No water changes ?

[White Hair]

i’ve come across several articles on tanks with no water changes, is this something that is possible or a pipe dream, if so is anybody currently doing this and any tips that facilitate no water changes,thanks

 

[Dom]

The method is called Dutch Synthetic Reefing.

The DSR Method (Dutch Synthetic Reefing)

Explanation appreciated or not ? it is a way to work without water changed and composing your own salt (as a base). if appreciated i will go ahead and explain how it work for me and the dutch reefing community this is a screenprint of the excel sheet i use for water correction...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[ihavecrabs]

One method is DSR..

I use ATI Essential method myself and thoroughly enjoy to water changes!

Honestly, it just requires getting your tank to a decent maturity level first. Once the parameters are generally stable and you have a way to replace trace elements you are good.

 

[flagg37]

I didn’t use any “system”. I think the whole idea revolves around removing the things that are harmful and replacing the things that are used up. Water changes are a way of doing both of those things but it’s not the only way. If you are able to keep nutrients under control with other means like chaeto (that’s what I used) then you just need to worry about replacing what is bing used up. The major elements aren’t difficult. Choose your preferred method of replacing alk, ca, and mag and that’s done. The trace elements are more difficult though. Testing for all of them isn’t really viable with hobby test kits just because of the shear number of elements. ICP works very well for this but is a bit expensive and doesn’t have a particularly quick turn around. I used the Red Sea colors trace elements which they base the dosing off of the ca uptake. It works decently but corals aren’t the only thing that uptake trace elements. I consistently had to dose more iron because the chaeto was using it all up.

 

[Earl Karl]

i’ve come across several articles on tanks with no water changes, is this something that is possible or a pipe dream, if so is anybody currently doing this and any tips that facilitate no water changes,thanks

I have never done a water change in years. I use a huge refugium for nutrient export and I dose my diy calcium acetate solution (Ca and Alk.), Mg, Sr, K, Fe, Lugols, Acropower, Aquavitro Fuel, and Vitachem to replace trace elements, aminos, and vitamins. I feed ten times a day with nori for my Moorish Idol and broadcast Reef Roids every night yet I still have 0.01 ppm PO4 and >1 ppm NO3.

Refugium needs to be at least 20% of display volume in order for efficient nutrient export. In exchange for no water changes, you need to dose various elements that are being used up.

My best tip is to find a method that is best for you. If you want to give more attention to your tank and be more hands on, WC is the route for you. If you're a sit back and relax type like me, then there are many methods where you can be successful without wc.

 

[symon_say]

Triton method and other brands method work for this, those methods have a simple application a reduce water changes to its minimum.

 

[homer1475]

I tried it for a while, with all the supplements I was buying and adding, A good old WC was much cheaper.

The trick to effective and non physical labor to water changes is to set your system up so at the very most you have to flip a couple valves.

My system is setup so I flip one valve to drain the sump, then another to refill. Easy peasy and takes me about 10 minutes to change 20G at a time(of course when I get that new MRC pump(way to big to go on my tank, but will use it on my WC system) I won here, will take significantly less time to do a WC).

 

[TheOne]

I tried the Triton method and it was costing me $50 a month compared to two 25 gallon water changes that was costing me around $15 a month. The cost and the fact that I was always getting strands of cheato in my display tank made me go back to water changes. So it can be done.

 

[Bramzor]

It’s easier in an old tank than a new one. I would never do it again in a new tank. So auto water changes in the beginning after a year or 2 when everything is stable, it might be an idea to switch.

 

[homer1475]

It’s easier in an old tank than a new one. I would never do it again in a new tank. So auto water changes in the beginning after a year or 2 when everything is stable, it might be an idea to switch.

I would like this 100o times if I could!

I have noticed that as my tank matures(this peticular tank is going on 4years now) I have slacked off on WC's with no detrimental effects.

 

[BeejReef]

I've not tried it.

Snoop around the many ICP Results threads.
As often as not, a good proportion of peeps running a no-water change system are advised by the ICP test coupled with that system to perform a series of water changes.. lol.

Your mechanical setup has to be near perfect or you'll invariably end up with undesirable heavy metals and toxins that have to be water changed out.

 

[CMO]

I've now run 2 no water change Triton systems from day one. Zero issues (that couldn't be solved pretty easy) and results are excellent. I don't really see why so many people have issues with these systems early on or struggle with contaminants. Run carbon and knowing that you're running a no water change system just be careful with contamination (I wear gloves when working in my tank for example). Chaeto strands are easily dealt with by putting a coarse filter pad in sump before the pump. It really can work.

