Books also have their own opinions about water changes and schedules. The amount changed will depend a lot on stocking levels, how messy the fish are, the original quality of the change water, etc. I don t really intend on going into how much, how often, what water treatments should be used, etc, as I ll be here for a month of Sundays, and I ll only be repeating what most books, magazine articles and experts have already stated. What I don t really find necessary is reverse osmosis, adding trace elements, filtering over peat, water softening pillows, dechlorinators, products containing aloe vera, etc. What I will say about preparing water for water changes, is to find out what condition the water is in before beginning any preparation regime.
Water varies tremendously, whether it be tapwater, citywater, well-water, etc.
If you really feel the need to use multicolored gravel, go ahead, but bear in mind that if someone was to come into your house and paint the walls purple with fluorescent orange stripes and lime green spots, you probably wouldn t be too happy about it. The fish will enjoy digging and rooting around in the substrate for any tasty morsel that may have dropped there. Plants Fake or plastic, loaches don t really mind, but do remember that they appreciate some vegetable content in their diet. They may also uproot plants and move them around until they are happy with the way the tank is planted which may look radically different to the way you intended the tank to look. Special plant growing equipment such as CO2 injection, fertilizer, substrate additives, etc, are all not really required in order to have a wonderful green tank, full of thriving plants and happy loaches.