How many of you don’t do water changes?

Do you do consistent water changes


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Nicholas Dushynsky

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I have 3 nano tanks and none have sumps, skimmers or refugiums. The newest one I started with live rock, I'm fighting dinoflagellates on it so I'm dosing nitrates and phosphates. A water change on that system is not a good idea. The main 24 gallon I only do a water change on every 10 weeks or so.

My main 24gallon
Screenshot_20200322-200510_Gallery.jpg

The smallest of my 3 is a 7 gallon tank and I only do a water change on that every 12 weeks or so.

7 gallon
Screenshot_20200402-100841_Gallery.jpg

This is the most resent shot of my other tank before the dinoflagellates, as currently running on low blues for lighting and can't get a good photo.


Newest 13.5 fluval (dryrock)
Screenshot_20200402-101201_Gallery.jpg
 

JHami

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I am setting up my first reef tank (170 gallons) in the next few months after 10 years of freshwater tanks. I have decided to use the Triton method, however I live only 500 yards from a wonderful NSW source, so I can see myself stopping on the way home from work every evening and collecting a gallon of water to supplement the tank.(obviously removing the same volume first to keep salinity steady)

The one thing I learnt from freshwater tanks is that big changes can cause problems. Lots of small changes and keeping the parameters as steady as possible is the way to go in my opinion.
 

Sallstrom

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I forgot to give an example in my last post in this thread :)

Here's one of our old reef tanks, 4-5 years after the latest water change.
HK.jpg

This is just a section of the tank. It's too long to take FTS of :) Here's a vid:


The tank was started 2009 and switched over to our version of the Triton method in 2014. Calcium rector, refugium, no water changes, regular Triton ICP tests, Triton addetives to correct parameters etc. I experienced it like it was first without water changes it got the stability and coral health that I've tried to get since 2010.

Unfortunately (for the tank) we are rebuilding our public aquarium at the moment, so this tank isn't running anymore. All the corals have moved to our temporary Aquarium. So I only have about 5 years of experience on no water changes in reef tanks.

I'm not saying one method is better for all types of tanks. In this case it suited the setup well. In a small tank I would change water regulary I think. Without ICP tests, I would perhaps do larger water changes now and then.
 

tony'stank

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I don’t d water changes routinely. I do them if I have a specific problem ( cyano outbreak, spike in NO3 because of death of a fish I couldn’t remove, etc). I haven’t had to do a WC in over a year. I run a small refugium with weakly Cheeto removal, a surfer denitrifyper, and a reactor with Chemipure Blue,and a RO skimmer.On my RSR450. I send out and iCP sample every 3-6 months. I am going to transition to the ATI system ( similar to Triton but appears easier to do. I don’t keep high end SPS
CD3A07C9-BEBD-4412-AD97-31FC1E96854F.jpeg
 

X-37B

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Hey mate, what are your parameters? Iv seen your tank before and I’m curious. Maybe I have already asked
Ph 7.9-8.1
Temp 78-80
Sg 1.026
Alk 8-8.5
Cal 450
Mag 1350
Po4 .02-.05
No3 1-2
K 420
Strontium 7-9
Iodine 0-.06
Thats all I test for.
I use DSR EZ-Trace elements.
Dose esv strontium once a week.
Carx running manmade media. No controller or ph meter.
Skimmer
7" filter sock
Ato
3 liters of eheim substrate pro in a mesh bag.
4 power heads alternating for flow.
4C+ 4B+ T5's 4" from the surface running 8hrs on with no ramp.
ESV-B Ionic salt for makeup and replacing skimmer loss.
Thats about it.
 

McPuff

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I don't do typical water changes. Generally it's about 10% per month but I don't just suck out water and put back new water. I siphon out the sump and also try to do a sand vacuum. My goal is to remove as much gunk as possible and make the water changes efficient.
 

sghera64

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It is a 5-Step process. . .

[Step 1]I don't do them for a few months. [Step 2] Then something bad happens and [Step 3] I'm back to doing them weekly, [Step 4] then monthly then [Step 5] not at all until Step 2 happens. It's a vicious cycle of denial.
 

Jvalle

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It is a 5-Step process. . .

[Step 1]I don't do them for a few months. [Step 2] Then something bad happens and [Step 3] I'm back to doing them weekly, [Step 4] then monthly then [Step 5] not at all until Step 2 happens. It's a vicious cycle of denial.
Lol
 

Super Fly

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i had stopped doing WC in all of 2019 and didnt even have to use GFO. Then in Feb I noticed NO3 & PO4 was increasing, not sure if its bc livestock were growing & creating more waste or perhaps my CUC had dimished and couldnt keep up with demand (no new fish or CUC were added in 2019). But now I've restarted doing WC while running GFO and NO3 & PO4 levels have stabilized. I believe continued testing/monitoring while tank matures will determine whether one needs WC or not, bc after all it is a mini ecosystem that can change.
 

sde1500

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I think it’s been 6 months no water changes for my 4 year old tank. Just dosing. Keeping a close eye on everything, and it’s all responding just fine thus far. I don’t buy algae suddenly overrunning the tank from no water changes. Because it’s not that sudden. I’ve neglected the tank when it was auto changing water and algae overran it. It’s not instantaneous, it’s when you neglect it for a while.
038701FA-C8EE-4ADA-9B40-AD33A2939C2E.jpeg
 

Royce White

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Wouldn't it be determined by the amount of fish you have in your aquarium as how often you should change your water? I would think that a small amount of fish would belonger between changes.
 