And while yes its nice to have 20% fuge and 10x turnover you don't absolutely need these levels. Here's my Triton tank run with a 6% refugium and 3.6x turnover. Even at 6% fuge and feeding 3x per day I still have to dose nitrate on this tank! This tank was run on Triton from 1 with nearly no coral losses ever and only 2 small water changes to date from chemiclean early on. Tank is 1.75 years old now with everything grown from frags. Started with clean dry rock as well so no jump start there.

Lastly, ICP is not perfect and the biggest issue I've seen yet is potentially reacting to errant ICP results. I think the biggest key to success with these systems is knowing how to read your tank in concert with an ICP result to know whether or not to react / adjust things. I've had plenty of ICP results say I needed to do 6x water change only for that result to have miraculously resolved itself in subsequent ICP tests...

 

[X-37B]

My 120 is a modified DSR system from day 1. End of this month will be 5 months.
Dose esv 2 part
Esv strontium weekly
DSR trace daily
No3 & po4 dosed daily
11 fish
35+ corals
Bare bottom system
Alk 8
Ca 420
Mg 1350
K 410
Strontium 8
Iodine .04-.06
Po4 almost never dectable on hanna ulr
No3 0-1 hanna when I get a reading.
I have film algae I clean off the grass every other day so I have po4 and no3
No fuge
7" filter sock
Tunze 9410 dc skimmer.
Ati 6 bulb 3c+ 3b+ 9 hours
2 6095 tunze
2 ow25 jeabo
Tunze ato
Varios emerald crabs snails
3 pepermint shrimp
1 cleaner 1 fire shrimp
Very stable system
Ran the same on a 25 nano cube for 1.5 years
Thats how I do it.

 

[Sallstrom]

Here’s a picture from a reef tank at my work(tank is not exciting anymore, due to our rebuild). Picture is taken 4 years after the last water change.
Water tested by Triton lab and adjusted with their supplements.

 

[bar|none]

Wow, glad I found this thread, just jumped off the cliff on no or only very essential water changes. It's a process but I feel like it's a good road.



Only five weeks in..ATM

I'm doing full Triton...as detailed in my build thread

 

[X-37B]

Wow, glad I found this thread, just jumped off the cliff on no or only very essential water changes. It's a process but I feel like it's a good road.



Only five weeks in..ATM

I'm doing full Triton...as detailed in my build thread

Nice tank! "Stability" is the key. Keep up the good work.

 

[lkriley]

I've now run 2 no water change Triton systems from day one. Zero issues (that couldn't be solved pretty easy) and results are excellent. I don't really see why so many people have issues with these systems early on or struggle with contaminants. Run carbon and knowing that you're running a no water change system just be careful with contamination (I wear gloves when working in my tank for example). Chaeto strands are easily dealt with by putting a coarse filter pad in sump before the pump. It really can work.

And while yes its nice to have 20% fuge and 10x turnover you don't absolutely need these levels. Here's my Triton tank run with a 6% refugium and 3.6x turnover. Even at 6% fuge and feeding 3x per day I still have to dose nitrate on this tank! This tank was run on Triton from 1 with nearly no coral losses ever and only 2 small water changes to date from chemiclean early on. Tank is 1.75 years old now with everything grown from frags. Started with clean dry rock as well so no jump start there.

Lastly, ICP is not perfect and the biggest issue I've seen yet is potentially reacting to errant ICP results. I think the biggest key to success with these systems is knowing how to read your tank in concert with an ICP result to know whether or not to react / adjust things. I've had plenty of ICP results say I needed to do 6x water change only for that result to have miraculously resolved itself in subsequent ICP tests...

Your tank is beautiful! I can only hope for this in the future.

 

[bar|none]

Lastly, ICP is not perfect and the biggest issue I've seen yet is potentially reacting to errant ICP results. I think the biggest key to success with these systems is knowing how to read your tank in concert with an ICP result to know whether or not to react / adjust things. I've had plenty of ICP results say I needed to do 6x water change only for that result to have miraculously resolved itself in subsequent ICP tests...

Yes this is true ^^^ and frustrating...Long game....

 

[Fishingandreefing]

Nope, I am sticking to water changes. Every time I changed water, everything looks better and I feel better lol

 

[Millertime Corals]

I tried the Triton method and it was costing me $50 a month compared to two 25 gallon water changes that was costing me around $15 a month. The cost and the fact that I was always getting strands of cheato in my display tank made me go back to water changes. So it can be done.

Ahh what I would give to go back to 2019 when gas was cheap and so was saltwater. Unfortunately now 50 gallons of water is $82. Driving to the store is about $450 in gas lol but seriously..