil and by plants, as well as just air exposure or even bacteria that just breaks down the Nitrogen and off gas it.
But after all my work discovering ways to reduce nitrates, beyond more plants, and more plants, and more plants (the answer is still more plants)
I've realized that nature does water changes too, every time it rains, ponds overflow, runoff occurs.
and so we just have to accept that water changes are a cycle of nature, and we have to imitate that too.
This comment hands down settles it. Thank you. I'm gonna aim for a quite highly planted tank, and change water the first time it rains each month. Just to add a notion of nature to the clock, because what you've said is so true, and I really like the idea. Will also show the difference between the months of no rain, meaning no change, as apposed to rain every month meaning a monthly change
@@blackjackcwcit really doesn't. I have 5 tanks, never had water changes. Oldest is a year old, fish are breeding, fry surviving with no input from me, plants and tank are thriving. Water parameters are perfect.
I am 7 months into these no water change methods I learnt from father fish. So far all is good. The thank is stable the fish are growing up and no algae due to heavy plantations
Hi! What fishes do you have? Kindly reply
@@sasankasarma4828 2 angles, 4 cherry barb, 1 bristle nose
@@sasankasarma4828 I've only been keeping fish for a year and started off doing water changes. I have changed the way I'm doing things and now trying the no water change. Deep substrate and a lot of plants in both tanks. The larger tank is danios with a filter running. It can be done but would recommend research first. Probably easier with smaller fish lightly stocked. Not everyones cup of tea but have a go. Is it no water change or minimal water change perhaps. I lost three fish back in march when I experimented and added alder cones and co2 at the sam time. Bit upsetting. Did a few water changes and pulled the alder cone and co2 out. All good. No water change since. Happy stable tank. Add dead rotting leaves. Oak leaves from a local pond. It's all good. I'm no expert . But keeping fish I've found it fascinating. Every tank is different.
@@billybobblogs3627 Thanks so much for the reply! I will definitely try adding the rootten leaves. Good luck!
I must admit that I stopped changing water about 3 years ago and since then my tanks have all been super stable. I did it out of circumstance ans ourr fluke (life got in the way) and before long i noticed how well they were all doing. I also have a koi pond with 22 Koi and have literally never changed the water. I don't use a drip in system and only ever top up evaporation losses.
So what?
@@DEXTER-TV-series So what?
@maximusprofit2578 thanks for sharing! I mean to me it just makes sense, even if you don't go full no change, surely reducing can't hurt that much if you have the right plants etc.
I share the same opinion. it's not something controversial. Do not change water if you have the right filtration and enough filtration
@@DEXTER-TV-seriesSo what what?
Father fish style is close to natural and no need of money spending for thriving beautiful clear aquarium.. I had one
I'm so trying this. I think he is on to something.
I have 64 litre tank with gravel only and 10 small fish. If heavy plant it….would the tank run out of nitrates so the plants will die? Up to what point there are too many plants?
I have a bit of nitrite (safe level) which I am trying to get to zero. Any advise?
Personally I just want 20/40ppm nitrates to feed the plants with 20% water change possibly every two weeks extending it from one week
Then I’m happy
And that’s all that matters to me
I kind of do water changes but not really and certainly not regularly, if I'm trying to remove tanins from water them I'll do it as often as needed. I also use fish tank water to feed my houseplants/veg plants etc so I then refill tank.
Mostly because I'm a tad lazy with depression but also I've been keeping fish this way for 30 years n never had any issues. All my tanks are heavily planted n not heavily stocked so think I've just been lucky.
i agree with you i have a few different type of tanks and they all get different water changes the tanks i have that have no plants get weekly changes and my lightly planted tanks get changes once a month with testing of course but my heavily planted tanks are a different story i just test them regulary along with the other tanks when i do weekly changes but at the most they get left 4 months without a change and even though my tests are still coming back good i still change it and you notice a big difference in the plants because they also need fresh water to get more minarals
Thanks for this!
I don’t advocate no water changes at all . All though, I did get to a point where I had nitrates never go above 10ppm. Nitrite and ammonia 0, so I would go 12 weeks without a water change and nitrate still at 10ppm. I would do water change just cause I felt like I was neglecting the tank. So I literally went 5 months without doing a water change and nitrate was still at 10ppm. Now I just top it off since nitrates are never above 10ppm.
