Longest you’ve ever gone without a water change

[BeanAnimal]

My display is a 75 and my sump holds maybe 35 gallons and has 100 pound of rock in it I would guess.

 

[musel101]

My display is a 75 and my sump holds maybe 35 gallons and has 100 pound of rock in it I would guess.

That’s a decent amount Protein skimmer GFO I’m guessing all in the tank

 

[robbyg]

18 months and then disaster struck.
Everything was fine until it wasn't!
When it wasn't everything happened very quickly, once the first die off started it was like a plague broke out.
You might get away with this if the Bioload is low and the Fish and Corals are hardy but I would never recommend anyone go down this road.

 

[BOYERZ]

My display is a 75 and my sump holds maybe 35 gallons and has 100 pound of rock in it I would guess.

100 gallons ish.

Who has a 40 breeder or a 55 gallon.

(Mr. Animal, I have been following your input for many years, thank you for all the contributions.)

 

[Wolters_88]

It will to a point.

Not trying to derail your thread.

Would be nice if if everyone included their system volume.

The ones that went years I can guarantee are over 100 gallons.

I have not done a water change in my biocube in years.

 

[BOYERZ]

I have not done a water change in my biocube in years.

Did you stop your auto water changes?

 

[musel101]

18 months and then disaster struck.
Everything was fine until it wasn't!
When it wasn't everything happened very quickly, once the first die off started it was like a plague broke out.
You might get away with this if the Bioload is low and the Fish and Corals are hardy but I would never recommend anyone go down this road.

Did you test the water at the time to see what your parameters were?

 

[musel101]

I have not done a water change in my biocube in years.

So with no water change, I’m guessing you’re very heavy on nutrient export?

 

[BeanAnimal]

That’s a decent amount Protein skimmer GFO I’m guessing all in the tank

I don't use GFO - it makes a mess and I despise cleaning out reactors, etc.
I toss in a chemipure elite once on a while. I don't think they are magic. It is just convenient way to run and dispose of carbon and whatever tiny bit of GFO is in the bag.
I do run a skimmer now, an external Reef Octpus Regal 150-ext

 

[Outlaw Corals]

Currently, I have not done water change since last Mother’s Day, being I started running a algae scrubber around last March so there’s really no need for me to do any water change off I have to do is dose accordingly, but I have noticed during this time Is that my tank got very stable and I’ve had some of the best growth I’ve ever had in all my years of reefing, looking back at it now I could see that all, so I was doing with all those water changes was causing swings in all of my parameters, I know this is been a long time ongoing debate about water changes I can personally see for myself that doing no water changes is much better after all

 

[LPS Bum]

Would you say you do them as frequently as you do as part of your filtration system? I’m guessing you have protein, skimmers, GFO etc.

Not 100% sure what you are asking here, but yes, I have skimmers on both systems. My large FOWLR runs on a canister filter and a HOB skimmer, while my reef has a ReefMat 1200 and a Red Sea skimmer.

No GFO on either system, but I do run Chemipure on my FOWLR and carbon in my reef.

I only do a 5% water change every 2 weeks in my reef and every 4 weeks in my FOWLR. Mostly for detritus siphoning purposes.

 

[jermzisurmom]

120gl, what's a water change?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

What’s the longest any of you have gone without a water change either intentional or you just forgot?

After the early days, it was never more than a few hours between changes.

 

[BubblesandSqueak]

Great…now you are making me want push it out. (3 weeks due to vacation).

 

[musel101]

After the early days, it was never more than a few hours between changes.

Are you serious? Only a couple of hours?! That must’ve been when they let people buy sea turtles too, and put them in the tank. I heard that a lot too.

 

[Idech]

8 years

You have a beautiful tank, full of corals and fish. What is your export and dosing method ?

 

[musel101]

You have a beautiful tank, full of corals and fish. What is your export and dosing method ?

Hopefully he doesn’t say water changes

 

[1112-425XL]

Normally every 10-12 days. Have gone 3 weeks a couple times, never more.

 

[Js.Aqua.Project]

I think the 240 is on year 4 with no water changes...

 

[Toob]

Not nearly enough pics in this thread - particularly from the folks that have not done water changes for very long periods of time. Let’s see those tanks!