Vette67

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I think it’s been 6 months no water changes for my 4 year old tank. Just dosing. Keeping a close eye on everything, and it’s all responding just fine thus far. I don’t buy algae suddenly overrunning the tank from no water changes. Because it’s not that sudden. I’ve neglected the tank when it was auto changing water and algae overran it. It’s not instantaneous, it’s when you neglect it for a while.
Everyone seems to know my tank so well... Isn't no water changes for 10 years the definition of neglect? And you’re right. It wasn’t instantaneous. It happened over a period of progressively worsening months. At the time, I tried GFO, and the problem continued to get worse. I was doing large frequent water changes, and the GHA got worse. I was actively trying what I could to fix the problem. The consensus at the time was that my rock had become “saturated” with phosphate. It was bleach, muriatic acid and lanthanum chloride that finally solved my problem. A total tank tear down.

I am just trying to advocate for the benefits of refular water changes. Everyone is going to do what they are comfortable with, because that’s what they know. I am only suggesting that there may be long term consequences to those actions, if you believe water changes aren’t necessary, in the hopes that people won’t have to go through what I had to go through. It was not fun.
 

EMeyer

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This discussion sounds a lot like tapwater discussions. (And I bet the two are actually somewhat related - hear me out). Some get by without water changes and have absolutely thriving tanks. Some get by with tapwater and have thriving tanks.

However, others try to do the same and after a while, the chemistry drifts out of acceptable ranges. Why did it work for one tank and not the other? Probably the input water. If we had perfect, complete information, we'd probably find that one source has undetectable low levels of detrimental minerals (e.g. copper) that over time accumulate to harmful levels. Another has undetectable low levels of some beneficial mineral that the other lacks (perhaps strontium, if you believe strontium matters, etc)... and so on.

As a result, over time, two tanks maintained in exactly the same way but with different water sources will likely end up with different chemistry.

Of course we dont have perfect complete information. We can do trial and error. On some systems we'll find that tapwater or no water changes works great. On other systems maintained in the same way, it will crash. Or we can do what works regardless of the water source: RODI and water changes. Which is the safer advice to give someone new to the hobby?
 

Dipan Desai

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I also dont do water changes. I do dose ca/alk/mag along with blind dosing RedSea Trace ABCD along with KNO3 if nitrates get too low. Not doing water changes has given my system more stability and am finally able to keep acros. My old system i would do water changes and couldnt keep acros as they would just slowly pale out and die. I dont think there is a one size fits all. as @EMeyer stated too many factors to dictate each system. Having a large system and living in California doing water changes on a large system just seems like a waste. Its also a lot easier not doing water changes given I can get a little lazy with maintenance.

IMG_20200328_214556.jpg IMG_20200328_214616.jpg IMG_20200328_214635.jpg IMG_20200328_214654.jpg 20200328_185635.jpg
 

Braves Fan

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This a is a subject I have been thinking a lot on lately ,,

My tank is a 150g 60x30x20 tank ,, first got water in it May 13, 2019 , so a fairly new system ,, I have a big sump tank ,, the system was set up with a lot of Cured Bio Spears from my old tank ,, like 5 or 6 bags of them with like 44 Spears per bag ,, I have mostly SPS and Zoas in the tank ,, am up to about 42 SPS frags in the tank ,, my SPS frags were bought in 3 stages , the oldest set of frags came from Battle Corals ,, and two later SPS Frag orders came from Aquavista99 ,, the last order was with in the last month ,,

I am a stickler for my tanks numbers ,, I test a lot ,, mainly Alk & Calcium ,, I test Phosphates about once a week ,, with the water changes I do ,, Phosphates usually stay in the 0.04 range ,, Nitrates once every two weeks or so, try and stay in the 25 range with a Salifert test kit ,, I have Chaeto running on the system ,, Alk Target number is 8.5 Calcium 450 Mag 1400 ,, I dose 3ml of Brightwell Amino Acid to the tank daily ,,

I am doing a 30g water change on this tank every two weeks ,,

So :) my old tank was given to a friend ,, both my new tank and his new tank ( my old tank ) were set up about the same time ,, I may be 2 months ahead of him ,, my friend also has a lot of SPS frags in his tank ,, not as many as I do ,, but some ,, he doesn't do weekly or Bi weekly water changes ,, not really sure what he does ,, I am guessing he rarely does water changes :) once a month at best I would think ,, not that he is lazy ,, he works out of town a lot ,,

I told ya'll that to tell you this :)

My SPS frags all have great color ,, couldn't ask for better ,, my oldest frags from Battle Corals are encrusting good ,, my first shipment of frags from Aquavista99 are starting to encrust ,, the newest frags from Aquavista99 aren't encrusting yet ,, but look awesome when it comes to color ,, I have very little vertical growth on any of the frags ,, am starting to get bit on the oldest frags though ,,

My friends tank ,, my old tank ,, his frags are getting great vertical growth :( pretty much ,, more or less ,, the only difference between our systems is the water changes ,, I am seriously thinking of going to a once a month water change to see if this will help out my coral growth ,, I am thinking it really shouldn't hurt anything except for my Phosphate number ,,, that will most likely climb ,, right now ,, I don't have to worry about Phosphates ,, its staying in my range with the water changes ,, that's easy ,, but I am not happy with my SPS growth ,, only because I am comparing it to my friends growth :)

I know some corals grow faster than others ,, but generally speaking ,, my friend is getting vertical growth on all of his frags ,, I am only getting only the smallest bit on a few frags ,,
 
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