no water change, is it possible?

To keep things really healthy, not really. There are some tanks with lots of plants, filtration, etc. that are more or less self sufficient, but they require TONS of work in other ways, much much more work than a water change entails.

There is also a product on the market that claims you can get away with only changing the water every 6 months. It is crap!!! Don't believe it!

In general, the bigger the tank, the easier the maintenance. I can change out 25% of the water in my 180g and really not worry about the temp. or ph being exact. If they're close, its fine. Plus on that big of a tank, the waste takes alot longer to accumulate. On my 10g tank, I do a 50% change once a week and have to be very careful to match up the temp., and keep up on the maintenance b/c it is much more of a fragile system.
 
gagaliya said:
This is kind a followup. I was wondering for a 10g:

1) are there any fish tanks out there that require no water change
2) are there any fish out there that require no water change
3) if no to both, are there any fish / tank out there that require very infrequent water change, like once a month?

thanks.
Click to expand...

I would say no to both.

However, if you use a water trickle system it will constantly trickle fresh water in and old water will overflow out. It might be overkill for a 10 gallon and rather pricey as well as it needs to be custom made but if your looking to get by without doing any water changes then this would be the route to take.
 
I think I read about this heavily planted tank that only had to have water changed once a year, but that would require more work than a water change.
 
As mentioned the only methods that will eliminate water changes require a lot of other work, knowledge and cost. There are a few folks who have written up methods to avoid water change, but those tanks are extremely low bio-load, heavily planted, with medium light and little to no supplementation, that is not always an easy scenario to build. In a 10g I would not consider trying it at all personally. In a bigger tank I would only try it if I had excellent knowledge and information and wanted to do routine testing for at least the first couple of years.
Dave
 
waste created by the fish breaks down into ammonia. the good bacteria in your filter eat the ammonia and turn it into nitrItes. then more bacteria take the nitrites and break them down into nitrAtes. the nitrates build and build. the only real way to remove them is to do a water change, because they can build to toxic levels.

so, no. theres really no way to get around doing a water change that keeps the tank safe for your fish.
 
In general, the lighter the bio-load (ie, fewer animals producing wastes), the longer you'll be able to go between water changes. A 10 gallon tank with a single fish, and a couple shrimp, with moderate lighting and healthy low light plants will thrive on monthly water changes, especially with sparing feeding (no more than once daily with a skipped day in there somewhere)

For me, if I weren't able to spend time with the tank more than just once every few weeks, I'd look for another pet.
 
I don't really do water changes on our 10 here at work - I loose about 1.5gals/week due to evaporation. So I just top it off :)

At home, I do 30% water change once a month on my 10, daughter's 10 and her 5.
 
Evaporation does not remove nitrates or other wastes. By continually topping off without removing water, you are setting yourself up for drastic water parameter shifts and long term health problems. It will work in the short run, but not in the long run.
 
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