No water changes

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by chevyjaxon

ive had a 90 gal up and running for 8 weeks now not even 1 water change ive loaded up the system too ive got a tang, clown, 5 damsels, huge neon wrasse, mushroom corals, and a bubbletip anemone i use marine snow, purple up, and 2 skimmers one is a woodlimestone skimmer the other is made by instant ocean i think im doing great for a noobie and to think i was starting to worry about doing a water change even though my nitrates are under 20 ppm i guess that being said no water changes for atleast another month

I am asuming from all the happy faces you are joking, er I hope so anyways.. I am talking a system with perfect water condidions. when I did do my rare water changes, amonia, nitrate and nitrite were all still undetectable. I used both a Ca reactor and a kalk reactor, my skimmer was probably rated for 4 times my water volume, and I had low fish stalking and I feed on the lower side. don't use nitrates as a deciding factor as when you see them you should have already done one if your system can't handle them.

also don't be scared of large waterchanges.. I used to do 20% changes and if I decided I needed a big one I would do 80% and I have even done a couple 100% changes when I moved tanks ect.. as long as your salinity, PH, Ca, Alk and temp are very close you should be fine.

Steve

[Myka]

Originally Posted by StirCrazy

I had low fish stalking

I hate it when my fish stalk eachother. Sorry I just had to.

Originally Posted by StirCrazy

also don't be scared of large waterchanges.. I used to do 20% changes and if I decided I needed a big one I would do 80% and I have even done a couple 100% changes when I moved tanks ect.. as long as your salinity, PH, Ca, Alk and temp are very close you should be fine.

Steve

I find it best to steer newbies away from large waterchanges for many reasons. One being that they aren't usually very good at matching water params, and two because they often figure that doing 75% waterchanges once every 6 months is the same as doing weekly 10%. Newbies shouldn't be given some information...

[albert_dao]

Who here has an SPS tank?

[Myka]

Originally Posted by albert_dao

Who here has an SPS tank?

HAHAHA! Good question.

[chevyjaxon]

well I did go out and buy a couple of jars nitrate of sponges today i put them in nylon bags and into the sump BTW i was only kidding about the water change thing, i did do one earlier this week 20% or so. but my nitrates still stayed at
20 ppm I also know that zero nitrates is an impossible level to obtain any living tank will have some nitrates a person knows they are doing exceptionally well when nitrate levels are around 5 ppm in a few weeks with the aid of this sponge material, i should expect to see my nitrates drop considerably any suggestions on how to drop them sooner would be greatly appreciated. i do know my biological filters are working because i haven't seen any detectable ammonia yet
all i can see is the nitrates that they are producing and yes i really am a newbie

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by albert_dao

Who here has an SPS tank?

me.. why?

[Pan]

Originally Posted by Myka

I hate it when my fish stalk eachother. Sorry I just had to.



I find it best to steer newbies away from large waterchanges for many reasons. One being that they aren't usually very good at matching water params, and two because they often figure that doing 75% waterchanges once every 6 months is the same as doing weekly 10%. Newbies shouldn't be given some information...

If you cannot match parameters in a water change you should seek out a lite-brite for that is the limit of your capable skills. Seriously water change are the best friend to people new to marine tanks. It is simple to change water, if you know what you are doing, but then if you know what you are doing most things are simple. If you notice in this hobby for every "you can't or shouldn't do that" there is a "i did it and it work fine for me". The only thing that is for sure is as you grow in this hobby you gain experience, without the reality of learning from your mistakes and actually running an maintaining a tank you have theoretical knowledge and that is it. Theory is good in theory only. There is a reason WISDOM and AGE go hand in hand, not beacuse one is older but because chances are the older you are (in this case the longer you have run a tank for) the more mistakes you have made and learned from. Keep in mind learning for yourself when asking questions, i guarantee you have people telling you both sides of a question. The only way to find out is to try.

That being said water changes worked for me when i was new to the hobby, I have also seen water changes kill a tank in 20 minutes (yes everything was done the same, most likely bad salt....another key to many problems, test you new water before and after you mix the salt. Unless you trust your RO/DI unit religiously....I also use tap water...i also test it for many things most people do not.

[fishoholic]

I try to do 20% water changes every week. Sometimes it gets forgotten for a week but never more then two. Of course I have a very high bio load and I feed my fish lots, so for me if I didn't do water changes often I'd be in big trouble.

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by Myka

because they often figure that doing 75% waterchanges once every 6 months is the same as doing weekly 10%. Newbies shouldn't be given some information...

actualy it would be just under 2 months not 6 but interesting you bring this up as there is an old debate from about 4 or more years ago on wether leage or small waterchanges are better. then an article came out that showed the dilution effect of both small and large over time. what it boiled down to is small ones will never get rid of someting and actualy did pourly compared to 60 or 80% (can't remember exactly what they compared it againsts off hand)

Steve

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by Myka

I find it best to steer newbies away from large waterchanges for many reasons. One being that they aren't usually very good at matching water params,

this is the basis for reef keeping, if they arn't very good then they should be practicing befor they even start or not start at all. after all it isn't rocket science and if retailers would take the proper time to show them how to do the measurments and what equipment they realy need instead of what would make them the most money they would be better off.

Steve