Water changes. . . . What is your method?

[FishLvR]

I Do a 0.07% WC which is actually 280 ml of the Balling three part. No water change for over 4 years. IMO in many cases water change is not really necessary unless you have a specifically delicate corals. We all agree WC is inefficient for supplementing trace elements or any other depleted element or compound. Also WC is inefficient in getting rid of phosphate and Nitrate.
I prefer to use every trusted test and regularly supply trace elements most of which having short half lives in our tanks. I also use all export methods as extensively as I can. I have a very heavy bio-load (LPS,LPS, Soft corals and more) : Hardly any space for new corals and many of them are already fighting. Also quite a few fish that are fed a lot.

Really? Just the part three? So then how are you removing waste water or your not?

 

[reely989]

Those of you doing daily water changes. Do you still need to dose trace elements or calcium/alk?

Unless you're running only softies or a fish only you're still going to have to dose.

 

[Imrahilwjz]

I have 2 200 gallon water tanks in a separate room across the house (oversized bathroom). 1 for RO and 1 to mix saltwater in. I leave everything on the tank running except the ATO. I have a valve in the sump plumbed to my septic drains. I crack it open an drain the sump until water is 1/2" above 2" external pump intake. Close valve. Communicate with my son in bathroom. He pumps water through a 1" poly line that passes under the house to the sump. This makes for a 20 gallon water change. I wait an hour or so and repeat, making a 40 gallon water change. The DT doesn't know anything is happening. Each 20 gallon water change takes a to 3 minutes. I hardly ever test, although I plan to start testing more often. Total system volume is 320 gallons (minus rocks etc) and my bioload is low, but increasing. I have an algae scrubber. I have a refugium but it has no lights. It's intended to strictly harbor pods. I dose 200 mL of phyto to the DT (180 gallon) and 200 mL to the fuge (90 gal) daily (mostly)

 

[adauqua]

I do wet skimming 2 gl/day and put back same amount fresh SW for a 200 gl system

 

[Kapachuka3]

I was just about to ask…I have a friend who did just what you described. He lives in the Fl. keys, however he closed down the tank many years ago.

Ok thats awesome, i actually had a real idea to do that if i ever win the lottery but sadly do not live anywhere near the ocean, but maybe someday

 

[VintageReefer]

Anything that a water change would accomplish I address in other ways, and I do feel it’s easier. Even after a sickness or issue, I still do not perform water changes. I’ve probably only changed a total of 10-20 gallons of water in this tank over the last 10 years, and that’s really from replacing water I took out for maintenance tasks

I gave the tank a complete reboot about 2.5 years ago and changed the layout and started from scratch with new corals and fish and have been adding to it since.

 

[PapaBeepBeep]

88 gallon display, 24 gallon sump. Once a week I siphon 5 gallons out of the display into a bucket, and replace by using a small pump to put the new water into the sump. Takes 30 minutes. Unfortunately, my mixing station is in the garage so I have to schlep the buckets of water.

 

[Koty]

Really? Just the part three? So then how are you removing waste water or your not?

Not clear what is waste water. I dose the three part fortified with the Tropic Marine A and K elements. I also dose a lot of carbon and Amino acids as a nitrogen source. I have a large piece of filter wool that accumulates detritus that I replace once every 4-5 weeks. Only waste water is what the skimmer collects which is an insignificant volume.

 

[jrawk1120]

I have around 140g volume in my tank/sump. I have 23g slim trash cans with marks at 20g. I mix my salt, RO is kept around 75-76 degrees sealed in my garage. Fill the fresh can with water and salt, mix until clear and 1.025.

I’ll sometimes siphon parts of the sand that have some algae, sometimes not. Of not, I turn on my 900gph pump in my display, takes just under a minute. Move the pump to the fresh water, turn it on and let it fill.

I’ll change out my socks and sponge for cleaning and replace it with my spares.

Turn the pumps back on. Every two weeks.

I have a 32g bio cube and 13.5g evo.

For those, I keep premixed salt water in sealed food grade buckets that are 5g.

Same process as above but I do these weekly because it only takes 1-5 minutes, depending on if I hit the sand or not.

Then I refill any empty container. The two premixed containers get mixed and sealed. The others are just RO/DI in Seachem jugs.

 

[vlangel]

I have a 56 gallon display and 30 gallon sump. For years I did about a 5 gallon WC per week the old fashion way with a 5 gallon bucket. Now the tank is coming on 9 years old and it was set up with mature live rock in 2016. With the macroalgae taking up most of the nutrients, even though the tank is heavily stocked with fish, my biggest concern is replenishing important elements in the water column for a healthy reef. In the past year I have begun using AFR to do that plus I add a gallon a week of make up water to replenish from evaporation. I still do a 5 gallon WC about 3Xs a year. My tank has never looked better and I attribute that to maturity.

 

[VintageReefer]

Before I was “waterchange-less” and was in another home, I had a utility closet in the house with some spare floor space. I used two large brute trash cans. The room didn’t have ac or heat, but was typically the same as the house.

