water changes and quality questions

[dave76]

I have a 100 gallon and 55 gallon tank that are both cycled and established. amonnia and nitrites are at 0ppm and then theres nitrates, d*mn the nitrates. Water changes, those dern buckets, and a sore back. I know I should spend the money and buy a python but I was wondering if there was a better way. My water change regimens are roughly 25% once a week. This seems to be sufficent in the tanks as all the fish seem healthy and behave as they should(CA\SA cichlids.) My question is as I understand it the main reason for constant water changes are debris removal and nitrate removal. I have been reading about coil dinitrification processes and other things today. I have a friend who never does water changes, but has lots of algae and a really fat pleco. Is this safe?

Are there any other methods of removing nitrates other than the coil dinitrator that anyone has tried and had success with (long term)?

Plants are not an option as my cichlids would quickly destroy them. They constantly attack my fake plants. Thanks in advance

[superjohnny]

Two big tanks and no Python. I dunno what you're thinking. Don't walk, run to the LFS. The only bucket I have anymore is used for plant trimmings and to store my Python... it's a must have for fish keeping.

Water changes are necessary. Even if you had a filter, would you want to bathe in the same water all the time?

[dave76]

I am not trying to cirumvent water changes entirely, just to reduce the frequency..............

[dave76]

ignore this double post

[wetmanNY]

One thing about reducing nitrates with water changes: we can measure nitrates easily, so we're using NO3 as a way to estimate buildup of other metabolic endproducts. In a lightly populated densely planted aquarium (a la Diana Walstad), where pH is low and nitrification limited, pruning plants partly substitutes for water changes.

De-nitrification is an anaerobic metabolic process. Some may be taking place in lower, anoxic levels of the substrate. RTR has been experimenting with a freshwater plenum. Some may also be taking place deep inside pumice rock, if it's not constantly removed and drained. Probably not enough to keep the system in balance without partial water changes.

Hunting for a mix of chemical filtration media-- Purigen, PolyFilter, ferric chloride, activated carbon, NitraSorb, Cell-Pore slabs, ion-exchange resins, EasyBalance etc.-- to eliminate metabolic endproducts is probably a will-o'-the-wisp.

[dave76]

This only confirms what I already believed. I tried nitrazorb at one point. I cant say that I was encouraged by the results. That was when I did not have an understanding of the hobby a while back. I got pulled in by the snake oil guy. I will stick with standard water changes. Just out of curiosity what other metabolic endproducts might be problematic?