No water change tank tends to be heavily planted. Its just not gon work without plants
My hats off to you, for succeeding with Discus. My wife always comes in, when Im watching your videos. She likes your accent. Your doing great buddy !
i do a water change every 2 weeks approx 40% and probs canister out once every 2 months, i have a 4ft tank and 12 chindongo saulosi and couple of plecos, mine are breeding so i cant see this been a problem, to many key board warriors out there you should do what right for your own tanks and schedule, I do think there is a place for no water change tanks but you need a certain type of fish and tank and lots of plants, i think if you have small fish a largish tank and lots of plants and you can get away without water changes quite easily, but if overstocked or looking after bigger fish i think you have to do them no real option
Agree, i use the bathroom (loo)😂 i flush it so there will be fresh water. Are they surviving or thriving? Great video!
Great, well balanced video! The reactionary nonsense and anger that I've seen over this is a bit ridiculous.
It completely depends on your set-up.
There's no way that I would move away from weekly 30-50% changes in my plantless, well stocked cichlid tanks. However, I once owned a 100 odd litre tank with 5 female bettas in it that was jam packed with plants and filtered. There was never any nitrates registrable in it and I used to just top up as needed.
I still know people that only do water changes based on their TDS getting low.
I love comments like yours that not only agree or disagree, but add some relevant info to help newbies like me. Thanks so much for taking the time to comment as you have.
Great video to put things into perspective. I made the deliberate choice to start a no water change nanotank and for over a year things are going just fine. Lot's of plants, low number of fish and shrimp. But I'm constantly keeping an eye on the ecosystem to make sure I can intervene when needed. For now things are doing fine but i don't have enough experience to predict if it will last.
same here. low stocking, lots of plants, dirted, nano aquarium, 18 litres. One month in no water change. I deliberately set it up as a no water change to see what happens. I have kept the same size fish in the same size tank (zero plants) before and always did water changes every week or two.
I have a 100 gallon tank with 24 cichlids and no plants! I do a 75% water change twice a month and my fish are doing very well!
I don't need to change the water, but I have a naturalistic tank. At least here in Texas, we have alot of stagnated waters that don't get any type of filtering, say for the micro fauna, and plants. So it os possible to not have to do water changes if the tank is set up like a pond is set up in the wild. Terpenes, micro life, plants, dead stuff. I do believe that tech has its place. I use a combination of an airstone with sponge and a mini HoB filter. But I have tons of plants and low bioload of fish. I honestly don't even monitor my parameters, however I sourced my fish from one of these springs. But i honestly believe it totally depends on what you feel comfortable doing. Some people lile neon substrates with fake plants and all the water additives, some people like walstad/father fish styled tanks. Either way, we should all work together to make this community thrive ❤ be accepting of how everyone chooses to keep their fishy friends ❤ nice to have come across your channel! Subscribed!
You didn't mention Alexander Williamson (www.youtube.com/@Fishtory). He's not in it to make big bucks & is so humble & honestly concerned with the facts on all things aquarium. He's by far my favorite, & go-to for answers. I've been keeping aquariums (freshwater only) for going on 6 years now, so know very little still. But I only started dirted, heavily planted aquariums a year or so ago, & am absolutely amazed how little effort is required to keep them going. I began using Father Fish's soil recipe, but then found Alexander. I also like an air stone & small filtration of some kind. I just can't bring myself to let go of all of it!!! (Yet.)
My humble opinion is that 1 camp is saying set you tank up 1 way and you do not have to spend money and it will last for a long time.
and the other camp that are sponsored by seachem or have a shop saying that set a tank up my way and spend money.
Never doing water changes to me feels like never changing your underwear. Sure you can do it that way if you want...
I had 5 small discus in a 4ft tank changing half tank water everyday by feeding them beef heart mix and with in 1 month they have grown so much... After that i got lazy and changed water once per week and the growth reduced significantly... So for fish growth new water is must as per my experience...
There is a study from decades ago.... How you can basically never have an argument using the internet because you will always find a study that agrees or disagrees with anything you say.
TH-cam is very very very very very very very bad at actually letting me watch the channels and content I want to watch. Ads I get are basically insane and not even related to anything I watch. Lots of weird stuff.
The worst part is TH-camrs that hash the same topic 100x until something sticks so to speak. I've seen the same topics by 2-3 TH-camrs constantly and it's just not worth the screen time.
