Hi guys. Here are pictures of my experiment. It has been 6 months since my last water change. This test results was done prior to the water change.
I had sold my red and gold aros about 8months ago to try and replicate a crazy setup seen in my local aquarium in Australia.
The guy from the aquarium said that he only changes his water only once or twice a year to reduce temp on really hot days. After spending countless hours talking to the owner. I've decided to setup a 2 silver comm and invest my spare time in trying to replicate his setup.
I only decided to change my water today because I thought it was time to clean out my eheim filters. I was actually aiming for no water change for a year but I couldnt help myself.... ahahhaha
There are people that will debate whether wc is really necessary. But since this guy kept the biggest (4ft) and nicest looking silver (no eye drop or PLJ) in Australia, I'm not one to argue with his methods.
As you can see from my test results, I think I have succeeded on my first try.
Aim of the experiment is to create an aquarium setup that requires little or no water change at all.
Ive lost a lot of expensive fishes in the past few years, due to chemicals in tap water. And yes I age my water and add Seachem Prime chlorine/chloramine remover.
We all know that there is always a certain risk when doing water changes.
When my stingray died it was my last straw and I decided to get rid of my fishes and try to recreate a setup that doesnt require water changes at all.
Ive seen One LFS with 3 display tanks they all use different methods of filtration but they all dont require water changes. The owner keeps massive arowanas, stingrays, clownloaches, and gars. You name it and he has them.
After 6 months of no water changes I've found that my arowanas have a very good appetite and seems to never get spooked not matter what people are doing out side of the tank. Other than that my arowanas have grown to 18+ and is as board as my palm.
Btw my water parameters are
PH = 7.0
Ammonia = 0
Nitrite = 0
Nitrate = 10
So far my methods seem to be a success
Filtration system consist of
80cm x 60cm x 43cm sump
2 eheim 2260
Modded Denitrator
Tank size is 6x2x2.5
Temp = 28.5°c
I dont know if you can tell but my fishes look brighter and healthier now than when I initially setup this system
I did monthly water test and it seems that my nitrates have been stable at 10ppm
My fishes get fed once a day on market prawns and about 1kg of market prawns every 4 days. Occasionally if I finish work early I might get some MW and crickets.
My 2260's hold only one layer jap mat and 20kg of ehfisubstrate in each of them.
I believe that my denitrator does infact finish the nitrogen cycle. There are only 2 proven methods that can remove nitrates. One method is to setup a denitrator and Hope it works or create a DSB.
Denitrators are great if they are working correctly. But it will take a lot of mucking around to get it to work properly. In my next experiment ill be setting up my 5x2x2 tank in my office and this time around ill be setting up a DSB.
Every aquarium is very unique and trying to replicate another aquarium setup is almost impossible. There is just too many variables such as number of fishes, feeding patterns, tank size, type of filtration, flow rate, filter media and so on. Having said that, something that may work for someone else doesnt mean it will also work for you.
For example I've seen really nice arowanas in Vietnam and they are extremely beautiful, when I checked their filtration I was amazed that their filtration only consist of cotton wool. They also rarely change their water! So are nitrates really something to be concerned about? Some hobbyist believes nitrates arent proven to be harmful to freshwater fishes. This is a really touchy topic and can lead to further debate.
