For Those of You Who DONT Do Waterchanges....

[Goodair]

With skimmers, socks, reactors and refugium, what is there left to take out of the water column (if nitrates/phosphates are steady). We can all agree that water changes are essential for importing trace elements, especially the ones not being dosed. But what are we getting rid off thats not obvious?

 

[Sallstrom]

I know I’ll get tons of hate for this but if you don’t do at least one water change per month I just assume you’re lazy. Give your creatures fresh water, could we live without showering? of course, but we’d feel dirty all the time. Water changes don’t take that long unless your tanks massive. People will do anything to remove them having to do any work. Water changes are good for everyone.

It's not about being lazy. It's about not removing tank water if you are satisfied with the water. There's still a lot of work keeping the tank water good and adding what's needed.

I think I've used at least half of the suggested export methods. Sometime many at the time. Sometime none, if the tank is well balanced. (I work with many tanks)
There're many ways to skin a cat

 

[Matt Carden]

Ok so I'm still developing my own adaptation of @Paul B method. At the moment I have extremely high
PO4 >6ppm. So obviously I have some bugs to work out. The idea is to have a complete food chain that would eventually end up being eaten by fish, coral, CUC. The nutrients would be thereby be locked up in the organisms growth so effectively removed unless that organism dies.

 

[Sailfinguy21]

With skimmers, socks, reactors and refugium, what is there left to take out of the water column (if nitrates/phosphates are steady). We can all agree that water changes are essential for importing trace elements, especially the ones not being dosed. But what are we getting rid off thats not obvious?

I dont even think water changes are needed for trace elements either... dosing does all this.. And so does refilling the tank when it evaporates.. at least for me because i use straight tap. If i have to refill 3 gallons every 2 days im already putting some trace elements back in.

ro.di water has 0 trace elements in it so if you use rodi for changing water youre actually not adding any trace elements to the tank. Except whatever your salt has.. but dosing already does that.

 

[ZaneTer]

@atoll

Hello, my friend. I like the way you put oxygen in your tank. Because I have tooo many tanks I aggressively use air bubblers from a 1HP regenerative blower located in greenhouse. When I figure out how to use a hi-tech oxygen probe connected to PLC (program ligic controller) I will go wireless.

Are you wanting to measure ORP or dissolved oxygen content?

Also a fellow PLC user here.

 

[Ralph Ritoch]

For some/most: yes, absolutely.

For the few others who have a good understanding of the relationship between the elements and nutrients in an aquarium: not necessarily.

That's why we are here, to converge ideas and information about not doing water changes; what works and what doesn't. NOT about why we should just do water changes, because trust me, we all know we "should".

This thread wouldn't exist if everyone mutually agreed water changes are the best/most effective way to keep a tank stable.

Newbie here, to reefs, but I would like to point out that Marine Biology is a science. Closed systems like we are building give us a better understanding of larger, open, systems. They are also potential solutions for world hunger since few of us rely on sunlight and therefore these ideas are scalable with nuclear power. The discovery's here, while few and far between, may also be helping us come closer to being able to create sustainable environments outside this marble we call earth!

 

[Subsea]

Newbie here, to reefs, but I would like to point out that Marine Biology is a science. Closed systems like we are building give us a better understanding of larger, open, systems. They are also potential solutions for world hunger since few of us rely on sunlight and therefore these ideas are scalable with nuclear power. The discovery's here, while few and far between, may also be helping us come closer to being able to create sustainable environments outside this marble we call earth!

You may be a newbie to reefing, for certain, you are a visionary.

Most, only see as far as the headlights on their cars. Some put the brights on. You have put the car in gear and are moving down the road. Kudos to you

 

[Subsea]

Are you wanting to measure ORP or dissolved oxygen content?

Also a fellow PLC user here.

Dissolved oxygen is the single most important element in our systems. The Germans designed the Oxygenator to use the extra oxygen molecule in h2o2 to increase dissolved oxygen in the water.

With respect to programming PLC, as a Senior Subsea Engineer on dynamicly positioned drill ships, I was on charge of underwater blowout preventor and all associated systems. , I had access to ET’s & IT’s I never learned how to transfer ladder logic into PLC. Now I go to the grandkids for help.

