Are Water Changes Actually Necessary?
- Thread starter kazvorpal
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I think Snoopy answered your question very well " We don't need a water change if we are able to maintain the water parameters in an aquarium like nature maintains it in Lakes rivers etc.
Earth has a very excellent system to maintain TDS levels, for example if a lake/ pound has a high TDS level, It normalize on its own by osmosis, The higher density water moves to the lower density water areas in under ground water system and on the other hand the lower density water takes its place. We simply can't do that in an aquarium. A marine biologist can tell you some more ways about water cycle in different environments such as lakes, Astoria, pounds, ocean etc.
I do water changes to provide my fish a better environment for living.
Earth has a very excellent system to maintain TDS levels, for example if a lake/ pound has a high TDS level, It normalize on its own by osmosis, The higher density water moves to the lower density water areas in under ground water system and on the other hand the lower density water takes its place. We simply can't do that in an aquarium. A marine biologist can tell you some more ways about water cycle in different environments such as lakes, Astoria, pounds, ocean etc.
I do water changes to provide my fish a better environment for living.
This thread is like the energizer bunny.... it keeps going and going and going and going and going and going and going and........
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opcorn:opcorn:
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opcorn:opcorn:mg::nilly::nilly::joe::coffee2::look:
You are assuming that every time a water change is done, it is done 'wrong'(and thus causes the fish to die). There are also numerous examples where 25% or 50% water changes did NOT kill the fish. In fact, I just did a 30% water change in one of my tanks.
Do half the fish in the wild die out every time it rains?
I'm curious to know where you got this information from. I've always thought that nitrates are not fatal to fish, but can stunt fish growth and shorten lifespan if exposed to fish in higher concentrations.
My impression of your posts is they are sort of black and white, the fish lives or the fish dies. Ex1: The new manager at your LFS did a large W/C and 60% of fish died. What about the health of a fish over a period of time? It's hard to notice stunted growth in smaller fish and there aren't really any defined lifespans for different species of fish. Some people may think "fish X" living for 2 years is normal when in reality it lives for about 3 years. An extra 1 year is the equivalent of 30 years to 45 years.
My oscar is a perfect example of a fish that is sadly stunted(my fault) and I've always assumed that it was because of high nitrate levels.
I am not saying that you are wrong, but I don't think it's possible to analyze everything that a fish needs to thrive. There certainly must be more than just nitrates. How do we replenish nutrients or minerals into the tank? Where does calcium(for harder snail shells?) in the tank come from once it is depleted? Unless we can analyze every single mineral and nutrient needed by fish, including ones that are not yet discovered, we cannot replicate mother earth.
We can prolong water changes through things such as plants to remove nitrates, but I don't think not doing water changes at all is possible. Even nature itself gets replenished with new water when it rains.
Lots of aspects of fishkeeping include inductive reasoning because we do not know all the facts. You are also using inductive reasoning by assuming that stress caused from water changes is bad.
Where did you come to the conclusion that fish are more active when stressed? When I buy new fish from the LFS and they are stressed from being put in a new environment, they actually move less.
Who says that water changes cannot be about both adding AND removing chemicals? How many trace elements can you really add? Throughout longer periods of time, the lack of even tracer elements that very slowly detrimentally affect the fish. Once again, we are not nature.
Besides...if you are going to pay for bottles of trace elements, why not just pay for tap water?
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Originally Posted by Turbosaurus
You're got to be kidding me kazvorpal. :help:
Most fish are brackish? Corys like salt? Catfish live in muddy water? What are you smokin? (and can I have some?)"
All of your arguments are flawed. You simply quote what you can argue against and ignore the other 80% of the posts that show how you are wrong.
Example from what I quoted...you failed to respond to the part about cories liking salt and how most fish are brackish. 2 out of 3 points ignored. I've only read up to page 15, but I can already see that you are consistent in ignoring valid points that you cannot argue against.
Originally Posted by Turbosaurus
You're got to be kidding me kazvorpal. :help:
Most fish are brackish? Corys like salt? Catfish live in muddy water? What are you smokin? (and can I have some?)"
All of your arguments are flawed. You simply quote what you can argue against and ignore the other 80% of the posts that show how you are wrong.
Example from what I quoted...you failed to respond to the part about cories liking salt and how most fish are brackish. 2 out of 3 points ignored. I've only read up to page 15, but I can already see that you are consistent in ignoring valid points that you cannot argue against.
I change my water in all my tanks for many reasons. One is to keep the nitrates down because unless you have a ton of live plants water changes is what you do to lower them. I also do water changes to get poo and food off the sand that go in caves etc. The way I look at it is you do what you do and I'll do what I do. The only reason I can see why you wouldnt do a weekly water change is because your to lazy to if thats the case find another hobby.
I hope the OP realizes that many discus keepers do daily water changes on their fish. some as much as 50%.
daily.
and yet their fish thrive..
daily.
and yet their fish thrive..
I havent read this whole thread just about half of it and I see that the person who started this thread keeps saying over and over again that you only need to do water changes when needed like something goes wrong like high nitrates or something. Doing weekly water changes can be thought of as preventive maintance like you would do on a car or something like that. If you do that then you will never "have" to do a water change because you have prevented it to getting to this point.
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