anyone doesn't do regular water changes?

[mat20040]

Hi
My tank parameters are stable, I have not done any water changes for the past two months. I do have some softies, lpl, sps. I do add mg, ca and buffer. any thing else i should be adding
( trace elements)?

Thanks for the help

[Cal_stir]

One of the main reasons for WC is to replenish trace elements

[daniella3d]

I do them once a month. I dose for alkalinity and calcium but when I do my water change I usualy have to cut down the dosing for a few days.

20% once a month work well for me. I can see when the corals need a water change because the vigor is a bit off. If you see no ill effect then you probably don't need to do a water change that often. It all depends on your own aquarium need and chymistry.

[Megalodon]

Some people don't do regular water changes and have beautiful tanks. I don't know how they get away with it.

[Jakegr]

I think soft coral dominated tanks can get away with infrequent water changes without many problems.

Although I have seen great SPS tanks that do not get water changes, so who knows what is going on. Most of the really nice SPS tanks, however (in my opinion), get frequent water changes (at least once per month).

[mat20040]

anyone uses trace element replacement ?
if so what and how much?


I think soft coral dominated tanks can get away with infrequent water changes without many problems.

Although I have seen great SPS tanks that do not get water changes, so who knows what is going on. Most of the really nice SPS tanks, however (in my opinion), get frequent water changes (at least once per month).

[Megalodon]

anyone uses trace element replacement ?
if so what and how much?It's said that you shouldn't dose anything you can't test for and that water changes are the best method for replenishing trace elements, so I don't think very many people do it.

[04V10]

I do changes once a week. However, I don't have much of a bioload and I have been doing some trending for elements to see how the water reacts over the week. I'm thinking I'm going to push it to 1 1/2 weeks per water change and see what happens. Maybe push it to 2 weeks. Though I do have a clam and 2 SPS in my tank. I'll keep ya posted when I push it further.

[FishyFishy!]

I do mine once per month. I dose Calcium, Magnesium, and alk

[Seriak]

I have done 20% weekly water changes since startup. Thinking of moving to 2 weeks, but we will see. I only dose alk right now. Ph and alk are low, but everything else is good. I don't add trace elements as I do the water changes so often. I don't like the idea of constantly adding stuff to my tank with no take away.

[fishoholic]

Some people don't do regular water changes and have beautiful tanks. I don't know how they get away with it.

I think I figured it out (sort of) my guess is you can get away with less water changes if you feed small amounts to your fish and don't feed frozen food very often. IMO the more you feed (especially frozen foods) bigger more often water changes will need to be done.

I feed heavily do 10% weekly water changes and my nitrates are still high :neutral:

[e46er]

I do around 30% every 2 weeks give or take a few days- its just easier
I can change 35-40 gal in 15-20 min tops

I have a tee off my closed loop pump to pump water out and a mag 9.5 to pump it back in. Super simple works great and no buckets required

[Madmak]

I have a tee off my closed loop pump to pump water out and a mag 9.5 to pump it back in. Super simple works great and no buckets required


Almost there myself for the super simple WC!


I think you can dose your way out of WC's if your careful and feed just the right amount but it's also expensive. Consistent WC's are a sure bet.

[NAS]

if your paramaters are good, and you have had success so far don't change what you are doing. Just make sure that your D.O.C's are not building up, and that you are only using RO Water for top ups. . .

[mseepman]

I'm pretty poor at the WC right now as my tank requires the full bucket treatment rather than anything automatic. I do about 4G every 3 weeks. Since my tank has been taken over by mushrooms, it's hard to be motivated to do more.:sad:

[badAZZlars]

Give the current tank of the month on reef central a read. The guy hasn't done a water change in over 3 years and his tank looks great.

With that said I do 30% every two weeks. Seeing his success almost makes me want to try no water changes for awhile as I really hate doing them but things in my tank just seem so much happier after doing a change.

[Nano]

on the subject of water changes, I have been scanning a few forums and see people telling others to do 100% WC in the even of emergencies? I think thats going to cause a cycle among other things wouldn't it?

[sphelps]

on the subject of water changes, I have been scanning a few forums and see people telling others to do 100% WC in the even of emergencies? I think thats going to cause a cycle among other things wouldn't it?
It depends, if you can change 100% of your water without killing off things like sponges growing in your rocks then it won't cause any issues. The bacteria you use on your tank is mostly attached to surfaces, while the water does contain bacteria as well in comparison it's minuscule. Things like pH and temp obviously have to match to minimize effects on livestock but realistically it's a proven approach to treating certain containment.

That said 100% maybe fairly aggressive though, more commonly large water changes in the range of 50-80% are used as a more efficient way of dealing with such issues.

[tang daddy]

I don't do massive water changes, my tank has been running for 2 years. I run skimmer, bio pellet, and algae scrubber. Feed pellets daily, brine and mysis Which I don't prerinse.

