No Nitrate. Is weekly water change required?

Another beginner question

I started a tank that is fairly heavily planted about 6 weeks ago. Setup with Cal Labs Black Earth, a little drift wood and as many different kinds of plants I could find at the LFS. I used Prime & Stability for water treatment and pilfered some Matrix from another tank's filter, to try and get the cycling done as soon as possible.
The tank just has a few guppies and Malaysian trumpet snails in it. Both fish and plants are thriving. Plants actually growing really fast. I've not used any other chemicals, fertilisers, etc

Now, the strange thing is that this tank seems to have zero nitrates and nitrites in it. I last did a water change 2 weeks ago and still the test shows zero. Do I still need to change water every week?

BTW: I did 'calibrate' the test kit on my other tank and got the expected reading, so think the test kit is ok.

 

I personally would carry on with my weekly water changes, it would give me peace of mind, and also another thing for me would be- the tank is thriving now where it is and how you've done things that I personally wouldn't want to risk the chance of something going wrong "by not doing the weekly water changes." There's a reason why your tank, plants amd fish are doing well so why risk it by skipping a week or two of water changes?
Keep up the good work and you will have many years of happy fish keeping...

What I would do as well seeing as you're doubting your test kits would be to take a sample of your water to your lfs to see if the readings are the same, its always better to be safe than sorry.

Best of luck and also well done.

Jason

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@Dale-CT, with your tank being lightly stocked and heavily planted its possible that maybe you getting those readings but maybe just make sure by taking a sample to LFS ,as has been suggested

We still do water changes weekly, irrespective of the readings... water changes are your maintenance program to ensure those readings stay good
Dont wait for the readings to go pear shaped and things to go wrong to do water changes.

I agree with what has been said..dont take chances... when things go wrong it can be heart breaking
Keep up what you have been doing, your fish will be happy and you will be smilling

All best

 

Imo a self sustaining/balanced tank takes way more science than the average aquarist has access to.

Everything you add to an aquarium stays in the aquarium in some form or another. By adding water, due to evaporation, you add more minerals, metals etc which is in the water. The concentration will increase over time. Your aquarium might stay in the perfect balance curve for some time, even years, but at some point the scales will tip and the tank will crash. Doing a wc is our 'natural' help to reset this balans. Always a good idea to do a bigger than normal wc every few months to compensate for evaporation.

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The importance of water changes.

It is important to change some of your water each week in your planted aquarium. This will remove excess amounts of waste and unwanted nutrients, mainly ammonia (algae love this). Thus, suppressing algae growth and helps keeps your plants & fish happy. By carrying out a water change you are diluting your tank water with fresh cleaner water, and therefore reducing the concentration of waste products.

Should you encounter an algae outbreak, it's recommend carrying out regular 50% water changes to remove pollutants from the water, whilst cleaning out any unsightly algae on your glass, wood and plants. Don't forget to dose your macro and micro nutrients again after any water change.

 

No - should; you maybe, new tanks are funny some need WC's like I need coffee in the morning, afternoon and before bed. Other tanks have substrate and plants that mitigate the perceived need for the WC, allot has to do with the substrate you have. In your case I suspect the little talked about fulvic acids is your helper. It helps in boosting plant health and making nutrients available for uptake. (Side note I do add bio-sil to tanks that do not have or have depleted the fulvic acid in old substrate)

No two tanks are 100% the same - but you can make your own deductions and conclusions. Observations like - water tinge, smell and - not taste, never taste your tank water - can all be input into you making the call. It is true things build-up in your tank that one can not see or smell, yes they might even be hard to measure. This is why people just do the routine thing of doing a WC's ... at some point your substrates magic will be depleted - plants will look drab and you will need to start adding fertz - then doing a WC might be more critical since we hardly ever get it dialed in 100%.

Later Ferdie

 

Thanks for all the replies .... the message is pretty clear

 

I will top-up if the water is clear and not smelly.
Heavily planted tanks that's lightly stocked is the easiest.