First of all I certainly believe in water changes in reef tanks. I change about 10% per week and my tank has been stable since it endured the move from hell (700km) 8 months ago.
I now have a fowlr which is just a lion fish and snowflake eel. I've always kept secondary tanks and usually recycled the reef water to make the water changes in that tank but I also used to do larger less frequent water changes. When I started the lionfish and eel tank I monitored ammonia since that was my only real concern for the fish. I run a big skimmer and can carbon dose if need be. Realistically though I can't see any way nitrate will ever reach toxic levels in the tank. Yeah the predators are messy but they don't eat every single day and I barely light the tank so there are no algae issues. I only clean the glass every 1-2 weeks. If things get crazy bristle worms will get crazy and take care of the mess.
So I've decided to forgo the weekly water changes and will probably test the nitrates every few months and if needed I'll do a large water change say quarterly but unless I end up adding corals I don't see any concern with water quality. Algae should be a good enough indicator of issues since the tank does get a fair bit of sunlight in addition to the almost non existent tank light (one par 38 bulb on only after dark). Curious to here other people's habits on fowlr's.
I now have a fowlr which is just a lion fish and snowflake eel. I've always kept secondary tanks and usually recycled the reef water to make the water changes in that tank but I also used to do larger less frequent water changes. When I started the lionfish and eel tank I monitored ammonia since that was my only real concern for the fish. I run a big skimmer and can carbon dose if need be. Realistically though I can't see any way nitrate will ever reach toxic levels in the tank. Yeah the predators are messy but they don't eat every single day and I barely light the tank so there are no algae issues. I only clean the glass every 1-2 weeks. If things get crazy bristle worms will get crazy and take care of the mess.
So I've decided to forgo the weekly water changes and will probably test the nitrates every few months and if needed I'll do a large water change say quarterly but unless I end up adding corals I don't see any concern with water quality. Algae should be a good enough indicator of issues since the tank does get a fair bit of sunlight in addition to the almost non existent tank light (one par 38 bulb on only after dark). Curious to here other people's habits on fowlr's.
