Water Changes - The "correct" way

[WeeGlo@nite]

He's basically created a stable enough environment for the guppies to live. If there isn't a lot bio mass in the tank then he basically will not run into problems because he's taking the ickies out. I read somewhere guppies are found on EVERY continent except the south pole.

If it's not too much for him buy him an aquaclear sponge and tell him to throw it over the intake or behind the media and just not clean it. Really if he's doing a WC every other week he's got most people beat.

 

[excuzzzeme]

I will have to side with him. I did the same thing 30 years ago and rarely had a death. I cleaned the tank once a month if I felt like it and I had UGF! I kept the water topped off as required as well. The hard surfaces do hold the majority of the bacteria. Filter media doesn't hold a great deal and that is why no mini-cycle. I change my filter media AND vacuum the tank at the same time and don't get mini-cycles. I don't know who said I should? If it works for him, leave him alone. Sometimes there is more than one answer to a situation and that doesn't mean one of them has to be wrong.

 

[yhbae]

I will have to side with him. I did the same thing 30 years ago and rarely had a death. I cleaned the tank once a month if I felt like it and I had UGF! I kept the water topped off as required as well. The hard surfaces do hold the majority of the bacteria. Filter media doesn't hold a great deal and that is why no mini-cycle. I change my filter media AND vacuum the tank at the same time and don't get mini-cycles. I don't know who said I should? If it works for him, leave him alone. Sometimes there is more than one answer to a situation and that doesn't mean one of them has to be wrong.

Well, at least you had some form of filtration.

For his sake, I hope he has a lot of stuff in his tank with lots of surface areas and good water flows through them. Its just odd that he has a filter but chose not to hold any bacteria in it.

What is the size of his tank and how many guppies does he have in it?

 

[Kevin007]

He has around 10 adult guppies and 20 baby guppies in the 20 Gallon fish tank with 2 HOB filters on it

 

[yhbae]

He has around 10 adult guppies and 20 baby guppies in the 20 Gallon fish tank with 2 HOB filters on it

That's quit a bit of bio-load. I don't think tank objects will be enough to do bio-filtration in that tank...

Are you SURE he takes everything out of his filter and change them with new media each time?

 

[McLendon]

He only get's away with this cause he keeps guppies.

 

[shawnhu]

I'd like to share my experiences here, and hope to shed some light to the situation.

I have a 10G with about 40 guppies in there at the moment, maybe a little more. The tank could be found in my sig, anthough not updated(I'll have pics of it soon).

Current filtration for the tank is a HOB rated for 10G, Whisper Jr. I clean out that filter only once a month, if that. I never gravel vac, and use medium sized gravel. Until a few weeks ago, I even had marbels in the tank, which allowed a lot of uneaten food to sit. Luckily for me, these guppies eat everything they get their fins on.

I've gone 2 weeks without a water change on this tank, with no noticable problems. Not that I would do that to test my limits on WC's, but life calls, and I must answer. Knowing that I CAN go 2 weeks, is a real assurance though.

Taking my tank into consideration, I'm way overstocked compaired to most, and even to the OP's brother. I've also gone the 2 weeks no change, with no mortality to my guppies, they're as healthy and eat like pigs as ever. I've been breeding these for 6 months now, and have not lost any juviniles or adults yet. It's getting to the point where I'm starting to allow nature to take it's course and breed me the "smarter" generation.

I must say that a few factors may attribute to my tank's circumstances. I'll list a few things that I think is important to keeping my tank stable.

Plants - it's a planted tank on a timer.
NYC water - with a low TDS, GH and KH, I add a little CC and BS to increase KH
No gravel vacs - I need the byproducts as a source of food for my plants

For the most part, I think the plants and water is a huge factor in lowering my maintenance schedule if I chose to.

I hope this helps.

 

[Kashta]

I think Shaunhu is right. My goldfish tank is overstocked right now, so I'm watching it closer than usual and doing more frequent water changes. It's a temporary thing, so no big deal. But I'm sure if I pulled all the plants out of there (which are a lot).. the whole thing would crash real hard within a matter of days.

 

[McLendon]

I do agree the more Biomass you have in any given tank the more it ofsets the fish waste. I also rember when you got a new tank the LFS gave you a bag o' guppies
To start your cycle and 4 weeks later you came back and got your real fish.guppies are almost bullet proof

 

[ct-death]

in other words, does it work?

Not ideal but yes.

Remeber, in older tanks that have been established for a while develop a LOT of their beneficial bacterias in and on the tank surfaces such as the decor, but especially the substrate. I wouldn't be suprised if well over half his bacterias are in the substrate at this point, and given his maintenance style.

That said, this is certainly not ideal, but given he has a low biomass for that 20G, and that he is doing 50% WCs twice a month, he should be okay.

Lastly, I doubt he would register any ammonia/nitrItes...his nitrAtes I would be willing to put money that they are well over 100ppm. He's definately not keeping discus or similarly sensitive fish, nor is he maximizing their life-spans, but "will it work?" Yes, just not what's best for the fish