 

[Subsea]

I know I’ll get tons of hate for this but if you don’t do at least one water change per month I just assume you’re lazy. Give your creatures fresh water, could we live without showering? of course, but we’d feel dirty all the time. Water changes don’t take that long unless your tanks massive. People will do anything to remove them having to do any work. Water changes are good for everyone.

@Jimmy Long
Many years ago in the Saturday morning cartoons, Donald Ducks rich uncle MacScruge Duck said to the youngster, “Work Smarter, Not Harder.

With respect to “water change are good for everyone”, if you lived in a drought stricken area, I assure you, your neighbors would not appreciate you watering your lawn or discarding water down the drain.

While doing mission work, baths were done in a bowl of water. When going to the toilet my daughter was told, “If it’s yellow, let it mellow. If it’s brown, flush it down.”

 

[ZaneTer]

Dissolved oxygen is the single most important element in our systems. The Germans designed the Oxygenator to use the extra oxygen molecule in h2o2 to increase dissolved oxygen on the water.

With respect to programming PLC, as a Senior Subsea Engineer on dynamicly positioned drill ships, I had access to ET’s & IT’s I never learned how to transfer ladder logic into PLC. Now I go to the grandkids for help.

You are welcome to come to me - Senior automation engineer for Siemens

 

[ZaneTer]

You are welcome to come to me - Senior automation engineer for Siemens

Two projects ago I wrote the control software for a 24 man hyperbaric dive system. 300MSW working depth. It was a vessel called the Deep Explorer.

That was a fun project in Norway.

 

[Subsea]

Two projects ago I wrote the control software for a 24 man hyperbaric dive system. 300MSW working depth. It was a vessel called the Deep Explorer.

That was a fun project in Norway.

I worked for Transocean and left the oilfield shortly after BP catastrophe in GOM. I buried friends of mine there.

I did a project for Global Marine in Finland. I enjoyed the culture and people there. That first winter was brutal as we commissioned the rig in the North Sea. As we were being towed by two sea going tugs, we got blasted by a Force 9 gale with one tug sinking. I went back in the Summer to commission the sister rig. It never got dark. With shipyard close to hotel we had time to enjoy some of the culture. I went into the club to enjoy adult beverages & titilating conversation. When I left club at midnight, it’s was sunny outside. Not wearing a watch, I thought I was late for work.

With respect to Operations at AQR, I use the KISS principal. The less controls, the fewer failure points.

Where do you live?

 

[ArizonaAquatics]

I dont even think water changes are needed for trace elements either... dosing does all this.. And so does refilling the tank when it evaporates.. at least for me because i use straight tap. If i have to refill 3 gallons every 2 days im already putting some trace elements back in.

ro.di water has 0 trace elements in it so if you use rodi for changing water youre actually not adding any trace elements to the tank. Except whatever your salt has.. but dosing already does that.

Here in AZ, we can't use straight tap water unfortunately [emoji23] we are forced to use RODI here lol. But I simply send off an ICP test every once in a while and dose minor/trace accordingly[emoji1303]

PS, shameless plug to RedSea's coral color program; easy to use and covers all trace/minors when used with RS 2 part and Mag.

 

[ArizonaAquatics]

Newbie here, to reefs, but I would like to point out that Marine Biology is a science. Closed systems like we are building give us a better understanding of larger, open, systems. They are also potential solutions for world hunger since few of us rely on sunlight and therefore these ideas are scalable with nuclear power. The discovery's here, while few and far between, may also be helping us come closer to being able to create sustainable environments outside this marble we call earth!

I absolutely love this. Ironically, I am a Sustainability major at ASU. Not many realize the change our oceans are going through at this time. Trash, runoff, and temperature are just a few. I am aiming towards working with ocean conservation groups in the near future.

But yes, aquariums absolutely help us understand more about the ocean. How certain fish eat, where they live, how corals grow and respond to parameter changes. We can identify which species are more likely to survive or perish due to these parameter swings. Obviously that isn't the goal for most of us, but a point to be made nonetheless!

 

[Lasse]

It is around 1.5 years since last WC. Before that - I run more than 1 year the same way. Rather soon I will change around 20% because I need old, biological water for a new aquarium. Using more or less Triton method.

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Sincerely Lasse