Hi folks, the AquaMyths are back and today they are dealing with the following two myths:
1. Water changes are not necessary
You often hear that changing the aquarium water is not necessary. Just imagine you are in your room for two weeks without it being aired. Not a nice feeling, is it? It’s the same in an aquarium. Your fish will thank you for their fresh water supply, noticeable perhaps by their conspicuous courting behaviour! With community tanks, as an example, a partial water change needs to be carried out every two weeks. Change approximately one third of the water. Once you have aired your room, the fresh air has entered, but that doesn’t mean the room is clean. So get out the vacuum cleaner! In the aquarium it’s important to remove more than water. You also need to use a so-called gravel cleaner (e.g. JBL PROCLEAN AQUA EX 20-45 ), for example, so that plant remains or fish excretions can be sucked out of the bottom. Once this is done, you need to add a water conditioner (e.g. Watervoorbereidingsmiddel ) to the fresh water. This binds problematic substances such as copper, chlorine or zinc and renders them harmless for our aquarium inhabitants. You can find more about water changes here: Waterverversing
Yet this does not mean that the partial water change is always necessary. If you practise backwater aquaristics you only refill the evaporated water and can manage without a change. This means that when water values fluctuate, people often resort to agents such as phosphate or nitrate removers to get the relevant excess out of the water. Partial water changes stabilise the mineral and nutrient balance in the aquarium. With water changes, you rarely need to resort to using agents.
2. Small aquariums are better when you’re new to aquarisics
You’ll often see so-called "beginner sets" which contain aquariums with sizes of 20 or 30 litres. But how beginner-friendly are these tanks really? First of all, as you will know, you are not legally allowed to keep fish in an aquarium under 54 litres. At most, you can keep dwarf shrimps or snails in them. Furthermore, small aquariums are less forgiving than larger ones. It’s harder to keep the water quality constant in such "nano aquariums.” It’s worth considering choosing a tank with a capacity of at least 100 litres when you’re starting out. You can try the smaller tanks once you’re more familiar with aquaristics. Starting with a small aquarium is often the reason why people give up aquaristics so quickly.
