No water changes

[Myka]

Originally Posted by Reefmaster08

Every one is going to have there own way of doing things this is mine i have 75g & 125g running for years like a charm.

This will be the last post for me in this thread.

I was just trying to help, im new to the board and didnt want people to think i was here just to buy frags.

It was the way you chose to express yourself. You came across very "my way or the highway". There's a million different ways to keep reef tanks, and many ways work just as well as eachother, and many ways will only work for a small group of people. If you keep that in mind, there will be no issue. There is no such thing as "my way or the highway" with reef tanks. There are A LOT of similarities in the tanks that "win" Tank of the Month, but there are also a lot of differences. What works for one person may or may not work for another...depending what exactly it is.

[Whatigot]

Not to mention that not every reefer is after creating the ultimate living microcosm regardless of cost or blood, sweat and tears involved.
I see a lot of reefs that are beautiful that people are very proud of and yet remain simplistic in their components.
There is definitely a prevailant attitude in this hobby that the more money you've spent, the better off your reef will be and the funny thing is that this is a mentality that creates and propogates itself, I'm amazed at times at how much influence the capital market and rampant consumerism can have on otherwise stable minds.

Spend lots of money and feel good about your reef because you have spent as much money on it as you possibly could and have everything looked after by your electric monitors and wallet or adversely, try maintaining a reef with very little technological aid and bust your *** making it work.
You can always try a mix of both of these methods as well and just see what works for your preferred level of spending and man hours....

[Myka]

Originally Posted by Whatigot

Not to mention that not every reefer is after creating the ultimate living microcosm regardless of cost or blood, sweat and tears involved.
I see a lot of reefs that are beautiful that people are very proud of and yet remain simplistic in their components.
There is definitely a prevailant attitude in this hobby that the more money you've spent, the better off your reef will be and the funny thing is that this is a mentality that creates and propogates itself, I'm amazed at times at how much influence the capital market and rampant consumerism can have on otherwise stable minds.

Spend lots of money and feel good about your reef because you have spent as much money on it as you possibly could and have everything looked after by your electric monitors and wallet or adversely, try maintaining a reef with very little technological aid and bust your *** making it work.
You can always try a mix of both of these methods as well and just see what works for your preferred level of spending and man hours....

Well you said that a lot better than me...

[Samw]

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.

[Lance]

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?

[Whatigot]

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

[Lance]

Originally Posted by Whatigot

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.