I now do 2-5g a week for fun but sometimes not even a gal....I don't do waterchanges for trace, as I use IO salt and we all know IO is a basic salt that lacks a few things but it's consistent which is why I am a fan.

I use brightwells full line and dose spastically whenever couple drops here and there...

Calcium is dripped through a container with an irrigation line, and my ato has mg sulphate/ chloride and Kalk water.

Everything is growing and doing well I would say growth isn't as fast as I would like but I have to consistently prune to fit the 100ish peices of coral in a tiny 75g....

If you do dose trace do it in small amounts once a week however I wouldn't be too woried as long as the major 3 are taken care of.

Hope this helps!

[MarkoD]

dont ever admit on a forum that you dont do frequent waterchanges.

[NAS]

Just a foot note thought.

I have seen this alot before in the inudstry. There are may different tanks and builds out there. A very good portion of them are successful.

There is one really important point here. Consistency!. The critters in your tank aclimate to your pattern (for the most part, Losses are lost. . .). The real killer is when you change your pattern. With the only exception of not using tap water to top off your tank daily/weekly, cause that is a tank killer regardless of your source water.

Just be diligent, and if it's not broken don't fix it. The day you do break pattern a little too much... BAMO!

[mseepman]

Just a foot note thought.

I have seen this alot before in the inudstry. There are may different tanks and builds out there. A very good portion of them are successful.

There is one really important point here. Consistency!. The critters in your tank aclimate to your pattern (for the most part, Losses are lost. . .). The real killer is when you change your pattern. With the only exception of not using tap water to top off your tank daily/weekly, cause that is a tank killer regardless of your source water.

Just be diligent, and if it's not broken don't fix it. The day you do break pattern a little too much... BAMO!

I think there is a lot of truth to this. A couple of years ago, my water changes suffered down to once every 2 months....but the tank looked great. Then I got focused on doing them again and I had a mini crash when I went to 10% per week...and my tank has never recovered since the mushrooms then took over.

[FishyFishy!]

Look at this tank of the month on Reef Keeping Magazine.... Says that they haven't done a water change in over 3 years! I could only imagine having such a beautiful system with no maintenance lol

http://reefkeeping.com/joomla/index.php/current-issue/article/119-tank-of-the-month

It's also using poor-boy equipment (minus the LED's) and the whole system is kind of a franken-system.... But man do they ever make it work wonders!

[George]

Look at this tank of the month on Reef Keeping Magazine.... Says that they haven't done a water change in over 3 years! I could only imagine having such a beautiful system with no maintenance lol

http://reefkeeping.com/joomla/index.php/current-issue/article/119-tank-of-the-month

It's also using poor-boy equipment (minus the LED's) and the whole system is kind of a franken-system.... But man do they ever make it work wonders!

I don't doubt no water change can work for certain tanks. But regard this particular tank, I have doubt about its long term success. Long term in my book is 5+ years. The reason I said that is because he is using a bunch of additives to help with CA, Mg and Alk. Those additives have containment for sure. They may not kill your tank in a year or two, but leave the containment accumulated and they may cause trouble.
It's been speculated that a lot of old tank syndrome (melt down of old set up tanks) are caused by build up of heavy metal (although no scientific proof).

[sphelps]

I don't doubt no water change can work for certain tanks. But regard this particular tank, I have doubt about its long term success. Long term in my book is 5+ years. The reason I said that is because he is using a bunch of additives to help with CA, Mg and Alk. Those additives have containment for sure. They may not kill your tank in a year or two, but leave the containment accumulated and they may cause trouble.
It's been speculated that a lot of old tank syndrome (melt down of old set up tanks) are caused by build up of heavy metal (although no scientific proof).

This is a 100% correct but there is scientific proof, although it's not very scientific but rather very simple. Additives like Magnesium sulphate and calcium chloride will gradually raise sulphate and chloride levels in the tank, this is obvious and has been discussed in published documents written by smart people. Eventually these levels will become toxic, how long depends on the tank but like other continents such as copper it can quickly ruin a tank with little warning.

Water changes therefore are required for long term success, how much and how often are the only variables. The problem is there are a few people out there who know very little and don't even understand the concept of a simple water change and how it can be used to control containment. They tend to believe they are breaking new ground because they are too lazy to do simple maintenance and because no obvious effects have been presented they spread the word of great success with zero maintenance.

While regular water changes are not necessarily required it's import to understand the risks and limitations. Those with success do so with limitations developed from experimenting with different livestock. They also don't do it because they are lazy but rather find it works best for their tank which no one can argue with.

[RedCoralEdmonton]

Contaminant....

Sorry bored at work...lol

Steve

[sphelps]

Contaminant....

Sorry bored at work...lol

Steve

No I'm pretty sure copper is a continent :lol: or at least that's what auto correct thinks

[fishytime]

No I'm pretty sure copper is a continent :lol: or at least that's what auto correct thinks

not containment?:razz:

[sphelps]

not containment?:razz:

Well that's the last post I make with an iphone :redface: