# Water changes



## Nelson (6 Feb 2016)

How often do you all do water changes in a low tech shrimp tank ?.
I've been doing 25% weekly in mine http://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/nelsons-comeback-low-tech.38351/
Is it necessary ?.


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## mlgt (6 Feb 2016)

I do roughly 15-20% on my shrimp tank. However given it is only 30 litres its not much. I seldom feed the shrimps too.


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## zozo (6 Feb 2016)

In my first 15 years of aquarium experience i only had low tech 180 liters and 250 liters.. Actualy very rarely did water changes, never added fertilizer only food and the fish did this job. Had a washed river sand base caped with gravel. Sometimes with syphoning of dirt or scraped off algea i did refill it with fresh water, but that was hardly a water change with 10% from a 250 liter tank. I never realy had any major problems.. I guess if you keep a tank big enough in volume, which is not overstocked to it's own devises like that it's not realy necesary, but at wont realy hurt also.

I might add it had a closed lid, so evaporation wasn't realy an isue.. Now i have open top tanks and f.e 1 is 40 liters and it evaporates abot 1 to 1,5 liters a day. So that would be +/- 40 days to completely change te water. But since it is only evaporation it would leave all minerals in the tank and affect the water parameters. That changes things and would say, yes than a regular water change would be in order no matter if it is high or low tech..


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## EnderUK (6 Feb 2016)

My CRS tank goes something like this.
Day 1 Top up with RO-water Check TDS. If TDS less than 160 add my Macros and SEMO mix. If greater then 160 then do a 30% water change with about TDS 40 RO water over about 2 hours.
Day 2 Mircos
Day 3 Top up with RO-water
Day 5 Top up with RO-water

My shrimp are basicaly living off the SEMO and leaf litter. My semo mix is made from 1 tsp demerara, 1/8 Bacter AE, 1/8 Mineral Powder 100ml of RO. If I'm feeling nice I might throw in a snowflake or bee pollen once a week. I've only been feeding SEMO for two weeks though.


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## Nelson (6 Feb 2016)

Thanks everyone.I was thinking,after reading this http://www.shirakura-shop.de/en/usage.htm ,that every 2 weeks would be ok.
@EnderUK ,I add Bacter AE every day,Betaglucan + Immunglobulin twice a week and BT-9 once a week.Is this enough,or would you advise SEMO mix ?.
Got Indian Almond leaves and Alder cones as well.Shrimp rarely go near food when I put it in,only the snails.


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## EnderUK (6 Feb 2016)

Nelson said:


> Shrimp rarely go near food when I put it in,only the snails.



Then you're feeding to much  You're tanks pretty massive for a shrimp tank, I'm guessing there is tons of food in there for the shrimps.

I've just started using the Effective Mircoorganism (you can use it for terririal plants as well apparently  ). It's meant to last a lot lot longer in the tank boosting the micro organisims, but I don't really know about that. I basically smells like a yeasty alchoal mixture. I was only feeding Bacter AE once a week anyways, my shrimp seem happy picking from the emrsed lilly roots, leaf litter, the sponge filter and the moss and like your's tend to ignore the food.


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## parotet (6 Feb 2016)

I only have small tanks (25 and 60 liters). No matter if they are low or high tech, I always change about 40-50% weekly... I find it does well to the tank and it is a relaxing time for me.
The only difference is that when I'm going low tech I can perfectly skip a week if needed and water changes are very low time consuming... I just clean the glass once a month or so, no need to trim so often. So water changes are literally "changing water" (which in a 25 or 60 liters can take from 5 to 15 minutes). In my high tech water changes I usually have to trim, clean the glass with a sponge, syphon, etc. so water changes entail quite a lot of maintenance

Jordi


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