i have 3 orange hatchet danios, 3 neon tetra, 1 snail, and about 20 shrimp. the one snail and 20 shrimp were ok with just topping the water off. the parameters using the test strips were still great. now that i have 6 fish, should i start gravel vacuuming once a month? do partial water changes? it’s a 10 gallon.
Posted by destroyerofhorse
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Given how heavily planted this is, maintenance is not so much about water quality as it is about gardening. You may never need to change the water to avoid nitrate build up.
You will want to keep on top of the duckweed so that it doesn’t shade out / smother the other plants. This could look like twice a week.
You will want to think about the plant nutrients / fertilizer- the nitrogen in fish waste / uneaten fish food is only one small part. Algae and duckweed love this, while most plants have more complicated needs. Tanks with higher bioloads often fail here – pond scum outcompetes plants which both kills plants and looks terrible. You can combat this with a quality fertilizer, regularly removing algae/duckweed, and surprisingly, regular scheduled water changes