If I had a tank of nothing but plants, would I have to cycle the water as often as one does if it has fish? Or can I get away with just topping it up and maintaining ph?
couple thoughts:
1. A No-Fish tank would not have to do water changes to get rid of nitrates, but you might have to add ammonia and play a really complicated game with artificial fertilizers because you don't have fish poop for your plants to eat. like land plants, aquatic plants need manure.
2. A tank with a SHITLOAD of plants and not that many fish may only need to have it's water changed 2 or 3 times per year because it's 1000% percent possible to zero out your nitrates with enough plants. I'm basically there with my 20 gallon long, I think I've only changed its water when I was dosing the tank with antibiotics. There are some people with walstad tanks they haven't changed the water in years, just topped it off.
3. I'm going to recommend reading up on the Walstad Method in general because it's really interesting and the principles there are applicable to all types of tanks, because it gives you a better understanding of how small freshwater ecosystems work. But walstad tanks have lights, maybe a heater, and no other tech, just a shitload of plants. They take a long, long time to cycle but once they do they're for-real no-tech tanks.
4. A tank without fish is not a tank without animals. healthy plants will have microfauna hitchikers like copepods, daphnia, snails, scuds etc. Those are all good and healthy and fascinating in their own right, and will have a (net positive) effect on your tank ecosystem, so you need to take them into account.
I guess my question here is what you're asking- Do you want to set up a tank with minimal water changes? Do you like tanks but don't want to get emotionally attached to fish? Are you just curious about the chemistry? Is there a plan here or just idle speculation?
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