Water Changes When Nitrates consistently read zero?
 

Im just wondering about this topic since Ive been testing my water and I have almost no nitrates whatsoever even after like 3-4 weeks of not changing my water. It seems like my chaeto and DSB seem to be taking care of my Nitrates.

So this makes me wonder - are there any reefers who don't do water changes very often if at all? It seems like dosing, topping off evaporated water etc is enough but has anyone ever run an aquarium for an extended version without adding more fresh salt water?

Im sure some trace elements would eventually go real low, once we dont dose for, but what if we dosed everything? Just trying to have a discussion, Im not going to go and do this, but just wondering if anyone else has?

What is DSB

Deep Sand Bed

I do water changes and rather than stocking/figuring/testing etc of water trace elements to replace, rely on a simple water change.

DSB=deep sand bed

There are some people who don't do waterchanges and dose everything. I like to think that waterchanges are like a breath of fresh air for the fish.

Life would suck if you were in a room full of people and you couldn't open a window now and then :razz:

+1 - this is in fact a really good analogy!! Even with zero nitrates there is still benefit to water changes - I find no matter how well I might think a tank is looking - I find the day after a water change it always looks better. Always. Even smallish water changes seem to give a tank a lift. One could probably explain it away with things like there is still stuff taken out that should be taken out, that isn't as easily measurable as say nitrate or phosphate - and there is stuff replenished that should be replenished, that isn't as easily measurable as say Ca, Alk, Mg, or K .. some people call it "trace elements" but I think it actually goes beyond that.

Heard this rule of thumb recently called the "two times five equals success" - basically meaning 5% water changes twice per week. Something I might give a try at some point myself (right now I'm on the "10% per week" plan).

Yeah that was on reefbuilders last week. Ten minute waterchange my arse...:confused: :razz:

Depends on the size of tank I suppose. I can do a ~6g water change in my 40g in about that amount of time, less if I don't try to OCDishly vaccuum all the rock poo out of all the nooks and crannies. The larger tank takes longer, mostly it's the time it takes to move the requisite water volume through a 5/8" hose 3 times (once to remove from tank, once to put new water in, and once again to empty the rubbermaid with the dirty water into the drain). And that's without trying the siphon the sand.. which I probably should, but I don't, because it's too hard.

Water changes are a bit of my own made hassle as when I do them, I siphon out ~15g from the display to get the detritus that collects in the corners of my BB and the remaining 10g from my basement sump/fuge.

If I just did water change from the sump only, it could be a 5-10 minute job. Other than leaving the sediment in the display (which really isn't that much) any negatives. It would save me from having bring upstairs the waste barrel and dolly, carting the 15g to the main floor bathroom tub, clean up, etc.

I just read an article by Dr. Dieter Brockman who says:

Quote: "It is the experience of many aquarists that a change of between 10 and 20 per cent of the water per month is optimal for reef aquariums; higher percentages are, in my opinion, counterproductive. For fish-only tanks, the percentage can be significantly higher, up to 50 percent per month. Partial water changes that go beyond this limit for reef aquariums endanger the system's stability and increase algal growth. For any aquarium system, small and frequent partial water changes are also preferable to a single large one per month: Small volume changes are less hard on the chemical parameters of the system. The current approach to my 220-gallon tank is to replace 12 percent (aproximately 25 gallons) per month, divided into four weekly changes of roughly 6 gallons.

Yaaaaaaay, now I can cut back on my water changes with a clear conscience.

any picture of Dr. Dieter's 220g

Nope, no pics in the article. Maybe it's an algae-enfested mess: Sometimes the experts can't grow anything. :mrgreen:

Are you suggesting I may be an expert? From diatom farmer to expert in one day. How great is that.

I don't know about expert but if Japan went crazy over algae like they did with the pine mushrooms a few years back, I'd be rich. :lol: Algae exporter extroardinaire!

I do daily water changes, in my 120G. I do about 1.5G a day. Its automated on a timer and drain.
My tank has never looked so good.

There for awhile there was a thread on RC advocating waterchanges via wet skimming. It was quite an interesting read and I did think about it for awhile but it was still too labor intensive for me :razz:

Yeah, I read that thread. I even tried it a few times, but like you said, it was more trouble than it's worth.

Hmmm, interesting topic. I think I might do the larger changes once a month though. Just "easier" haha. Mostly cause Id need another barrel to mix in for the smaller more frequent changes.

Salt buckets work pretty good for that sort of thing though, and odds are you'll have a half dozen of those before long in this hobby anyhow.. I find that the size of system makes a big difference too. My big tanks get by with a 25% monthly w/c if need be. Any nano (well let's say 40g or under) that I've tried that on ends up as a mess. Whereas 10% weekly and they do great. And the big tanks do better on the same weekly schedule. So I think it stands to reason that perhaps even more frequent, but smaller (and thus more manageable) w/c's might even be that much better.

ahh, water change discussions, gotta love 'em :-) Not too long ago I was on a two water changes a week schedule. That didn't last long. Although things always had that "breath of fresh air/water" look. I'm now back to my weekly water changes but I do quite a bit every week, like 17%. Sounds like I can drop that down to 6% a week!?