This subject has been beaten to death. It varies from tank to tank, no ones water or tank set up is the same. I have tanks that go 6 months without water changes. Why? Because the nitrates don't get close to 40 ppm by then. Heavily planted and stocked. Some need a water change every 3 months. One every 2 weeks. There's no set time or amount to change. My fish are breeding and healthy. Plants grow like mad. Fish live a long happy life. I test every 2 weeks so its not from lack of testing. 47 years in this hobby and I've learned that what works for you don't work for all. Test your water, if it needs changed, change it. If it don't then don't there's no one way period.

I've got so many plants in my 55 that the nitrates never even register. I'll do a small cosmetic water change once a month or so just because.

My peacock tank needs a 50% water change every week while my planted community tank only needs a 25% change every week four weeks or so. Like you said, all tanks are different.

I am beginner, Aquarius person and I loved listening to your presentation about changing of the water. You’re very informative. You’re very fair and there’s a lot of people out there that need to listen to you and take into consideration what you are saying I appreciate you and I thank you for sharing. You have beautiful tanks by the way.

Thank You for being a voice of reason. I have several tanks I have set up using the Father Fish method. I neglected my 55 gallon tank for quite some time. It did fine as long as the plants were thriving. Sadly, I put some duckweed in it as a floater for my fry to hide in. Because I didn't keep an eye on the tank, it was in "the other room", the duckweed got very thick and choked out the light going to the plants in the substrate. The planted plants got weak and died. I got frustrated and removed the duckweed. My nitrates skyrocketed and I had a terrible outbreak of hair algae. At first, I thought it looked cool and my shrimp loved hunting the fields of hair algae for bits of food.

I ended up removing the hair algae, not an easy task, as it got out of hand. Soon it became overwhelming because my natural tank was working overtime to keep the nitrates low. Luckily, my tank was sparsely populated except with snails. So the ammonia didn't get out of control. After a short time of fighting the hair algae, I decided to remove my hardscaping. I scrubbed it down really well and soaked it overnight in a couple of 5 gallon buckets filled with hydrogen peroxide water. I dug out every small piece of hair algae I could find in the tank, even stirring the water up a bit and skimming with a large fishnet. I began replanting my tank with fast growing plants, planted and floating, and kept adding them as I could. I am happy to say that my refurbished tank seems to be doing well again. I now have a 60 gallon tank in the living room. So I am reminded to keep an eye on my 55 "in the other room." Being older with ADD is NO fun. I hate squirrels.

Thank you much for this video.  As someone new to the hobby this was superhelpful with cutting through all the different hook lines out there.  You helped me understand more how the factors of each tank make a difference.  I know for people long in the hobby this is old news but for a newbie it was superhelpful.

Thanks for doing this. It all depends on how your tanks are set up.

I'm sorry people have been giving you crap for what you do. I watch both your channel and Father fish and everything you said is correct, context matters. From a personal stand point i've been trying to combine your 150 with a FF deep substrate set up. Best of both worlds i hope.

A lot of fish I own are found in streams so I like to do a water change once a week

I completely agree. I have big cichlids and do regular 60% water changes every 5-7 days. No live plants because the fish eat them quickly. I feed lettuce 2 days before every water change because the fish shred the lettuce and make a mess. I like doing water changes more often than less. fish are always much happier after a water change. Also, as much fish influences say that Fluval fx6 filters can be cleaned less and show videos with longer time periods than 3 months between cleanings, I have found with big cichlids that this is not desirable and can lead to unhealthy conditions which can promote diseases such as Epistylis. Just my experience. There is no substitute for regular consistent maintenance. To keep me on track, I keep a log on everything I do to the tanks.

I change the water every 4 days 30%. Thanks for the advice.

good explanation and useful for beginners like me 😅, thanks

I'm a newbie as well and love this video. It is very informational and helpful. Thanks! I have heard so many varying opinions when it comes to water changes.

And there  are reasons I am able to keep plants with cichlids, discus in natural aquariums, and aquariums with infrequent water changes.  Thank you for trying to  clarify an important issue. Clearly your approach is effective. Your ability to explain your system and teach others to achieve your success is legendary.

your 100% spot on , every aquarium is different,  different fish, different needs . well put .

One of the best videos I have seen in a while on this subject.  Myself, I do weekly water changes on all my tanks.  I also use lots of plants which adds to the natural look for my tanks for the fish I keep.

I agree with you💯... Out of my 7 tanks, only 2 get a 25-30% weekly water changes. My mosquito fish tank, 50 gallons btw, only get a water change every 4-5 weeks. It does have plenty of plants plus mosquito fish aren't that messy. Just like you said, test your water and determine what needs to be done. Great video explaining and hopefully putting a lot of those myths to bed.

I have done both types of set-ups and totally agree with you.

I also want to add that old tank water with lots of nitrates are liquid CRACK for houseplants! Give it to your houseplants and watch them grow 🙌

Thank you for giving the context and more in depth explanation of water changes: why, when, etc. I've been wanting to do a "natural tank" because I saw Father Fish and I love the idea, but it's been hard finding any in depth information on how to maintain it properly.