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Today, we're diving deep into the age-old debate of shrimp aquarium water changes. Have you ever wondered if those regular water changes are truly necessary for a healthy shrimp tank?
Well, you're not alone! In this video, I'll share my personal journey and experiences as I questioned the conventional wisdom of regular water changes in aquarium maintenance.
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? Cryptocoryne wendtii - https://fishkeepinganswers.com/12no (Amazon.com)
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0:00
Ever since I started fish keeping, water changes have been an essential part of our routine maintenance
0:05
It's written in stone that we have to carry out water changes on a regular basis, otherwise our fish and shrimp will die
0:12
Recently, I've asked myself a question. What if we didn't carry out water changes
0:18
Would there actually be a detrimental effect on the health of our shrimp
0:22
Will our shrimp colonies suddenly turn up their toes and die because we didn't carry out our water changes
0:28
Well recently I stopped carrying up water changes and in this video I'm going to tell you what
0:32
happened. Hello friends, welcome back to the channel. If you're new here, my name is Richard
0:36
and I'm a fish and shrimp keeper based in the UK. So first off, let's discuss what do we mean
0:41
by water changes. Well water changes are essentially the process of removing some
0:48
water from our aquariums. Typically we'll remove between 10 and 50% of the water and replace that
0:54
with fresh tap water, well water, RO water, whatever your source may be that suits the livestock in your tank
1:03
Now, as I've been preaching for years, shrimp love stability. They want their tank to be stable
1:09
In fact, as shrimp keeping hobbyists, we should strive for stability before we strive for perfection
1:16
Sometimes in the pursuit of perfection, we're constantly tinkering with the tank. We're constantly making changes
1:21
and that can be detrimental to our shrimp. if we can get the water parameters stable, although not necessarily perfect
1:27
we typically find our shrimp thrive. So why do we need to change water in the first place
1:32
Well, this is all to do with the nitrogen cycle. And let's very, very briefly go over the nitrogen cycle
1:37
When our fish or shrimp go to the bathroom, their waste is high in ammonia
1:43
And ammonia is highly toxic to pretty much all aquatic life. Fortunately for us shrimp keepers, there is a naturally occurring beneficial bacteria
1:52
that lives in our tanks, which will convert that ammonia into the far less toxic nitrite
1:59
Now nitrite is less toxic than ammonia, but it's still pretty toxic to your fish and your shrimp
2:05
If you have elevated levels of nitrite, you will see a detrimental effect on your shrimp and your
2:11
fish Now once again we fortunate because there another strain of bacteria that converts the nitrite into the far less harmful nitrate So we have naturally occurring bacterias that take us from ammonia to nitrite to nitrate
2:26
Highly toxic, still toxic, nowhere near as toxic. Shrimp and fish can tolerate nitrates in surprisingly high levels
2:34
Now you will often hear people on the internet saying, unless you have zero nitrates, your fish and shrimp will die
2:40
Unless you keep your nitrates under 10, your fish and shrimp will die. some people say 40 some people say 50. Here in the UK and if you live anywhere in the EU
2:49
your water can legally come out the tap with up to 50 parts per million nitrates. My tap water has
2:56
a nitrate of 40 ppm there's no way I could I could change 100% of the water I still wouldn't
3:00
have zero ppm of nitrates because it's in my tap water. In my experience the majority of fish and
3:07
shrimp can easily cope with nitrates 40 50 even up to 100 ppm and I realize the internet is now
3:14
going to shoot me down and the comments are going to be filled with with hate comments telling me
3:18
I'm a moron and all my shrimp are going to die. Just don't tell my shrimp because they seem happy
3:22
enough. Now people will often say to me Richard how can I have nitrates? I've got the best filter
3:27
I've got this fabulous canister filter I run two filters why do I have nitrates? The reality is
3:33
in our or the majority of our setups, there is no way for the naturally occurring bacteria to take
3:39
nitrates up to nitrogen gas, which would then be released into the atmosphere. There are filters
3:44
it is possible to set your tank up in a certain way that that final step of the nitrogen cycle
3:50
is completed. But for the majority of us, myself included, our regular filters, sponge filters
3:56
hang on back filters, canister filters, under gravel filters, they don't provide the right
4:01
conditions to fully complete the nitrogen cycle. So your tank will naturally build up in nitrates
4:08
and in theory if you did nothing the nitrates will continue to build to the point where they
4:15
become toxic to the fish. In my 47 gallon goldfish tank here I have four large fantail goldfish I
4:21
have to change 75% of the water every week otherwise the nitrates would build up incredibly
4:26