I have gone periods of many months without even a single wster change. Maybe 1-2% water top ups.
Where in nature is it no water charge . It comes rain season . Fish lives in rivers .a lake has an in flow and outflow . Fish start to spawn in the Rain season . For best resultat change water
I have 2 fish setup like advised by father fish, and 1 is 4 goldfish in a 20 gallon long. I can tell you I went from doing water changes once a week to possibly having to do a water change once every month to maybe 2 months. It def works when done correctly
Definitely feed the fish less and you'll have to do the changes less often or never..
100% agree. Well said
The no water change group is very clear which type of aquarium doesn't require water changes.
A balanced aquarium doesn't require water changes
Bare bottom tank = water changes
No plants = water changes
I keep Discus, I avoid doing water changes. My opinion on stunted Discus depends on the fish themselves. The "Alphas" eat more while others lurk in between the plants
How about growth hormone released in the water?
@markdomenie5453 It's a natural thing and ensures that there is less fighting in your community tank 🤷🏾♂️
I have a 125-gallon tank and can not imagine doing a water change every day or every week. It's a hobby, not a job
Refreshing water also has the added problen that your tank will never become balanced out. Little bacteria and microorganism growth
@eurogupper well said❤. The purpose for those who do this is to MINIMISE water changes. If you can get to the no-water change mark, power to you. After spending years wanting a tank like this, I finally set one up as a test. No water changess. So far one month in, all is looking good. Lots of plants. Would not even attempt it without lots of plants.
Well said.
Every video i watched about this is basiaclly saying..dont do this, buuuuut it can be done if you know what youre doing. Lol so its not an outrageous idea, you just gotta make sure you right the right setup? Heard!
IMO it is more - it can be done if you want a really specific type of tank. The problem is people only read the headline and decide they don't need a filter
Finally I can get a CLEAR and Honest answer thank you sir.
I got lazy once about the years ago and didn't do water changes. Nitrate spike wiped everything out.
Heavily planted now but I do 30% every other week. Not playing Russian Roulette again
I’ve been in the hobby for 30 plus year and keep large Central American cichlids and I cringe when I see those videos. It’s typically older people and just saw one recently with an old man going on about not doing water changes and feeding once a month with a large nasty looking aquarium behind him going through a bacterial bloom. And the sad part people will listen…
The beauty about the none water changers is everything is great and easy until goes completely tits up. Like you say, it depends on the individual tank, my shrimp tanks have very small changes now and then but the discus and offish tank are weekly but even those are different amounts.
No water changes (well set-up, heavily planted & properly stocked tank) doesn't mean you never check in on them. Anything can go tits up if ignored.
I haven't did water changes in 2 yrs for 4 aquariums (2 - 75 Gallons, 1 - 40 gal & 10 gal. Tanks have been very stable and plants are growing great. I do top offs every 3 - 4 days.
In summary, tanks with deep substrate, plenty of plants and light bioload don't need water changes every week, but every 3 months...
Yeah, the mulm will build up over time and take over.
The biggest difference I've seen is people that advocate water changes every day have the worst aquariums.
Those aquariums are literally just water and glass to keep the water and fish in
The "no water change" community have heavily planted tanks, deep mineral and substrate with multiple layers and their ecosystems have been running undisturbed for a decade or in some cases longer.
Has anyone that voted against water changes run such tanks for at least 5 years? Most likely not 🤷🏾♂️
I won't say people like you are wrong, you are half right. Your no substrate, no/barely planted tank needs water changes
I’ll stick with my weekly water changes and cleaning schedule. While I have heavily planted tanks, I’m not a fan of the wild look the no maintenance tanks need to flourish.
Why not take the best of the both approches. when saying no water change is not indefinitely but maybe less water changes, 2 or 4 x20% per year.
This receip worked for me :
Juwel rio 180
20cm gravel substrate
Tube holes under gravel covering 20% of the substrate with a pump
30% of plant miwex bbetween fast growing and slow growing
Clams , snails and plankton.
So what goes in is the fish food ,an what goes out is some snails and cut of fast growing plants and dead leaf or fish poop with the landing net.
I dont even need to clena the glass.
