Over a Year with No Water Change?

[Sponge]

Matt,
Some quick research I did in the past I tend to agree about volume. compared to our tanks. I still feel with proper maintenance and controlled feeding we don't as many WC as we do. I am a bad example of course but people here and else where have had success.

Oh. I agree. The problem isint if it’s possible the problem. As long as you have a way to remove waste. So it doesn’t build up. In theory. Your fine. The problem is time is not our best friend. Things get into tanks in many ways. Some of those things like palladium from a circuit board on a heater the cracked in the tank can poison the water. And over time. These types of untestable unknown carcinogenic elements build up. The only viable way to remove many of them is to take old water out. And put new water in. For these reasons. Water changes are just a way to remove the unknown before they become problematic. With that said. Water volume and stocking levels determine how often it should be done. If you had 5000 gallons of water you could go a very long time before toxic concentrations would yield any negative effects. Sadly most of us don’t have that volume so how often is absolutely debatable. But sooner or later. You must remove the bad.