Chaeto vs Water Changes

[reeftankdude]

Hello There

Did a water change and my tank crashed. This was a little while ago. All corals recovered accept two. One coral died the other is in good recovery getting darker with polyps growing. There was no harm done to the fish. There may have been something wrong with the distilled water I got from the supermarket. The label on the water bottle just said distilled. I was not thinking because distilled water needs to be carbon filtered. The carbon removes some contaminants distillation can not remove. It could have also been to large a water change at one time. Anyways I am now reluctant to do water changes. Can I use chaeto and scheduled carbon changes to keep the water health/clean. I have a 20GH. Your thoughts please. Thanks to you all.

 

[rtparty]

No. They are not the same thing.

Water changes are beyond safe 99.9% of the time. You just need to know your source water and salt is good

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Not sure I understand the carbon comments. I've never heard of distilled water being carbon filtered.

Chaeto and otehr macroalgae will reduce nitrate and ammonia and phosphate as well as some trace elements.

A water changes accomplishes much more (though not as much nitrate and phosphate reduction) and I'm not sure they are interchangeable in any meaningful way.

 

[dedragon]

There is a much simpler solution, buy your own rodi filter. It will give you full control over the water coming into your tank. They can be had from like $60-250 depending on new/used and how many stages you need for your towns water.

 

[NE reefer]

making your own water is totally the way to go. I’m only 3-4 years into the hobby and just recently started making my own water, totally a game changer. It’s easy , safe and cheaper in the long run