10% fish death over 3 years not related to water params ,and i have nzver szen my fish poping air from the surface (mostly tertas)
I have a 5ft tank with stacks of plants, no CO2, and a deep substrate. My stocking level is also quite low (12 Kerri Tetra, 5 Otto's.) However....I still carry out a small 10-20% water change every couple of weeks.
Why?
@@DashDrones The way I see it is that in the wild water is always moving and flowing so unless a fish lives in a ditch or pond, they always have access to a constant supply of fresh, oxygenated water. So it makes me feel better that I've added fresh, oxygenated water to my tank. The tetra seem to love it too. As soon as I hold up the bucket they wait for the water and chase each other around in the bubbles. (I do have an airstone running 24/7. )
You got to be sensible with no water change tanks. A massive 800 litre tank with 1 guppy ..
A 30g with hundreds of plants and 5 small community fish.
Prob doesn’t need much of a water change, it’s filtration by plant.
You are spot on with this video, i have one tank with shrimp and heavily planted with herbs and plants growing out the top, this tank i do not change water on and i also have a tank with some neons in and a few plants which does require regular water changes
Each tank is specfic and you should treat them as such, if you do not understand whats happening in your water then be safe and change your water.
A lot of the no water changes methods neglect things we can't test for and a lot we don't really know that much about, why? Because those "no water change setups" are totally unnatural and nothing like freshwater ecosystems and how they function. They are as unnatural as an aquascape or a bare bottom tank. Quite a few work under the idea that nitrates aren't toxic which is very unscientific and untrue showing a lack of ability to critically analyse the literature.
These planted tanks don't suit a large number of different fishes in setup.
The funny thing I found is one of those TH-camrs who makes such bold statements quoted a paper which disagreed with what he stated it said. It wasn't even deep in the paper that was cited, the abstract disagreed with what that TH-camr said.
I think regarding plants many forget that different plants take up different levels of nutrients and to different extents, the fact most aren't truly aquatic means they wont be functioning as they would in an ideal habitat. The substrates also unless you have a laboratory or buy specialist aquatic soil you don't know what's in it as regarding horticulture we're only fussed really on NPK and pH along with texture when it comes to house plants which in an aquarium you want more information, if going around collecting soil god knows what it contains even if you originally added some compost.
It's a really complex topic and at the end of the day it's a misunderstanding of freshwater ecosystems that it's based on. These walsted and no-water change tanks are just like most peoples gardens of neat lawn and bedding plants and then just saying that's natural. I do a lot of walking and have been to many rivers in the UK and they look nothing like what these people claim they are like.
If you have 1 tetra, a 10 gallon tank, dirt substrate that is 2 feet deep and 1 hectare of jungle val, then yeah, maybe you don't need to do water changes.
@fatherfish for president ❤😎
Agree!!!
I’ve an over stocked predator tank with rays so 50% twice a week for me
It works
your right seen these videos, well seen you sussed thim lol
I was influenced by Father Fish
The problem I have with this video is he does not say why exactly the method does not work. The Father Fish guy makes some very valid points which I am going to test for myself.
2:00 - literally a video about exactly why the method does not work (*in all cases)
@@AquariumAdventures So in his video he talks about how you need to go find a fresh water pond and scoop up the bugs and bacteria and put that in your aquarium. I did not hear you talk about why or how this is a problem. The Father Fish guy claims he has not done a water change in 22 years. It would be nice if a popular fish keeper could get with this guy and find out if this is for real. I personally have never got to the point where I could just let my tank just sit without a water change. But if this is possible I am willing to experiment to see if this is possible or true. But I am going to try exactly what that dude is say in the name of science.
@@OperationDx1 I think you've missed my entire point. My complaint is that Father Fish et al claim you don't need to do water changes - with little to no focus on the specifics you need in order for that to work. Not everyone has or wants a heavily planted, low stocked extra mature tank.
Scoop up bugs and gunk from a local pond - what if the gunk contains some pathogen or bacteria that wipes out your tank? My point is everyones situation is different and it is irresponsible to promote 'no water changes are needed' when that only applies to a very small specific niche of the hobby.
@@AquariumAdventures I got ya. Thanks for clarifying. I appreciate the input.
@@AquariumAdventures I guess this is what I'm going for a heavy planted low stock / low water change aquarium. Yes I agree it sounds risky adding unknown gunk but I just want to know if it works vs this should never be done.
They also don't flush their toilets.
If you have baby Discus you need to change the water to help them grow.When they are adults not so much .IMHO .
