Interesting...do you guys match parameters? I used to do 50% changes but I noticed my red cherries population declining with time...when I do water changes for my crystals I tend to find moults very quickly afterwards
No.I don't match anything. My tap water is stable (Ph, Gh, Kh, TDS wise) I empty with a python and pour temperature matched water directly into the tank. I dose the tank with Prime. At any one time since I started keeping shrimp I would have hundreds...and I've had thousands of shrimp over the years....I only counted once when I moved all shrimp from a 15G tank and I counted 300 in there...I had a 5f tank full of shrimp...I can't even imagine how many were in there before it broke...But I treat them same way as I treat my fish....large water changes...They do really well that way...multiply like rabbits..
My thoughts were that water changes in a normal tank are to remove Nitrates, detritus and to reset levels (especially from added ferts)
Water changes are not just important in terms of removing unwanted inorganic stuff but also build up of unwanted micro-organisms that may pose risk to inhabitants. Water changed tanks are tanks with healthy inhabitants. Nitrates are an end product of nitrification but are just a small drop of the big picture of the nitrification process. Nitrification alters the quality of water constantly, every minute....Without proper amount of water changes, the water in the tank can(will) shift in a negative way, harming inhabitants...Then one day people start posting how all of their stock started dying all of a sudden....blaming the recent water change, or some other imaginary enemy about their loss....
The 22l tank suffers quite a lot of evaporation anyway so I will need to replace 1-2l every week
You're are not replacing water when you top up a tank. The evaporated water is pure water and all solids remain in the tank...In time if topping up more often than changing water, the initial properties of the water shift and they normally shift in a very bad way(you get high Gh, high TDS, low Kh and plummeting Ph) ...A 22L tank is not an easy volume of water to keep healthy....I'd just replace as much water and as often as possible. It will only take 5m max for a 50% water change on a tank like that...I don't know why people convince themselves they shouldn't change water....
As for those preaching the low water change....sometimes there are reasons...For example when one manually adjusts the tank water stats, e.g enriched RO water, and they can't get it the same each time they do a water change...thus shocking the stock... If one does big water changes(which one should do for long term benfit), the water stats should be stable...Tank and tap water stats can't be much different...So its best to either learn how to perfect the new water to be the same each time, or stick to inhabitants that can do well with your more stable tap water and change as much and as often as you want then...
which would hopefully prolong the life of my Tropica aquarium soil as my tap water is quite hard
I would advise against such way of keeping soft water shrimp....Early or later they'll struggle because your water will shift...unless your project is more of a short term... If you want to try keeping shrimp this way, I'd advise a tight lid over and eliminate evaporation.....plant heavily.....
Alternatively, research the use of septic tank treatment powder in aquariums....that's right
..to reduce water changes... They are basically a pack of freeze dried faculative bacteria. In aquatic shops and pharmacies its called "probiotics" but goes for several times the price
I am not talking about nitrification bacteria in a bottle but specific type of facultative bacteria that's used in septic tank treatments. It's already been used by hobbyist in aquariums, ponds, aquaponics, with very good results... Search for an organic product, and one safe for aquatic life
Good luck.
