Water Changes or No Water Changes & Optimization | Deep Dive

[@tylervolk4965]

He’s back! Long time fan! Glad to see your back!

[@ADUAquascaping]

Thanks, man. I am somewhat back, haha. I upload when I get an idea

[@Pricklyhedgehog72]

Glad to see you back making videos brother!

[@ADUAquascaping]

Hey, thanks man! Thanks for the support. I will definitely be uploading more often

[@Hellacop6]

I’m so glad you’re back, I started aquascaping while watching your video and definitely missed some true and informative content like yours without all the advertising …keep your sleeves wet! Ps: nice Paul Reed smith!

[@ADUAquascaping]

Thanks. I got my PRS all set up really well. Sounds great and easy to play. Guitar Center had it all out of alignment

[@westsidescape481]

bro. welcome back. you helped me a lot when I started the hobby. 🎉 can't wait to see your new content

[@ADUAquascaping]

Thanks man! Thanks for supporting my channel. I will definitely be uploading more often!

[@MrSwordstroker]

Such a great channel man we missed you - keep them coming :)

[@ADUAquascaping]

Thank you! I shall keep balancing the energies in my heart Jesus

[@AL_McLoud]

Nice little tank. It's good to see you back. I haven't uploaded any fish videos in years and last year I gave away my 55 gal tank due to moving to a new temporary place. Wishing you all the best 😊

[@n.o.a.h.-northernontarioaq7991]

Hey man...welcome back!

[@ADUAquascaping]

Thanks man! Glad to see you're still around breaking all of the myths! Haha

[@n.o.a.h.-northernontarioaq7991]

@@ADUAquascaping Yeah. I haven't made new video in a couple years either but I am still all over the groups as much as possible.

[@ADUAquascaping]

That's good to hear. I haven't even been doing that lately haha. I hope your aquariums are going well

[@n.o.a.h.-northernontarioaq7991]

@@ADUAquascaping Yeah. In the last 3 years I picked up my 3rd undergraduate degree and am halfway through a Masters...so I have been running the tanks VERY low energy.. Hahaha. A few could use a hard clean up because unfortunately my wife accidentally used a solvent in the same room and the aerosol fumes nuked 2 of the tanks. One will be a tear down but the other is bouncing back already. The struggle is always real...but also always real fun.

[@ADUAquascaping]

Dang, nice work! What are you studying for your Master's degree?

[@someoyou]

Thanks Dave! As usual, your videos help a lot, and inspire a lot into hobby👍 My 180 L tank lives its life since 2017 without restart and in my case additional skimmer filter does a lot, adding water circulation and keeping water surface clean

[@ADUAquascaping]

That is awesome! Thanks for always supporting my channel. Sounds like you are going for a 10-year aquarium! 😊

[@Jstroman221]

Had no idea you were back!

[@ADUAquascaping]

Just coming out of a deep freeze 😴 🤣. Thanks for watching!

[@AussieAquatic]

"Better than Nature" is the normal planted tank goal, now that Takashi Armano has spoilt us for what is possible. Welcome back Dave Guitarfish, 100K is the next step :)

[@ADUAquascaping]

"The NEW normal" - by Takashi Amano, haha. RIP 🙏 🪦 😌 ☹️ 😔

[@Heropk5]

This is gold. Thanks for your knowledge.

[@DEXTER-TV-series]

I don't plan to grow plants, I don't plan to do water changes, But it was very interesting to listen to you! Like 44.

[@ADUAquascaping]

You will just have a good substrate and or filtration, and balance your fish load? What is your plan?

[@martinl.4696]

Nice video! My tanks have also been dry the last 6 years. I've since completed and undergrad and spent some time in a limnology lab. I'm pumped to start growing plants underwater again.

[@ADUAquascaping]

Oh, nice! That sounds fun. What is your degree? You'll have to help me remember things haha

[@martinl.4696]

@@ADUAquascaping Microbiology. Although most of my micro coursework was medical/cellular/terrestrially focused, I'd be interested to learn more within an aquatic context.

[@aquahobby1982]

Another awesome video 🎉❤.. With 2 weeks no water change , i see my tank water starts to get a brown tinge. May b from wood or increased DOC / nitrate. That's why i prefer to stick to weekly water changes

[@DEXTER-TV-series]

Brown water from nitrate? :)))

[@ADUAquascaping]

Most likely just tannins from the wood. Yes, you can go longer without doing a water change in a well-established aquarium. I find it's still better to do them more often.

[@matthewsmith22]

Such an interesting insight. Not enough is really said about aerobic bacteria colonies and pH. I found out the hard way a few years ago, I had a pretty nice, profitable group of breeding ranchus, we had a lot of flooding in the area, resulting in very low pH from the tap, a crashed followed then you can guess the rest!

