I had an idea for a non co2 tank. I was thinking about a tank with no co2 or excel enrichment with regular water changes. I know this seems counter intuitive to the idea of this type of low maintenance tank, but it does allow the use of what is a very effective weapon when something goes wrong, the good old water change. My thought is to do something like a 25% water change a week and a 50% to 70% change once a month to reset the system. After each water change I would run a large airstone for a few hours to blow off the "excess" co2 to keep the levels somewhat stable. Is this feasible or just another nutty idea ?

Henry

IMO regular WC is a good thing.

What do you need to reset with the larger WC at month end? Are you dosing EI?

The tank will work, but weekly WC does not fit my definition of low maintenance.

Good luck.

If you can find it FAMA April 1988. Article on Dorthy Reimer uses this method. She mainly did swords, vals, crypts, and aponogetons. Clay pots with soil and weekly WC. She does mention that here tap water was very good. Very old school but interesting.

Dorothy was a mentor to many long before Diana Walstad was name anyone heard much about. She, like Diana, is a strong non CO2 proponent.

One thing that makes very good sense and a client/personal friend set up for their 180 gallon: automated daily water changes.
This worked amazingly well.

They have massive amounts of fish loading in this tank and lots of wood and java fern.

Prior, there was never any way to handle the loading as well as the BBA.
Upon switching to this routine(emphasis on DAILY WC's), the BBA went away, awesome plant growth ensured, massive thickets of java fern now.

I think tap water is very important, this either works well and you have some ferts in it, or else it is a disaster.

You can switch with Excel, this allows any one good slower growth vs CO2, and massive water changes, as many as you desire.
Cost 36$ for 4 liter's worth though.

I like the daily water changer personally, you set it to change slow, about 10-20 gph via a solenoid to drain and have a float switch to refill on the other end of the system to reduce mixing.

Set it to change right before the lights go on. That way things are clean and CO2 rich before hand.

Regards,
Tom Barr