Water Purification

[Beverly]

Steve,

FWIW, quoted from http://www.nimh.nih.gov/HealthInformation/ocdmenu.cfm ....

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, OCD, is an anxiety disorder and is characterized by recurrent, unwanted thoughts (obsessions) and/or repetitive behaviors (compulsions). Repetitive behaviors such as handwashing, counting, checking, or cleaning are often performed with the hope of preventing obsessive thoughts or making them go away. Performing these so-called "rituals," however, provides only temporary relief, and not performing them markedly increases anxiety.

Yes, it may be funny to some people to obliquely infer that someone who has different reefkeeping methods from one's own as mentally ill. I can assure you, however, that among my human frailties and health issues, OCD is not among them. I would be insulted for myself and for others who do weekly tank maintenance if I didn't think your comments come from either ignorance of the serious nature of OCD and other mental illnesses, or if you just wanted to yank my chain, or both.


Anyway, on to other matters.....

What good does a monthly 10% water change do for your tank? Why even bother with water changes at all when they are so infrequent and small? I know a guy at the lfs who boasts he hasn't done a water change in three years and has shown me pics on the web to prove his corals' health. You've got all the gadgets and know how to pull off something like this. Why not do what he does?

For that matter, what good does a measly weekly 15% water change do for my tanks? It certainly does not raise my alk, Ca or Mg, and if I had nitrate/phosphate issues, 15% a week wouldn't even begin to address them. I've read that doing frequent water changes replenishes trace elements, but I have no way of testing to know if that's true. I've also read that doing frequent water changes adds heavy metals from the salt mix into the tank, which, over time, can be unhealthy for a tank's inhabitants. Again, I have no real way to test this either.

I think the real issue at hand is that comparing my tank and my maintenance regime to your tank and your maintenance regime is comparing apples to oranges. You have chosen one way to keep a reef and I have chosen another. IMO, what works for each of us, if indeed our maintenance regimes are doing what we claim they do, should be good enough.

Cheers to all reefers!