Lowering Nitrates

[Star_Rider]

actually nature usually provides for lake and ponds. Keep in mind that even lakes and ponds have a carrying capacity..once that capacity is reached or exceeded..the much of what mooman talks about does happen.

too many fish cause stunted growth..and eventually die off. I have seen ponds that reached a state so bad that no fish could live in the pond.
'

but generally speaking, there are different levels of filtering in nature..some of which are in the anaerobic bacteria break down organics at a different level as aerobic(typically the ones we see in out filters)

however the same anaerobic bacteria can produce gasses and other toxins if disturbed...ever stepped in the muck in the bottom of a pond?

in our aquariums we cannot reproduce the same environment..so we compensate with water changes..kind of like rain..LOL

this is pretty rough but I don't have time to get into all the nitty gritties.(kindof in a nutshell)

 

[Pufferpoison]

Hey mooman

First of all, I just want to let you know that I totally respect your opinion and I am not here to start a fight with you. I am just trying to learn and understand about aquarium as I go on.

I understand the part about DOCs and how they are bad for the fish, but from my understanding, activated carbon is used to remove both organic substances such as organic acids, proteins, hormones and antibiotic compounds. It will also remove some other inorganic compounds as well.

Also the minerals that are not being removed by activated carbon can mostly be used by plants as nutrition.

Please correct me if I am wrong. Again, I am still learning.

This is what I am thinking. If fish in the pond and lake can live and grow without any water change, there must be a way for me to bring in the eco system into my aquarium to achieve the same goal. This is where I got the idea from.

Oh btw, I graduated 2 years ago and I do my water change regularly.

a pond and lake, have literally hundreds if not thousands of gallons of water per fish not 2 or 3 gallons like many aquariums. Ponds and lakes have all sorts of things to help them get rid of DOC's and rains to replenish. Aquariums are closed enviroments that are at the hands of their owners. If you want to take fish out of the wild, you must give them the cleanest, healthiest enviroments that you can, which is why we do water changes. I strive for a 50% weekly water change on all my tanks, and to be real, yes there are times i have went 2 weeks without doing them. For the most part if you can't do water changes and upkeep on the fish that who's life you are controlling, IMO you shouldn't have them in the first place.

 

[walaboom]

Man, you guys are making me sound like a bad guy. What have I done

I personally think fish in aquarium have better living environment than wild fish. They also have bad immune system and less tolerance to the bad environment compare to the wild fish.I am really not sure if this is a good thing.

I came from the east, a tropical island, there is all kinds of tropical fish every where. I started fishing since I was 6 years old. Believe it or not, I have seen a LOT of big fish (meaning over 25 inch long, weight over 5lb) being caught from the pond that's only a little bigger than a car engine bay. Let me tell you what, those fish are tough as hell. Have you seen a wild caught catfish got put in the freezer and was frozen for hours then got put back into the pond then comes back alive?

Animals have amazing ability to adapt to the environment. That's why evolutionary exists. I am not saying I am going to give my fish bad environment by not changing water. I am just saying with our ability to manage the light source, food source, chemicals and all other available plants, materials. we MIGHT and SHOULD be able to create a happy aquarium environment for fish while not doing so much water change.

Just think about this, 2 fish, one live in an awesome environment for a long time with bad adapting ability while the other one live in good environment with great adapting ability. If you lose power for 2 weeks because of hurrican, which one is going to survive?

Anyways, too much talking, time for me to do my bi-weekly water change.

 

[OrionGirl]

No one is a bad guy, it's a matter of providing accurate information. Water changes dilute the toxins. Some of the organics can be removed via carbon, BUT that presumes that the carbon is fresh enough to still be active. In most cases, that requires replacing it every 2 weeks, and with Whisper filter cartridges, that means removing the beneficial bacteria every two weeks and crashing the system. Not good. Removing them with water changes is better.

As for stocking levels--that's a load of fish for a 30. The shark may cause problems--they are loners as adults and target fish that are similar shape and habits. The kuhli loach is a social fish--behavior will improve if given companions, but with the current load, that's not a good option.

Finally--read the article on ich. It's accurate, and will help you remove the parasite rather than just putting it into low levels of infection that's aren't visibly detected.

 

[ReefRaft]

update on my fish no clwon loach and only 2 platies now because of the ich and nitrates.. anyway ive learned a lot about nitrates and hopefully this will elp me out it the long run ... thank you.