One can was rodi kept full with a 2000gph powerhead. The other can was 1.026 sw with a heater and 4000gph power head

For a wc I would siphon out 5 or 10g feom
The display, pour it down a drain, then submerge a bucket in the sw bin and fill it in a few seconds, then walk it to the display and pour it in.

As the sw bin would get lower I would simply move water into it from the rodi bin with a bucket. Each bucket is 5g, I need approx 2.5 cups of salt per gallon, so every bucket I transfer over i would count, then add the salt that was needed and let the large powerhead mix it all up

 

[Garf]

Anything that a water change would accomplish I address in other ways, and I do feel it’s easier. Even after a sickness or issue, I still do not perform water changes. I’ve probably only changed a total of 10-20 gallons of water in this tank over the last 10 years, and that’s really from replacing water I took out for maintenance tasks

I gave the tank a complete reboot about 2.5 years ago and changed the layout and started from scratch with new corals and fish and have been adding to it since.

There are substances produced by our livestoçk that cannot be reduced in ways other than ditching water. This ditching may include beneficial components, there's no doubt.

 

[VintageReefer]

There are substances produced by our livestoçk that cannot be reduced in ways other than ditching water. This ditching may include beneficial components, there's no doubt.

Whether it’s doc or something else, I’m not concerned about it. I run a cryptic zone with live rock, filter feeders and multiple types of non photosynthetic live sponge and I keep two types of sponge in the display.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Those of you doing daily water changes. Do you still need to dose trace elements or calcium/alk?

I do.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Anything that a water change would accomplish I address in other ways, and I do feel it’s easier. Even after a sickness or issue, I still do not perform water changes. I’ve probably only changed a total of 10-20 gallons of water in this tank over the last 10 years, and that’s really from replacing water I took out for maintenance tasks

I gave the tank a complete reboot about 2.5 years ago and changed the layout and started from scratch with new corals and fish and have been adding to it since.

How do you know organic toxins are not accumulating?

How do you lower inorganic ions that may accumulate? Are you tracking them by icp?

 

[VintageReefer]

How do you know organic toxins are not accumulating?

Do you mean ammonia and nitrite?

How do you lower inorganic ions that may accumulate? Are you tracking them by icp?

Do you mean nitrate and phosphate ?

 

[Screwgunner]

I run a bare bottom tank 125 gallon and a 30 gal. Sump algea turf scrubber charcoal about 3 table spoons every two weeks protein skimmer and a spunge for bacteria. At the present time I add 20 ml. AFR and one gallon top off water every day. No water changes. If something does look wrong . I will do a 32 gallon water change . Takes 7 hours for rodi to produce 35 gallons my large trash can only hold 32 gallons so I mix it and heat it for 2 days take out 30 gallons in buckets . Then drop a powerhead with a hose on it into the trash can.Then I put the end of the hose to the back part of my sump and let it rip.

 

[Screwgunner]

I run a bare bottom tank 125 gallon and a 30 gal. Sump algea turf scrubber charcoal about 3 table spoons every two weeks protein skimmer and a spunge for bacteria. At the present time I add 20 ml. AFR and one gallon top off water every day. No water changes. If something does look wrong . I will do a 32 gallon water change . Takes 7 hours for rodi to produce 35 gallons my large trash can only hold 32 gallons so I mix it and heat it for 2 days take out 30 gallons in buckets . Then drop a powerhead with a hose on it into the trash can.Then I put the end of the hose to the back part of my sump and let it rip.

Like Randy said I do worry about the bad ions . You can tell if your corals aren't happy . And mine look alot better than the ones at petco!!!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Do you mean ammonia and nitrite?



Do you mean nitrate and phosphate ?

No. Organics are compounds that contain carbon and hydrogen. I mean things you cannot or do not measure, such as plasticizers, toxins released by organisms (algae, soft corals, dinos, diatoms, etc can all make toxins).

In the realm of inorganic ions, controlling imbalances in things like sulfate vs chloride is easy by water change, but very hard long term otherwise.

 

[VintageReefer]

No. Organics are compounds that contain carbon and hydrogen. I mean things you cannot or do not measure, such as plasticizers, toxins released by organisms (algae, soft corals, dinos, diatoms, etc can all make toxins).

In the realm of inorganic ions, controlling imbalances in things like sulfate vs chloride is easy by water change, but very hard long term otherwise.

I track all the fundamental parameters and use icp for trace + things I can’t measure. Coral health is a good indicator if something is imbalanced.
I run chemipure elite in my sump, occasionally use chemipure blue, and I have a reactor with seagel. This combination, with a cryptic filtration zone and ats will absorb the bulk of things I feel are worth worrying about. I filled the tank over a decade ago, the sand and rock are even older. Coral health/growth has not been an issue.

If I have to do one large water change every 15-20 years I still saved a ton of time and money and I would have no regrets