I have 2 tanks. Both heavily planted deep substrate tanks. One is stable and 6 months in hasn't had a change in 3 months. The other needs a change every 2 weeks.
I think it's the light and stocking maybe. But Jesus it's so complicated. All I will say is once you have the balance don't touch it! The fun is in the work to figure this out. I love tank maintenance.
if I do acheive the no-water change fish tank, I will be posting it on TH-cam to annoy the people who say “you must do water changes”. I think I will title it “The no-water change aquarium”… lol 😂
All those "No water change" videos are missing an important word.... the "if" word! And that title will look something like... "No water changes, if..."
And then explain in what conditions and how they got there!
Just like you have said...
Maybe it can be done with some setups, but majority of fish keepers cant do that with the setup and bio load they have on their aquariums!
Few days ago i came across one video about one huge aquarium (1000 liters if im not wrong) and 2 years of no water change, but during the video you can see that he only have some hundreds of shrimp and lots of plants! With that so low bio load... maybe...
But this kind of video titles can be a trap for those who are just starting their first steps into fish keeping world, and will end up giving up when everything starts to go wrong with "no water changes" thing!
Regular partial water changes is the easiest way to keep healthy aquariums for all new people on the hobby.
As long as they get more experience and start to understand how everything works and interacts on their aquariums, then they can start to think on how they can reduce those water changes and in some cases on how to build something that maybe dont need water changes!
Just my way of thinking!
I agree with you my opinion is if you keep an aquarium you need to do whats best for the fish which includes water changes
Fish dislike swimming in their pee. They appreciate water changes.
How many people in the hobby have tanks that look like the bottom of a pond? Not many. 👍
imo, the nature style of fish keeping dont make a whole lot of sense. In the wild, displacement of water happens very regularly. Ponds, lakes and of course rivers discharge loads of old water from evaporation and intake through surface run offs and rain. Which is why aquascapers change a lot of water. This removes debris, organic matter and other particulates in the water column, which ironically mimics rivers, with high turnover rates.
Livestock: Also, the ratio of water surface area to fish is enormous. Say in context of our aquarium, could be as high as 10 gallon per fish. If we want to mimic nature, even for still water and ponds, water change is still necessary to mimic nature.
Substrate: To mimic deep substrate, we would probably need more than a couple of inches, as in the wild, it could be several feets deep.
The elitist nature of no water change and walstadist to preach their au naturale style is ironically not natural. In the wild, nature is not as contained as our glass boxes. It is constantly affected by temperatures, climates, weather change and fauna (birds, mammals and other inhabitants).
Its a dangerous slope to preach as a fit for all solution, as some fish keepers could have high metal content, thus needing conditioners, or high calcium content, which accumulates over time.
What i do agree with nature style keepers are that they do their own in depth research and studies to back up their claim. We as hobbyist should do our own, and realise everyone on TH-cam has an agenda to push, monetary or otherwise (fame etc.). So we should take everything we consume with healthy scepticism and apply ourselves
you need more plants. a lot more. it DOES work you just aren't doing it right. Nice fish store /s
I'm not doing it at all to be fair - so i'm not doing it wrong
People who revolutionize things are just scammers at the 90% of the time, so I wont believed FF, but I dont want to say he is wrong without any experience on the topic. SO I tried his method as an experiment. 1 months in the thing so far with his method without water change and filtration. So far so good. If something change I will update.
If the easy way is the obvious, why does my wife always take the hard way?
Wives have a different definition
@@AquariumAdventures ah I see
It's all "MDs" fault🤣🤣🤣 joking🤭
You're an idiot if you don't do water changes,even if you've got tanks like the "AMAZON JUNGLE".
Can you imagine only having a shower or a bath once a year 🤣🤮🤣
You're discus are looking awesome bro👍
Sorry I've no been around,COVID nearly took me out🤣
Change water and stop being Lazy - simple . How often is dictated by other criteria but yes, you still should change water for a healthy tank.
Thank you for the common sense reset, again the emperor's New clothes....Don't change your water and maybe stop using your brakes in your car ..... Or give up breathing . . .
You don’t understand, sad really.
I’ve always been of the belief that clean water is always better than all the water. I mean we re-circulate the air in our house because we don’t want to continuously breathe the same funky air over and over again, why would we want to do that to our fish?🐠🦯