Monthly water changes

If my tank is understocked enough or maybe over filtered enough I'm not sure that if while monitoring my parameters for 3 weeks nitrates are still at 5 am I okay to just do monthly water changes instead?? Here are pics from 10 mins ago. My ammonia read 0.25 since day 1 in all 3 tanks regardless of how many water changes I do so I think its a false positive but I do dose prime every 5 days for my tank volume as a precaution anyways.

 

Hi,
I think the ammonia readings are due to the API test kit where.25 =zero. You can test it by doing a test on your tap water to see what reading that gives.
Your tank has been running for some time now and I assume that your fish seem okay. If you're getting the nitrate test right and they're as low as indicated you could reduce the amount of water changes but still keep checking the nitrate levels. If they get to between 20-40 then definitely do about 50%.

 

I’d stick with weekly water changes. Monthly ones are hard to track and you may not be keeping your parameters stable. There are more to water changes than just what you’re testing for.
I have some fish and shrimp that are sensitive to changes in parameters so I do water changes every few days. 2,3or 5 gallon ones. Take 5 minutes.

 

Agreed weekly WC’s are much better they will add the nutrients we don’t test for with the regular test kits

 

Eh with my understocked tanks I go 2 months between water changes. So its possible. Just watch your fish they will tell you if it will work for.

 

Hi,
I think the ammonia readings are due to the API test kit where.25 =zero. You can test it by doing a test on your tap water to see what reading that gives.
Your tank has been running for some time now and I assume that your fish seem okay. If you're getting the nitrate test right and they're as low as indicated you could reduce the amount of water changes but still keep checking the nitrate levels. If they get to between 20-40 then definitely do about 50%.

This is not true, some tap water has ammonia in it. You would need to test a water bottle that has purified water in it.

 

hey everyone thanks so much for all the replies. Had a health scare with my boyfriend and spent the past 6 days in the hospital so I wasn't checking the site. Sorry for not answering anybody but I appreciate everyone’s input

 

Best is weekly water change 10% and testing every 2 -4 week if your tank are stable.If Not then you know what to do!...already.