Are Water Changes Actually Necessary?

Do you change your water?

  • No

    Votes: 3 0.7%

  • Not unless conditions require it (like high nitrates)

    Votes: 60 13.8%

  • Yes, I do it on a specific timeline (daily, weekly, whatever)

    Votes: 358 82.3%

  • Undecided / Other

    Votes: 14 3.2%
  • Total voters
    435
Status
Not open for further replies.
absolutely!!!!!! i do a w/c atleast weekly in my guppy tank. they are very necessary IMO
 
O do 40 percent every two weeks., I think its necessary.

If you don't . Think of it like,this.

Taking a shower its necessary but it sure feels nice
 
xsdbs said:
wow, where'd everyone go? To check to see if any of the tags are really needed.



1 vs 1000, deep sand beds, electroly, epic fail, i <3 water change, i like it dirty!, i need no pants, is soap really needed, living in a outhouse, magical thinking > wc, nitrates, no showers needed, no soap no problem, pwnt, water, water changes, where'd he go?
11x11progress.gif
Click to expand...

this is the 3rd time i've read these tags and i lol everytime
 
kazvorpal said:
So far, four people have voted that they do water changes on a timeline...

But nobody has posted any explanation as to why.

This sounds, to me, like people are stressing their fish needlessly.

If not, then we need to hear the actual reason for it.

If someone finds that their nitrates build up, in a shallow gravel tank, with such regularity that they can reliably change the water each week, and they don't care to try some better means of reducing nitrates...that at least makes sense. But, really, it falls into the category of "only change when conditions require", because they took the time and effort to learn the schedule of those conditions, in their specific tank.

People who simply change the water every day/week, because someone told them to...is that doing anything but giving the fish needless stress?
Click to expand...

OK, here is why I do them (25-30% weekly on about 60 tanks) My fish look better, they act better and they seem to live longer. The tank looks cleaner and everything in general seems to be much better when I do them as opposed to when I skip a few weeks which does happen on occasion. That's enough reason for me. As to what I am doing when I do the changes (what am I actually changing) does it really matter? I could go into lots of details of chemistry a etc but I am sure others have already done that so I won't. The bottom line for me is that things go better when I do the changes so I keep doing them.

I know it can be impossible to convince people and to be honest I've pretty much given up trying. I simply tell them what I do and let my tanks speak for themselves. The vast majority of people who come to me with problems in their tanks have very lax to nonexistent water change regimens. I'm not saying that the lack of changes is the sole cause because I have also found that, in general, people who do not do regular water changes are often severely lacking in other areas of aquarium discipline as well (overstocking, overfeeding, improper tankmates etc) and even with water changes I know a lot of these people would still have problems. I also know a few people who never do water changes and they tell me their fish are doing fine. That may be so but how much BETTER could they be doing if you did water changes.

You can choose to do water changes or not do them, that is totally up to you but if you come to me with sick or dying fish one of the very first questions I will ask is "when did you do your last water change" and if you tell me that you don't do them because your uncle has had a tank for 25 years and never changes water I just might tell you to go ask your uncle for advice because it clear you won't like what I have to say.
 
nitrate builds up. unless you have anaerobic bacteria in your tank or way more plants then what you should have in there, nitrate will build up.
 
kalel said:
nitrate builds up. unless you have anaerobic bacteria in your tank or way more plants then what you should have in there, nitrate will build up.
Click to expand...

Nope. I have to add nitrate to my tank for the plants; so do lots of other fishkeepers. Depends, I suppose, on your definition of "way more plants than you should have".
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom