No Water Changes for 6 Months!

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
JardiniBoy said:
I found it an interesting case and kinda got shot down in flames here for posting it.
Click to expand...

Let's say the idea got flamed :flamed: , not you. :cheers:

A tank like that is - as Guppy said - a once-in-a-lifetime lucky strike. A fluke. We don't know enough about that guy's tank, the info he posted was pretty vague and having him as a member here would definitely contribute to answering some questions.

Since it is such a fluke, it is our moral responsibilty to prevent anybody from blindly believing it and trying it out themselves. It would most likely result in fish loss.

Having said that, this is a forum for the discussion of set-up and filtration, and your post certainly caused some discussion, which is a very good thing. One of the pillars of a forum :thumbsup:

HarleyK





.
 
Jardiniboy - If you really want to find out the truth behind all of this firsthand, why dont
you try to do an experiment between 2 equal tanks with equal monster fish with same diet and filtration. The only difference would be that one system gets a waterchange while the other one just gets a topoff. Try to write down what you observe, what you expect will or wont happen.

Do a two month experiment and post your observation here.
 
I'd say 3 months. A fresh tank can go 2 months without a water change, and the nitrates won't be too high. Afterall the cycle would be fuoly complete in say 4-6 weeks, without the aid of mature media etc
 
rumblesushi said:
I'd say 3 months. A fresh tank can go 2 months without a water change, and the nitrates won't be too high. Afterall the cycle would be fuoly complete in say 4-6 weeks, without the aid of mature media etc
Click to expand...


or 6 months just like the original idea. I am pretty sure that there will be significant
differences between the 2 animals, not even sure if the other fish will still be alive at that point.
 
Yep I agree. Give it a go JardiniBoy.

Wes what fish do you think would be good for the test? Maybe 3 different types at least, and an average to high stocking level.
 
I used to think water changes were very important....then I saw a tank in Singapore...it was around 150g. The tank had 4 inhabitants: One of the nicest Red Aros I've ever seen, and 3 white giant gouramis. The Gouramis were the best looking whites I've ever seen, maintaining the red / orange / pink sheen they have as juveniles. He only fed they shrimp eggs. The Aro got whatever he found around the house...geckos, bugs etc... The tank was completely bare, and the tank bottom was a 4" layer of poop...he never took out ANY of the fish excrement.

The tank had a corner box filter (the kind that runs off an airstone) filled with floss and some ceramic rings. There was a drain near the top of the tank, and piping that led to a funnel on the roof of his house. Whenever it rained, it would funnel the rain water into the tank, and overflow the extras out into the garden. He had it running as such for the last 5 years!!!

Turns out, many fish keepers there keep tanks in near the same way, only topping off the water. Their fish all were some of the nicest I've seen...was it diet??? One can only speculate.
 
I dont change water, my drip system does. Its a little additional cost, but I can tell a positive difference in my fish.\
I'll stick with adding new water, and removing the old....I just wont manually do it.
 
Mule said:
I used to think water changes were very important....then I saw a tank in Singapore...it was around 150g. The tank had 4 inhabitants: One of the nicest Red Aros I've ever seen, and 3 white giant gouramis. The Gouramis were the best looking whites I've ever seen, maintaining the red / orange / pink sheen they have as juveniles. He only fed they shrimp eggs. The Aro got whatever he found around the house...geckos, bugs etc... The tank was completely bare, and the tank bottom was a 4" layer of poop...he never took out ANY of the fish excrement.

The tank had a corner box filter (the kind that runs off an airstone) filled with floss and some ceramic rings. There was a drain near the top of the tank, and piping that led to a funnel on the roof of his house. Whenever it rained, it would funnel the rain water into the tank, and overflow the extras out into the garden. He had it running as such for the last 5 years!!!

Turns out, many fish keepers there keep tanks in near the same way, only topping off the water. Their fish all were some of the nicest I've seen...was it diet??? One can only speculate.
Click to expand...

Interesting. Rain water must just be better and less chemically than tap water.

A layer of poop and just an airpump filter is a little freaky though. Surely the ammonia must be through the roof unless it rained almost everyday.
 
i have my share of storys with gonig without water changes.

in 7th grade wheni started my first tropical tank, i would do water changes about every couple of months, to my suprise my fish suffered no adverse affects, they all ate well and where overall healthy.

in the 8th grade i kept an oscar in a 40 gal that went for water changes every 6th months too, again the fish did not suffer from nitrate poisoning or any other disease/condition for that matter.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom