No water changes
 

Has anybody ran a reef tank without doing water changes. I've ran into several people who claim that they do not do water changes they just top up evaporation. None of these folks had skimmers either. I bought a running aquarium with live rock from a lady who didn't know that I had experience with marine setups and before we sealed the deal she told me that it was important to not clean the sand or change any water. The rock was covered with nuisance algae. I did a 50 percent water change and washed the sand in the old tank water to get rid of all the dirt and stuff(the water was damn near cocoa) and 2 weeks later the algae was gone and then a month later every bit of exposed branch rock was covered with thick and bright purple coraline. the tank was about 5 years old. I just wanted to know what people on the board thought of "no water changes". I love water changes, everything looks new again.

I very very rairly do a water change on my reef. i just add the water to compensate for the evap, and thats about it. as for the sand bed, i do get my paws in there atleast once every week or 2 and mix it up a bit. not like a hurricane, just enough to release the nitrate gas pockets. then my skimmer goes into overkill mode for a few days, and then its clean again.

on the odd, occasion, i may do a water change, like when im starting another tank,i will take about 20% of my water and use it for the new system. and then just top off the reef tank with fresh saltwater.

i have no algae problems, and never have had actually. knock on wood.

wow this s very interesting i have herd of no water changes but had yet to hear any feed back.

Looking forward to hearing more.

My old system I went over a year with out a water change ... new one has been up and running sense Sept and only did the first one a couple weeks back .. depends on the BIO load ... how many fish how often and how much you feed, water volume, and filtration .. mechanical .. or natural... and what you have for a clean up crew, if you have Macro Algae ...many different factors ...

I varried from 1 per month to 1 per year.. no real differance as loong as you adding the depleted minerals with a Ca reactor or by dosing.

Steve

WOW, if this is real, but then why does all fish shop staffs recommend people to do water change? Or do you need a huge skimmer / refugium so one can get away from water change? :sad:

Water changes facilitate the addition of trace elements and removal of waste. Even if you can have a healthy tank without regular water changes there is no real reason for most people not to do them. It's not like you need to do them daily/weekly, so compared to other types of tank maintenance you really don't invest a lot of time into them in the grand scheme of things.

Reef tanks require the removal of organic waste & detritus and as Steve said, the replacement of depleted minerals or such.

How thats achieved is variable. Water changes, good skimmers, large algae refugiums or algae turf scrubbers, carbon, ozone and the replacement parts handled by again water changes, reactors or the addition of 2-part supplements.

Most of the experienced aquarists use a combination of water changes & filtration to achieve beautiful tanks such as those displayed in our feature,s.

I very rarely do water changes(Last one over 6 months ago).
Both of my systems have skimmers, I add minerals and my livestock is doing great.

same reason as they recomend you change out your bulbs befor you need to.. makes them money.

you do frequent water changes you buy more salt.

remember water changes are a tool and you still need them, but with the right equipment you can extend the time between them.

Steve