Water changes

[ReefOcean]

Who here is lazy with the water changes? I haven't done one in 3 months. The first month was just laziness but since there was no changes in my water quality (I still test, dose and top off daily) I decided to keep it going as a little lazy experiment. Upon searching the web, it appears I am far from alone. Many people go months...years..without doing a water changes.

Keep in mind, I have one fish in about 50 total gallons of water. I have a sump with more LR and macro algae and everything in my tank is pretty mature (rock is about 4 years old even though the tank relatively new). I have seen some posts, where people claim they have a much higher bioload and still maintain perfectly healthy SPS colonies with zero water changes for an extended period of time.

Who else does this?

[sphelps]

Do we really need multiple threads going at the same time for the same discussion?

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=83653

[ReefOcean]

My bad, didn't look before I posted. What are the odds.

[muck]

Originally Posted by sphelps

Do we really need multiple threads going at the same time for the same discussion?

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=83653

Threads merged...

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by muck

Threads merged...

That explains some of my confusion

[muck]

Originally Posted by Aquattro

That explains some of my confusion

And the rest?

[dc4]

This is getting to be a pretty heated discussion, how about we add some tangs into the mix... How many times should we do water changes in a 20g with 3 tangs?

On a more serious note, Im getting nice growth from everything in my tank and have so for the last 6 months since moving to a larger system and not doing regular water changes. I did weekly water changes before that and honestly had more issues with water changes. Now with a large cleanup crew and my sump and overflow stuffed with macro algae, everything looks happier than ever. Though i do add more than a salt bucket full of ro water every week do to evaporation.

I do a minor 5-10g water change when i clean out my sump though, which includes cleaning out my skimmer, carbon, and phosban reactor but thats every few months, lol.

I think my vodka doing is a big help as well.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using Tapatalk

[ReefOcean]

Originally Posted by dc4

This is getting to be a pretty heated discussion, how about we add some tangs into the mix... How many times should we do water changes in a 20g with 3 tangs?

On a more serious note, Im getting nice growth from everything in my tank and have so for the last 6 months since moving to a larger system and not doing regular water changes. I did weekly water changes before that and honestly had more issues with water changes. Now with a large cleanup crew and my sump and overflow stuffed with macro algae, everything looks happier than ever. Though i do add more than a salt bucket full of ro water every week do to evaporation.

I do a minor 5-10g water change when i clean out my sump though, which includes cleaning out my skimmer, carbon, and phosban reactor but thats every few months, lol.

I think my vodka doing is a big help as well.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using Tapatalk

My Soft corals have exploded. SPS is about the same since I stopped changing water. But yeah, I will be doing a small change soon, so stablize salanity and get the ditrious out of the bare bottom sump.

[FragIt Dan]

I am still here . I do regular water changes... ~40% every 3-6 months . I have also run the math, have a decent understanding of the mechanisms and physiology of coral reefs as they apply to non-conservative element consumption, as well as nutrient cycling and export. My systems are not closed... I supplement all non-conservative elements as well as foods and, to my knowledge, I am able to remove all waste products via my mechanical, biological and chemical filtration (if you know otherwise please let me know, I am learning new stuff everyday and always appreciate constructive criticism). In my case, as well as many others, my corals do better with regular water changes in my bare bottom setup every 3-6 months, not every 1-2 weeks (my dsb and crushed coral substrate tanks require more frequent water changes due to detritus buildup). I might be able to go longer, but do not wish to risk imbalances in elements for which I am unable to test. For the most part I observe changes in various species of corals for indications of problems. I used to do weekly water changes, but no longer feel it gives me the best results. I agree with the comment that water changes are part of 'Reefing 101', but for those of us who completed university, we took courses well beyond the 100 level and discovered our first year Profs often oversimplified things... you are welcome to continue to do long division while I am off running linear regressions (this is the part where I am poking some fun, but it is intended for humor. I have a great deal of respect for everyone and would hate to know I have offended any of you do please don't take me too seriously). You might have noticed I refer to my 3-6 month regiment as 'regular' . What if a Reefer did 5% water changes daily and told the 'bi-weekly water changers' that they were cheap and lazy? I bring this up to open debate, not to criticize anyone, and do so because i think there are knowledgable and passionate people following this thread that can offer some great ideas i hope to learn from. Again, I would really like to keep my participation friendly so please accept my apologies if I am offending anyone. I would love to have this conversation with you guys over a beer and would be happy to by the first round ('cause I'm not cheap ). Hopefully you are chuckling right now .


FragIt Dan

[reefwars]

Originally Posted by FragIt Dan

I am still here . I do regular water changes... ~40% every 3-6 months . I have also run the math, have a decent understanding of the mechanisms and physiology of coral reefs as they apply to non-conservative element consumption, as well as nutrient cycling and export. My systems are not closed... I supplement all non-conservative elements as well as foods and, to my knowledge, I am able to remove all waste products via my mechanical, biological and chemical filtration (if you know otherwise please let me know, I am learning new stuff everyday and always appreciate constructive criticism). In my case, as well as many others, my corals do better with regular water changes in my bare bottom setup every 3-6 months, not every 1-2 weeks (my dsb and crushed coral substrate tanks require more frequent water changes due to detritus buildup). I might be able to go longer, but do not wish to risk imbalances in elements for which I am unable to test. For the most part I observe changes in various species of corals for indications of problems. I used to do weekly water changes, but no longer feel it gives me the best results. I agree with the comment that water changes are part of 'Reefing 101', but for those of us who completed university, we took courses well beyond the 100 level and discovered our first year Profs often oversimplified things... you are welcome to continue to do long division while I am off running linear regressions (this is the part where I am poking some fun, but it is intended for humor. I have a great deal of respect for everyone and would hate to know I have offended any of you do please don't take me too seriously). You might have noticed I refer to my 3-6 month regiment as 'regular' . What if a Reefer did 5% water changes daily and told the 'bi-weekly water changers' that they were cheap and lazy? I bring this up to open debate, not to criticize anyone, and do so because i think there are knowledgable and passionate people following this thread that can offer some great ideas i hope to learn from. Again, I would really like to keep my participation friendly so please accept my apologies if I am offending anyone. I would love to have this conversation with you guys over a beer and would be happy to by the first round ('cause I'm not cheap ). Hopefully you are chuckling right now .


FragIt Dan

ok i chuckled lol i agree though but you do do water changes, its just less often but the effect is still there as oppsosed to someone who doesnt do them at all.not saying that not doing water changes will mean an unsuccessful tank over the years and especially the first 8yrs i ran skimmerless and dosing wasnt an option as 1)you couldnt get test kits where im from and 2)you couldnt get stuff to dose lol so water changes was where its at if you could even get salt lol


with todays advances i mean who knows i just still think its nice to give the animals including corals a breath of fresh air