Victor Martinez wrote:
wrote:

With a large fish load and an unwillingness to do water changes, it's
like cramming 10 people in a bathroom and not flushing the toilet for
weeks.........


Not really. Plants consume nitrates, so constant water changes to remove
nitrates are unnecessary. I haven't done a water change to my 20g long
tank in over a year. All the plants in there are growing like weeds and
the shrimp reproduce like crazy. Crustaceans are sensitive to nitrates,
so I guess the plants are doing a good job consuming them.



I presume you top up the water with RO/DI water? Otherwise, I can
imagine both GH and KH building up to liquid rock. But even with RO/DI
water top-ups, the hardness will build-up anyway, unless you're using
100% pure H2O.

Thinking about it. Do plants reduce GH and KH? I can imagine that plants
utilise the Mg and Ca that constitute water hardness, therefore
softening it. Just guessing.

Nikki