Quote Originally Posted by mommy1
If people read the stickies what would we all talk about. There are many wrong ways to do things in this hobby and there are many right ways to do things in this hobby and what is right for you and works may not be right for me (algae scrubbers come to mind). One large weekly water change, several smaller weekly water changes, what ever, it all results in the same thing, a clean tank with healthy fish. If you don't want to continue to do the math for people just tell them to test nitrates every day for a while and when they get close to 20ppm it's time for a water change; quick, simple, easy to understand, and very minimal math needed on their part and no math on your part. Every tank is different and has different maintenance requirements. Telling people to use their test kits not only helps them to understand the basic needs of their tank it teaches them the routine they need to follow in order to keep their own unique tank's parameters pristine. There is no need to over complicate things.

This seems to make the most sense. Due to tank size, stocking, whether or not it's planted, how the inhabitants are fed, filtration, and other variants, each tank has its own issues and each tank is unique. The only way to really know what's going on is to test the water regularly. Once a tank has cycled, nitrate testing will help determine how often to do WCs and how much water to change during any one WC, how often the filters should be cleaned, how often the substrate should be vacuumed, etc. Once the nitrates can consistently be kept within the safe range, the procedures that achieve that are the right procedures for that tank.