laurensdad Posted August 16, 2011 Report Share Posted August 16, 2011 Thought i should post something on hear i have not spent much time on AA in the last bit . So has any one else done the 4 to 6 week on water change thing this summer? I have and to my dismay my tanks did vary well it helps that my 75 and 27 gallon tanks are vary planted. I did a re scape on my 75 one night it was over 3 weeks before i replanted everything I went out of town for 2 weeks and just left plants floating. the tank is 100% replanted now though but it just dose not look as good as it once did i gave away a 4 large zip lock freezer bags of plants though it is starting to fill back in. so i have 2 questions for every one who reeds this tiered. 1. The longest you ever went with out a water change and what made you change it? 2. what is the longest amount of time you you spent on a re scape of your tank with out daring the tank and replacing fish? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishnerd Posted August 16, 2011 Report Share Posted August 16, 2011 I've gone 8 weeks due to being away at work, I changed it out of guilt more so than it smelled which was actually quite good. As for a re-scape about 2 -3 days I think Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvision Posted August 16, 2011 Report Share Posted August 16, 2011 I once left a tank for two years - I was busy chasing girls and partying it up. The tank became known as Degobah. Te water evaporated and I actually threw a blanket over it bc it looked so bad. Yet I still had some pennywort find it's way out of the canopy and grew a nice emmersed bush outside the back of the canopy; and, when I finally restarted the tank, the Crypts, Anubias and ferns all grew. If anyone has ever gotten any of those plants from me, they were in this tank! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laurensdad Posted August 16, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 16, 2011 I once left a tank for two years - I was busy chasing girls and partying it up. The tank became known as Degobah. Te water evaporated and I actually threw a blanket over it bc it looked so bad. Yet I still had some pennywort find it's way out of the canopy and grew a nice emmersed bush outside the back of the canopy; and, when I finally restarted the tank, the Crypts, Anubias and ferns all grew. If anyone has ever gotten any of those plants from me, they were in this tank! oh my that is not good at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cgy_Betta_Guy Posted August 16, 2011 Report Share Posted August 16, 2011 6 months on purpose on a very heavily planted tank with only water top offs when evaporation got levels down and fertilizing about once a month. I wanted to see if there was any noticeable issues and signs from the fish that the water was getting bad and whether the plants would be ok. The rummy nose remained bright red nosed, no fish deaths and the plants fluorished and were trimmed on schedule with no algae problems. All nitrogen cycle readings remained stable and at desired levels. The only noticeable thing was that the water was starting to get the slight smell of cyano bacteria/stale stagnant water. I eventually changed the water because I needed to clean the 2 canister filters due to water flow being slowed down and because the smell of the water was starting to bug me. I have since gone to roughly once or twice monthly (roughly every 2-3 weeks) water changes and no smells in the water but I am getting more algae than I used to and I have had fish deaths. Obviously I can not attribute these to more frequent water changes. I am sure the algae is coming from the more frequent fertilizing that comes with WC which causes the roller coaster ride of nutrient spikes once in a while. Still looking for that fertilizing dosage sweet spot that will keep levels relatively good even with the WC schedule. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nancyr Posted August 16, 2011 Report Share Posted August 16, 2011 6 months on purpose on a very heavily planted tank with only water top offs when evaporation got levels down and fertilizing about once a month. I wanted to see if there was any noticeable issues and signs from the fish that the water was getting bad and whether the plants would be ok. The rummy nose remained bright red nosed, no fish deaths and the plants fluorished and were trimmed on schedule with no algae problems. All nitrogen cycle readings remained stable and at desired levels. The only noticeable thing was that the water was starting to get the slight smell of cyano bacteria/stale stagnant water. I eventually changed the water because I needed to clean the 2 canister filters due to water flow being slowed down and because the smell of the water was starting to bug me. I have since gone to roughly once or twice monthly (roughly every 2-3 weeks) water changes and no smells in the water but I am getting more algae than I used to and I have had fish deaths. Obviously I can not attribute these to more frequent water changes. I am sure the algae is coming from the more frequent fertilizing that comes with WC which causes the roller coaster ride of nutrient spikes once in a while. Still looking for that fertilizing dosage sweet spot that will keep levels relatively good even with the WC schedule. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nancyr Posted August 16, 2011 Report Share Posted August 16, 2011 when i first came to cgy abt 35 years ago I set up a 35g, bought some discus from 'hole in the wall' and a pair of jewels. tank had an underground filter system and a heater and light. i never tested the water, only topped up the tank, the discus bred, the jewels bred, all in the same tank to such an extent i could sell back to the lfs, then i moved, read tons of books, i now have 7 large tanks, no underground filters of course, hob, plus large renas, test my water, do at least monthly water changes and have never ever been able to breed discus again. who can tell, perhaps we over baby our tanks. nancy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laurensdad Posted August 16, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 16, 2011 if you look at some of the places in the world we get our fish from they might only see rain 2 or 3 times a year then sometimes not even that. if you look at a small pond/ lake with no external water sources stream river or spring, heck even a community pond in the city that only gets rain water run off. yeyt will thrive with fish., your right we do baby our thanks to much Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sprucegruve Posted August 16, 2011 Report Share Posted August 16, 2011 i like babying my fish/ tanks, i let my tanks go for about a month and lost 2 rummy nose tetras. ever since i do minimum 30% weekly, and if im not in town to do it i pay someone to do it for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ishkabod Posted August 17, 2011 Report Share Posted August 17, 2011 I must admit i'm guity all too often of neglecting a tank I have one tank that i really wasn't happy with and it had fish i didn't really care about or want and couldn't see a way of getting rid of soo..... It always was the last of the tanks to get cleaned and i'm sure it was over 6 months between water changes I didn't loose any fish and they all seem to be doing well still. I tested the water and suprisingly evaporation must have taken care of the excess of nitrates there should have been because i got a suprising reading and double checked it with another newer test kit. I don't know why but ever since then i have been more diligent with cleaning. It's one of two tanks that i have neglected ever and both haven't seen any deaths, regardless i have always done regularish water changes on all the other tanks and usually more than 50% at a time. I rarely loose fish unless it's due to... (F edge GRrrr pulls hair out) In conclusion it's best to just keep up the water changes regardless. a small small amount frequently is much better than larger ones more infrequently. In my 30 gallon i've started to to one 2 liter water jug every other day as an experiment, some people advocate a 100% water change as often as possible. Each to their own i say as long as the fish are happy and healthy. If you don't keep them up then you are risking a greater chance of fish death and not to mention disease due to stress. If you do negelect the tank work on gradually getting the water back to prime not all at once. Reduce feeding if possible until it's better. Plant plants or add floating plants in a basket if you have plant eaters. Good luck L Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaykit Posted August 17, 2011 Report Share Posted August 17, 2011 All of my tanks usually only get water changes every 1-2 months when i'm home from university. Longest has probably been 6-8 months with only top-ups. My filters only get cleaned once a year too. All of my tanks are planted though so i'm never really concerned about it. Its more trimming the plants and cleaning the glass when i back home more than worrying about water changes. All the fish still spawn regularly (although they still like to snack on their young and i haven't seen 1 full grow up yet). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laurensdad Posted September 19, 2011 Author Report Share Posted September 19, 2011 last time i went ho,e for a weekend my 27 gal cube was hit with BGA i treated. but it should be interesting to see if i was able to get rid of it with a water change and meds i did not have time to do a second water change Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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