The no water change revolution!

[pixelhustler]

about a year before I had to take everything down. I used carbon a lot but I wish I knew about ozone back then.. I have one now and it’s so easy.

with The new tank I’m back to doing water changes, but the primary reason I am is because it’s much larger of a tank and I don’t have all the equipment I need (algae reactor, calcium reactor, etc). Once I get everything I may go back to zero water changes or maybe not. This is a pretty nutrient heavy tank so for the time being I have to do them. To be honest the success of the no water change tank in my opinion comes down to how much equipment you have and making sure you stay on top of husbandry

Will have to look into ozone - the yellowing of the water is the one thing that is hard to keep up with.
I highly recommend a sulfur denitrator for nitrate control, it’s been life changing for me and once tuned it needs no maintenance.

 

[Murica]

Will have to look into ozone - the yellowing of the water is the one thing that is hard to keep up with.
I highly recommend a sulfur denitrator for nitrate control, it’s been life changing for me and once tuned it needs no maintenance.

I never considered one of these so thanks for the info!

 

[Lasse]

Let me present my tank - no regular WC in 5 years, last huge WC 4 years ago. Modified Triton

Change to 4 K



Sincerely Lasse

 

[Murica]

Let me present my tank - no regular WC in 5 years, last huge WC 4 years ago. Modified Triton

Change to 4 K



Sincerely Lasse

Looks great Lasse. Proof it can most certainly be done

 

[Dom]

In a month or so, I'm going to start a hybrid triton method. Basically I'm going to keep calcium and alkalinity stable with kalk, I have a decent skimmer, macro, I'm going to get a carbon and gfo reactor... Etc etc. I'm going to send my water to triton periodically throughout the year, and dose based of those results. May do one or two water changes a year. The only thing I may have to do more often is test.

Anyone else eliminating water changes? I find that more and more people are. If so, please share your results!

Sounds like a lot of trouble just to eliminate water changes. How big is the tank?

 

[Lasse]

I have an Oxydator (H2O2 dosing) taking care of must of the yellowing stuff

Sincerely Lasse

 

[Murica]

Sounds like a lot of trouble just to eliminate water changes. How big is the tank?

It depends on the person, I think less water changes is certainly easier while others may not. It was a 250 gallon at the time. I’m at a 450 now

 

[Dom]

It depends on the person, I think less water changes is certainly easier while others may not. It was a 250 gallon at the time. I’m at a 450 now

Well... I can understand why you'd want to eliminate water changes on a tank that size. 20% on a 450 would be 90 gallons. That's a lot of water to change on a weekly basis.

 

[Murica]

Well... I can understand why you'd want to eliminate water changes on a tank that size. 20% on a 450 would be 90 gallons. That's a lot of water to change on a weekly basis.

True dat

 

[uniquecorals]

Water changes are overrated not every issue can be solved with a wc and sometimes it actually is a negative thing to do for your reef depending on its needs.

 

[Aspect]

I only do water changes to replenish trace elements, other than that I have no need to do them. Having 1600 gallons worth of skimming power gets all the waste out of my tank.

 

[Dom]

Water changes are overrated not every issue can be solved with a wc and sometimes it actually is a negative thing to do for your reef depending on its needs.

Water changes are not about solving issues. Its about replenishing nutrients and nutrient export.

 

[Aspect]

Water changes are not about solving issues. Its about replenishing nutrients and nutrient export.

Yeah, I never understood how tanks that don't do any water changes replenish trace elements?

 

[Aspect]

It depends on the person, I think less water changes is certainly easier while others may not. It was a 250 gallon at the time. I’m at a 450 now

I have a 400 gallon and change out 6 gallons per day (10% weekly), only work I do is make new water every week. Neptune DOS well worth it.

 

[Murica]

I have a 400 gallon and change out 6 gallons per day (10% weekly), only work I do is make new water every week. Neptune DOS well worth it.

I was thinking about that but was worried about burning out the DOS.. how has yours been?

 

[Aspect]

I was thinking about that but was worried about burning out the DOS.. how has yours been?

6 months still haven't had to change out a head.

 

[rtparty]

Water changes are not about solving issues. Its about replenishing nutrients and nutrient export.

Water changes are not effective at either of those things. They don't replenish trace elements and are terrible for nutrient control (read nitrate and phosphate reduction) unless you have a tiny tank doing 50% or more weekly.

10% a week isn't doing anything for most tanks out there.

 

[Aspect]

Water changes are not effective at either of those things. They don't replenish trace elements and are terrible for nutrient control (read nitrate and phosphate reduction) unless you have a tiny tank doing 50% or more weekly.

10% a week isn't doing anything for most tanks out there.

Reef Crystals says right on their packaging that they replenish Mag/Calcium and will also detoxify heavy metals if any get through your rodi.

 

[rtparty]

Reef Crystals says right on their packaging that they replenish Mag/Calcium and will also detoxify heavy metals if any get through your rodi.

A lot of companies say a lot of things.

If you have a system with even a decent demand, water changes won't keep up.

For example, we start at 450ppm calcium. We lose 10 ppm a day for 7 days. We are now at 380ppm when we do our water change. We use "insert salt here" that contains 450ppm calcium. We do a 10% water change with 450ppm water but add it back to 380ppm water. We will increase our calcium from 380 to 387. Nowhere near that original 450ppm.

If you have a very lightly stocked tank with softies, water changes may be plenty. For the vast majority of us, they are never enough.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Reef Crystals says right on their packaging that they replenish Mag/Calcium and will also detoxify heavy metals if any get through your rodi.

Just to be clear, magnesium and calcium are not trace elements.

The issues around major ions (like magnesium, where there are pounds of it in a typical reef tank), and a trace element like iron (where you could barely see the pile of iron removed from a reef tank) makes equating how they are added and removed confusing.