[@ADUAquascaping]

Dang that is nuts! Did the fish die after pH increased again? From ammonia formation?

[@matthewsmith22]

@@ADUAquascaping I think that's what caused it, all took place in a matter of hours. It took me the longest time to figure out what had gone wrong. I very nearly turned my back on the hobby that weekend. I did guppies in the 5 foot tank for a while, that was kinda fun but I felt like I was constantly chasing the water instead of enjoying the tank. I run it much simpler now. I use under gravel filtration with mesh bags filled with aragonite. I had this idea of rearing a large school of nano fish and growing lots of plants outdoors in the summer months to then scape in the autumn, I ended up selling/giving away everything and going back to goldies in the end though 😂

[@ADUAquascaping]

Oh haha, well they must be your favorite fish then? I once had a heater malfunction and all of my fish died. I almost quit the hobby, too. And the only fish that survived the hot water bath was a Firemouth Cichlid. I guess they must have efficient gills. It was swimming around as if nothing was wrong! 🤣

[@ADUAquascaping]

The under-gravel filter sounds pretty good for what you're doing.

[@matthewsmith22]

@@ADUAquascaping ha! Sounds like a pretty Hardy fish! I actually really like the UGF, I run it using it maxijet pump in reverse flow with a big koi pond prefilter on it. I'm kinda lazy nowadays with work and family and whatnot, this set up looks after itself so much better than any cannister or over head sumps I've used in the past between water changes. Gotta say though, your setup has me jonesing for a fun planted nano again!

[@jessebrown1400]

Where I live southern Alberta the formations can be quite different for water parameters but the bow river has very high calcium, super high magnesium, and lots of silicates. Without ro filtration the dkh is 15-16. Using acid will drop the dkh but the pH drops faster still. Removing minerals is best way to go, trying to add things to stabilize doesn't work here.

[@ADUAquascaping]

Dang, with those values the acid isn't doing much until it crashes! Haha. Yes, just the same as me. The best way to deal with it is definitely via RO dilution. We're just unlucky, but perfect for African cichlids!

[@freemansaquatics5326]

I've been out of the hobby for over a year now moved into a new house and the floors won't support a big tank so I've yet to brace the floors just life busy life...but yeah man life happens

[@ADUAquascaping]

I understand that! I had to scramble to survive Covid-19 right after I graduated. I was laid off as a junior scientist working for the State, so I had to start a small business.

[@freemansaquatics5326]

@@ADUAquascaping God I'm sorry to hear that I lost my career as well and had to go into ironwork myself. Stay strong man we will pull through all this stuff happy to see you making videos I've learned a lot from you in the past 🥂

[@ADUAquascaping]

It's ok, they were paying me peanuts at the State, and I didn't like my boss. Now I am living with way more freedom. Hustling to get jobs is better than having a supervisor haha

[@stevedotrsa]

My AR620T is now nearly 10 years 'Walsted-ish', with a water change every 3 years or so. Top ups every 2 to 3 weeks. Medium to low led, a large anubia and some val. The AR850 is going on 6. Shoals of cardinals in each, and they seem fine. Swapping to ADA substrate from original gravel made the difference from my previous tanks.

[@stevedotrsa]

After watching further, perhaps the in lid filter with the extra surface agitation is helping?

[@DEXTER-TV-series]

@@stevedotrsa helping in what? :)

[@ADUAquascaping]

That sounds like a really balanced setup and pretty cool to hear that you have such patience! Haha. The extra flow and agitation don't hurt. It will definitely increase dissolved O2 and maintain a stable gas exchange. Plants alone won't keep the saturation level near 100% O2 in the water, which is 8 mg/L when at a 25 degree Celsius temperature.

[@ADUAquascaping]

Higher dissolved oxygen and a stable gas exchange.

[@jonisolis9645]

💚 💚💚

[@ADUAquascaping]

💚

[@Mr_KaLaMITY]

I'm super lazy and "forget" sometimes.

[@ADUAquascaping]

Yeah me too haha

[@leecasey8309]

wow, that’s a dry vid about aquariums.. ironic

[@DEXTER-TV-series]

Dry ?

[@ADUAquascaping]

Haha, a classic Lee comment! Just use me for your insomnia. It's an instant cure! I did this video so that I don't have to keep talking about this all the time. I will just reference this video in the future when people have questions or run into well-established myths.

[@ADUAquascaping]

He means boring. He would rather drown in his aquarium water than have to listen to this monologue 🤣

[@Sinserg]

That's basically what I do minus the low dkh, I get moderately hard water out of the tap 🥲

[@ADUAquascaping]

I know your pain! We better just get some African Cichlids, too. Right now I just get RO water from my local grocery store. The tank is so small that it's not inconvenient.