quickly even though I'm running canister filters. But in this case we're looking at our shrimp and
4:30
our shrimp tanks have far smaller bio load than large fancy goldfish or Oscars or a huge colony of angelfish or whatever it might be So the reason we traditionally carry out water changes is to take our tank water which might
4:43
have an elevated level of nitrates to drain it down by 10, 20, 50 percent, refill it with fresh
4:49
hopefully nitrate free water thereby reducing the nitrate levels. If you change 50 percent of the
4:55
water and you put back water with zero nitrates you essentially reduce the level of nitrates in
4:59
your tank by 50%. Water changes also help remove any hormones from your fish if you're keeping fish
5:06
or any other elements that may be building up in the tank, particularly if you're using
5:10
medications and such like. Water changes can be incredibly useful. But as mentioned previously
5:16
our shrimp want stability. They want their tank to be stable and every time we carry out water
5:21
change, we don't just change the water. We perhaps kill the bacteria that's living on the glass. We
5:27
might stir up the gravel and release other bacteria or potentially hydrogen sulfite gas
5:33
Disrupting the tank can be detrimental to the health of our shrimp. So with all that covered
5:38
why did I decide to stop doing the water changes and did I see a positive or a negative effect
5:43
Well, I decided to stop doing them so I could concentrate on stability. If I'm not changing
5:47
water, then there's a greater chance my tanks will increase in stability. But if I'm not doing
5:52
water changes, how am I going to get my nitrate levels down? Well my answer here is live aquatic
5:59
plants. I keep live plants in every single one of my shrimp tanks and one of the reasons I keep them
6:04
is as they grow they absorb ammonia, nitrite and nitrates. The faster the plant grows typically the
6:13
more ammonia, nitrite and nitrate it absorbs as it grows. Live aquarium plants are essentially
6:19
nature's filter. As they grow, they're improving the quality of the water and sucking out many of
6:26
the things that prove harmful to our shrimp. Our shrimp tanks have an incredibly low bioload. Not
6:31
much food goes in, not much waste comes out the shrimp. I believe, or certainly from my experiences
6:37
live aquarium plants, provided we choose varieties that grow quickly, if I was to grow
6:42
some Anubias that perhaps sprouted one new leaf once a month, that isn't going to absorb a great
6:48
deal of nitrate from the water But if I got fast growing plants like water sprite or water wisteria these plants grow incredibly quickly and they are sucking nitrates out the water making that water cleaner and healthier for the shrimp Now there is one
7:03
exception before the haters jump on the comments which is yes I do have to top off. Water does
7:08
evaporate even in these tanks up here that have glass lids water does evaporate. Yes I do top off
7:15
Could that be considered a water change? Yes it could but if I didn't top off I would eventually
7:19
end up with no water and no shrimp. So topping off is essential, otherwise the water level just
7:24
continues to drop at all times. So yes, you could say, well, you're still doing water changes
7:30
I'm only doing my best. Turns out I'm only human. So you're here really to see what were my results
7:36
when I stopped doing water changes. And I have to say, I've seen no effects. I've seen no increase
7:43
in the number of shrimp I'm losing. I've seen no algae blooms from the excess nitrates. I've not
7:47
seen anything to suggest I need to do regular water changes. Certainly in my experience of
7:54
stopping doing the water changes for several months I have not seen any detrimental effects
8:00
My shrimp still look colourful, my shrimp are feeding, my colonies are growing, I have babies
8:05
in just about every tank apart from the pesky black roses but we'll come back to that another day
8:11
Now I'm not saying you should stop doing water changes. If water changes are working for you
8:16
stick with them but if you want to experiment and take your time and and perhaps transition over to
8:23
no water tank systems then i would say go for it take your time keep an eye on your shrimp if you
8:29
start to see ill effects if your shrimp start to lose color they start to die for no apparent reason
8:34
they seem to have stopped eating then maybe you go back to your water changes and try and work out
8:38
what the problem was if you're treating with medication or you're using um ei fertilizing
8:43
where you fertilise every day and you have to water change for that to work, don't stop doing your water changes then
8:48
But for the majority of us, in the majority of shrimp tank setups
8:52
I think, in my experience, you can stop doing water changes with few or no ill effects
8:58
Now, if you want to transition over to a no water change system, you do need to be aware of your water parameters
9:03
You need to be able to keep an eye on your GH, your KH, your pH, your nitrate levels, etc
9:08
So my recommendation would be to watch this video next. Thanks for watching
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