No water changes ever. Why am I not having any problems?

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Brandorr

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Jan 18, 2007
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I have a heavily planted 36 gallon community tank that I double filter. (I have two Fluvals that are each rated to handle the capacity of my tank.)

Nitrogen cycle is doing great. (Unmeasurable amounts of all three components). Plants are flourishing. (I have about a pound or two of excess plant life that I give to LFS every 2-3 weeks.) Fish are doing great. (They seem very happy, especially with all the foliage. Also their colors have really come out since I started hand feeding them frozen food about 6 months ago)

The PH is very low though, which I am attributing to a combination of depleted buffering agents and my CO2 injector.

I clean each filter every six months on an alternating 3 month cycle. I have now been running for almost 2 years. (I use Chemipure and standard fluval bio tubes and fluval foam blocks. I also use a micro fiber aquativ cloth for polishing.)

You ask why? I was trying to create a balanced aquarium. (Or the modern equivalent, I didn't think I could do it without biofiltration, without drastically reducing the fish count, so that is one area I am cheating. (I use filters).

Plants, water sprite, java fern, java moss, wysteria, amazon swords, banana plants, grass, some green and red leaved water lily bulb plant.

I have a few questions:

1) Why are there no apparent problems?
2) Is the low PH a problem? If so is there anything I can add to the filter to rectify? Or should I just leave well enough alone.
3) Are there any resources available that discuss this methodology or am I the only one doing this with "successful results".

P.S. - I am asking because I see so many threads pushing weekly water changes, that made me wonder why is my method, which seems to be the opposite of all best practices, working?
 
I'm guessing you have minimal fish. (IMHO) It's still a time bomb, but it's ticking more slowly than most.
 
Diana Walstad has written many articles and a book about El Natural tanks.

Sounds like you have things in hand. Awesome that its working out for you!
If you want a little more hardness in your water you can put a small bag of crushed coral in one of the compartments in your filter and it will bring your ph up some. You can always add more or take some out depending on the ph you would like to acheive.

Keep us updated. I will watch this thread.
 
Lots of plants and low stocking (please list what fish, how many, and how big) is the basic recipe to a well balanced planted tank. The weekly water changes you usually see are for tanks that have no or effectively no plants. With that many plants they are likely using up most if not all of the waste from the fish. And by removing some plants on a regular basis (taking them to the LFS) you are removing that nitrogen from the system entirely. What are your nitrates? Many seem to feel that small weekly to monthly water changes on a planted tank still helps, even if it is not as necessary as if there were no plants. Do you add any supplements such as plant food? If so, what? My concern would be that even though it is fine, problems may simply take much longer to become apparent in your tank. It would still be good to keep a good eye on things. The pH should be fine, if I remember right most of thos eplants like a lower pH, or can at least tolerate it.
 
actually, I believe there are others that are doing a similar method tho with natural sunlight and no CO2 injection.

I believe similar to the Walstad method ..
the only issue at hand is TDS..since we can;t replicate the natural cycle in it's full end..I suspect you could do well with this up to a point..
are you using RO/DI water for top offs? tho I believe that much of the rain run off prob contains the minerals we add when adding tap.
 
A natural aquarium is possible, but most people don't find the balance required to have it work. You evidently have. Usually, something is out of balance throwing the system into the ticking time bomb that most people experience.

They overfeed, overstock, under filter, etc.

I suppose we need to ask the question: "Why do we need to do water changes?" Sure, it's because everyone says we should and it makes our tanks look pristine, but why?

The most obvious answer is to dilute the nitrate level.

If there's a balance in the tank and the nitrate levels are being reduced by denitrifying anaerobic bacteria, then what other reason is there to do water changes?

How low is the pH?
Which fish do you have and how many of each?

I would imagine that the low pH is caused by the breakdown of minute plant matter.

How much light is on the tank?
 
How do you clean the substrate, and were does the fish waste go....
 
Fish waste = plant fertilizer Weeser!

Aquaponics (aquaculture + hydroponics) utilizes plants to filter the fish containers by having the fish waste used as fertilizer for the plants.
 
Can you post pics of your 36 gallon planted maintenance free tank....:)
 
The only reason anyone would do water changes would be A. to take something in the water column with high concentration out, or B. to put something in the water column with low concentration in. By taking your plants out on a simi-weekly basis, you are effectively taking something in the water with high concentration out (phosphates, nitrates), but as evident by your low PH, and other aspects your not testing for, you are not replenishing what is low.

Recap: Bad stuff going out okay, but no good coming back in (with the acception of top-offs, which you may supliment)
Result: Much slower time bomb, as said earlier.
 
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