Hey all,
I was wondering if any of you experienced reefers have done the math on / gone through this:
At what tank size does it become cheaper to replenish lost nutrients through dosing rather than weekly or biweekly water changes?
I know there's a whoople bunch of things to take into consideration (such as nitrate and phosphate removal/ levels, the presence of a fuge, size of the protein skimmer, calcium reactors, etc), so let's for the sake of this discussion go with the following basic setup as I believe this will cover the largest target audience:
- skimmer fit to size
- refugium
- filter socks changed weekly
I'm curious as I acknowledge the benefits of water changes to keep levels stable I'm smaller setups, but is it really as beneficial in larger setups given that some nutrients deplete much slower than others?
I mean if I'm doing the weekly water change just to replenish alkalinity and/or even calcium, am I not essentially discarding perfectly good magnesium, strontium, and other micros and essentially wasting 80% of perfectly good water in order to replace 20% of bad water?
This seems silly to me, but I could be completely wrong, hence the question. Hoping to learn from you.
Happy reefing.
T
I was wondering if any of you experienced reefers have done the math on / gone through this:
At what tank size does it become cheaper to replenish lost nutrients through dosing rather than weekly or biweekly water changes?
I know there's a whoople bunch of things to take into consideration (such as nitrate and phosphate removal/ levels, the presence of a fuge, size of the protein skimmer, calcium reactors, etc), so let's for the sake of this discussion go with the following basic setup as I believe this will cover the largest target audience:
- skimmer fit to size
- refugium
- filter socks changed weekly
I'm curious as I acknowledge the benefits of water changes to keep levels stable I'm smaller setups, but is it really as beneficial in larger setups given that some nutrients deplete much slower than others?
I mean if I'm doing the weekly water change just to replenish alkalinity and/or even calcium, am I not essentially discarding perfectly good magnesium, strontium, and other micros and essentially wasting 80% of perfectly good water in order to replace 20% of bad water?
This seems silly to me, but I could be completely wrong, hence the question. Hoping to learn from you.
Happy reefing.
T