I haven't done a water change in about 8 months and I'm way overstocked. So far so good. My tank has never been better. I think it has to do with additives that I started using last year. Hope my luck continues. I keep wanting to do a water change but I'm lazy and my corals and fish haven't complained yet.

This is a method of a friend of mine, who has been in the hobby for years. I'm using it and it seems to work pretty well. I do it every 2 weeks.

- turn off all pumps, powerheads, skimmer, etc.
- using a diatom filter with an extension on the exhaust, blow detritus, etc
up into the water
- run the diatom filter for about 1 hour, until water is very clear
- perform a 20% water change
- test all parameters, as diatom filters take out some good stuff as well
- turn on pumps, etc.

Diatom Filters get the water nice and clear. Also has the benefit of filtering any parasites from the tank.

What do you think?

having no experience with diatom filters, this seems like a lot of work for what could essentially be accomplished with a good siphoning/waterchange?

No, They're not a lot of work. It is actually easier than siphoning by hand. Just set in on the floor, hang the exhaust and intake tubes into the tank and turn it on. I've used them for years on FW tanks and they work great. Many LFS use them to quickly clean the tanks. I figure if I'm doing a water change anyway, why not clean the water real well.

At the pet stores I have worked at I have always just done watetr changes. Lance your way would work but it is doing the same thing as a good syphoning and a good syphoning is a lot quicker than using a diatom then a water change.
Super7

New Tank
 

I just got my tank up and running 1 week ago. I have LR LS and 2 hermits to knock back the hair algae.

Other than a slightly elevated phosphate level and a ph of 7.8 my other parameters are good. Should I already be starting water changes or wait a bit?

^ Keep your tanks lights off for the first month or so. I'd wait until the cycle is over (ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate <5ppm) before doing any waterchanges. At which time I like to do a 50% waterchange.

Cycle Over?
 

Could my cycle may be over already? Although the tank has only been set up since last Saturday I had well cured live rock in my rubbermaid tub for almost 2 weeks. I have been turning on the halide for about 2 hours each evening just so I could gaze at the rock and watch the hermits at work.

I will keep testing to see what happens.

I used to have an 180G tank, mainly SPS and a few LPS. It was well stock with fishes and i was doing no water change. Had a big skimmer on that tank, a small refugium and all seem to be doing fine. The tank was up for 2 years, done 1 water change during those 2 years. All the fishes was healthy and fat. The corals was growing fast looks ok too! In the end of the 2 years, i started having a really big problem with algea! None of my snails would eat it and the spreading time was crazy fast! I tried to get rid of that algea with no success, my nitrate level was high and could not go down with even all the water changes and the AZ No3 that i bought did nothing!

Now having my new tank up and running, i learned something from my previous tank. Doing water changes not also bring back some elements, its also a prevention. The colors of the corals also seem more vibrant and the polyps extention after each water change is impressive! A tank could survive without water change, but after a while, you might come by some problem and then, that is really hard to get out of it.

Please note this is my personal opinion on my own experience :)

i do one every 3-4 days, about 15% each time, and the tanks doing great, mind you i'm skimmerless. i dose alot of supplements about twice a week though to pay up for the lost trace elements