Once a month water changes?

[User1]

Has little has possible. In fact, the only time I do is when something looks out of place in the tank. So I flagged 2 - 5 and that is on a good year for me

 

[2Wheelsonly]

When I had my 100g after a year I stopped. Everything thrived.

SPS? Pics? You must be dosing something.

 

[svanur]

I do 5 % weekly now.

 

[Kzguns]

SPS? Pics? You must be dosing something.

Not much sps mostly softies. This was a while ago I'm pretty sure i had the latest flip phone so rarely took pics. lol

I currently running a 32 biocube but building a 57 rimless set up. I'll do the same, after a year i'll back off and dose whats needed. I do think its important to do wc for the first year. YMMV but i do what works for me, i may find out it doesnt work out so well this time around we'll see....

 

[Dennis92]

40% once a month

 

[ItsAName]

I do about 25% once a month. If i have time, 15% every two to three weeks.

 

[DeniseAndy]

My 210g pretty much runs itself after 9 years and I do water changes maybe 3-4 times a year if I am lucky. I do run a calcium reactor to help with that side of things. This is a gorgonia/ leather tank.

My 40g I do about every 2 weeks or so - 20g. Sometimes I will do 100% if I left the algae issues too long. This is a lps tank with mostly favia, and open brain type corals, some acans too.

My 6g get weekly changes and usually 80 to 100%. One is mixed reef, one is zoas and rock nems.

 

[DracoKat]

Once a month or if something doesn't look right in the tank.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

FWIW, folks saying they do "no" water changes may sometimes be technically correct (unskimmed tanks using just limewater or a CaCO3/CO2 reactor), but if you skim or use a two part, that is effectively changing the water when you maintain salinity.

The amount of water changed when using a two part is actually quite substantial.

Folks saying the Triton method means no water changes are not actually literally correct that no water is swapped out, just that they may not perform it themselves. The method changes it for them.

If you add the equivalent of 1.1 dKH per day with a typical two part, that is equivalent to about a 30% change over a year.

 

[zachxlutz]

FWIW, folks saying they do "no" water changes may sometimes be technically correct (unskimmed tanks using just limewater or a CaCO3/CO2 reactor), but if you skim or use a two part, that is effectively changing the water when you maintain salinity.

The amount of water changed when using a two part is actually quite substantial.

Folks saying the Triton method means no water changes are not actually literally correct that no water is swapped out, just that they may not perform it themselves. The method changes it for them.

If you add the equivalent of 1.1 dKH per day with a typical two part, that is equivalent to about a 30% change over a year.

These are my favorite posts of yours Randy. I always appreciate the way you see the other side of things.

 

[Crimsonvice]

Was doing 12 gallons a week on my 120, but have been slacking lately.

My 210g pretty much runs itself after 9 years and I do water changes maybe 3-4 times a year if I am lucky. I do run a calcium reactor to help with that side of things. This is a gorgonia/ leather tank.

My 40g I do about every 2 weeks or so - 20g. Sometimes I will do 100% if I left the algae issues too long. This is a lps tank with mostly favia, and open brain type corals, some acans too.

My 6g get weekly changes and usually 80 to 100%. One is mixed reef, one is zoas and rock nems.

Cincinnati represent! I live in Anderson.

 

[Bdrake]

As needed. If I don't like the parameters after a test, I do a water change. Usually once every 6-10 weeks.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

These are my favorite posts of yours Randy. I always appreciate the way you see the other side of things.

lol

Thanks.

 

[jd371]

I change about 15g on a 8og total 2.5 year old tank. I was doing weekly wc's the first year, bi-weekly the second year. Everything is doing great with stable parameters so after this weekends wc I'll be going to a monthly wc.

 

[Pntbll687]

Im going to be setting up a 150 gallon reef tank and thinking of trying to go with only doing a water change once a month. I have heard of people going months without doing water changes. Do you guys think this is possible and how often do you guys change your water in your reef tank. Thanks as always.

You can go extended periods of time without water changes with a MATURE system.
I set up a 240g system Aug 2016. I did monthly water changes of about 25g for the first year. Then I went from Aug 2017 - Jan 2018 with ZERO water changes. Everything did fine, my cheato and skimmer took care of most of the work.

I'm not running triton or anything similar. My tank only has 10 fish, and they are all on the smaller side. It's a light bio load for the tank. I don't plan on adding any fish anytime soon. I actually want to get to the point where I can add some more live rock to the sump and remove the skimmer. But that probably wont be for a while.

My long term goal is to remove the skimmer, add more biological filtration, and eventually get to the point where I only have return pumps and some power heads running. The more the tank can take care of itself the better.

 

[Porpoise Hork]

I have a heavily stocked and LPS dominated tank and they do seem to thrive in a slightly "dirty" tank. My current tank is a 40g w/o a sump with a Fluval 306 canister filter rated to 70g. In the bottom two trays I run Bio-Home ultimate, and the top tray gets 625g (11oz x's 2) Chemi-pure Blue pouches and two 100ml Purigen pouches in it that are replaced/regenerated monthly. The combination of these perform so well that it allows me to only have to do a 10-15% once a month or so as needed if the nutrient levels start creeping up.

 

[JCM]

There are a lot of different ways to keep a successful reef tank. But everyone needs to accomplish 2 things.

1- export the "bad stuff" that builds up in our tanks. Excessive nitrates, phosphates, etc.

2- import the "good stuff" that our inhabitants consume as they grow and live.

I have a simple setup, just live rock and a powerhead so I utilize weekly water changes to accomplish the bulk of those 2 things. But there are plenty of other tanks that use different means to accomplish those 2 things and don't have to rely on frequent water changes. Such as skimmers, refugiums, ATS, carbon dosing, calcium reactors, involved dosing regimens, etc.

There are multiple ways to skin the reef tank cat. As you're planning your setup, just be sure to accomplish those 2 things however you see best fit.

 

[Ento-Reefer]

It is hard to give an answer because it depends on the age of the tank and it’s bioload. On a new tank I tend to change about 15-20% twice a month and then move to 20% monthly around the 6 month mark if everything is thriving. After a year I tend to lengthen the time between water changes to 6-8 weeks.