water changes

[glb]

I do around 1% daily automatic water changes. I see only benefits and no negatives in doing them. I see no reason not to do them. I only know of 1 system that has what I would consider to be successful not doing them.

How did you automate?

 

[ncfishguy]

How did you automate?

Like to know aswell [emoji4]

 

[jason2459]

I started out with a dual head stenner and it worked great but it was loud and wife didn't like so much. I liked being able to sit back and hear it thinking to myself "I just did a water change."

So, I swapped that out with a Spectra Pure setup with a main controller peristaltic pump and a remote peristaltic pump. I have a lot of failsafes involved too.

• I have main spectrapure head (also had the stenner) plugged into a AT1 Tsunami pressure switched outlet. That sits high up in the sump and will shutoff the spectrapure. That gives me a failsafe against the line pulling water out of the sump getting clogged and just keep dumping water in.
• I have that At1 Tsunami plugged into a piggy back outlet that turns on or off based on a run down huge tethered float switch I got from buckeye hydro. http://www.buckeyehydro.com/tether-float-switch/ That protects me against the new saltwater mix running out and stops the spectrapure from continuing to pull water out of the sump. RO/DI water would then keep getting added and salinity would drop until that ran out and then the sump would drain. (That would take a very long time but if I'm out for several weeks could happen.)
• That piggy back tethered float switch plugs into a controllers outlet (Used to use a reefkeeper and now running an Apex)
• That outlet is turned off and on based on the following
  • Controllers Salinity probe is not reading >37 or < 32 This will protect against either to much saltwater pumping in with out being pulled out or being pulled out with nothing being pumped back in causing ATO to lower salinity
    • I use limewater still reservoir for ATO so the ATO would be kicked off if ran to long or pH goes over 8.49 plus many other failsafes just for the ATO as well
  • Two separate sets of float switches a mid height in my sump and slightly higher and below the AT1 Tsunami
    • If either of those float switches open then the AWC outlet turns off.

There's a weight fitting that would filter out debris that would clog issues with the peristaltic pump and weighs down the tubing well.

 

[glb]

I started out with a dual head stenner and it worked great but it was loud and wife didn't like so much. I liked being able to sit back and hear it thinking to myself "I just did a water change."

So, I swapped that out with a Spectra Pure setup with a main controller peristaltic pump and a remote peristaltic pump. I have a lot of failsafes involved too.

• I have main spectrapure head (also had the stenner) plugged into a AT1 Tsunami pressure switched outlet. That sits high up in the sump and will shutoff the spectrapure. That gives me a failsafe against the line pulling water out of the sump getting clogged and just keep dumping water in.
• I have that At1 Tsunami plugged into a piggy back outlet that turns on or off based on a run down huge tethered float switch I got from buckeye hydro. http://www.buckeyehydro.com/tether-float-switch/ That protects me against the new saltwater mix running out and stops the spectrapure from continuing to pull water out of the sump. RO/DI water would then keep getting added and salinity would drop until that ran out and then the sump would drain. (That would take a very long time but if I'm out for several weeks could happen.)
• That piggy back tethered float switch plugs into a controllers outlet (Used to use a reefkeeper and now running an Apex)
• That outlet is turned off and on based on the following
  • Controllers Salinity probe is not reading >37 or < 32 This will protect against either to much saltwater pumping in with out being pulled out or being pulled out with nothing being pumped back in causing ATO to lower salinity
    • I use limewater still reservoir for ATO so the ATO would be kicked off if ran to long or pH goes over 8.49 plus many other failsafes just for the ATO as well
  • Two separate sets of float switches a mid height in my sump and slightly higher and below the AT1 Tsunami
    • If either of those float switches open then the AWC outlet turns off.

There's a weight fitting that would filter out debris that would clog issues with the peristaltic pump and weighs down the tubing well.

Wow! Thanks and very impressive!

 

[jason2459]

No Problem and I totally got the idea from this vvv

I use an automatic system (a dual head pump on a timer) to change water about 10 times a deal for a total of about 1% daily. I spend less than 10 minutes a month to do this.

I discuss the impacts of water changes in different amounts here:

Water Changes in Reef Aquaria by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-10/rhf/index.php

 

[Iamonlyme]

ok so question for those who do No water change what type of filtration are you running and what is your top off schedule? also coral growth is it yay or nay?

 

[jason2459]

ok so question for those who do No water change what type of filtration are you running and what is your top off schedule? also coral growth is it yay or nay?

I would suggest looking towards what GlennF does with his DSR method that he established.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/the-dsr-method-dutch-synthetic-reefing.162872/

 

[beaslbob]

ok so question for those who do No water change what type of filtration are you running and what is your top off schedule? also coral growth is it yay or nay?

In my old setup I did have a wet dry with crushed oyster shells and used the diy 2 part method.
top off was a gallon every day or two.
on FW no mechanical filtration, no mechanical circulation, not even an air stone.
With both it is important to recognize that water changes of and by themselves will not maintain anything. For instance, if you replace 10% of the water, the tank will rise to 10 times the build up or depletion between water changes. 20% 5 times, 33% three times, 1% 100 times and so on. So if nitrates are increasing at 1 ppm/day and you to a 10% water change every 10 days you will have 100ppm nitrates just before the water changes (after awhile).

What is important is to balance out and stabilize the system to where things just don't change. I use plant life and in reef tanks the diy 2 part system. With that system/outlook water changes will make no difference other than possibly screwing things up.

my .02

 

[JimWelsh]

ok so question for those who do No water change what type of filtration are you running and what is your top off schedule? also coral growth is it yay or nay?

210 gallon tank. No significant water changes (significant = more than 5 gallons in one month) in more than a year. You tell me: Coral growth yay or nay?

Filtration is only an ASM G5 protein skimmer. Top off is using a Tunze ATO.

 

[Pete polyp]

ok so question for those who do No water change what type of filtration are you running and what is your top off schedule? also coral growth is it yay or nay?

A hob filter and I drip kalk from a milk jug and a piece of airline with a knot in it

 

[domination2580]

210 gallon tank. No significant water changes (significant = more than 5 gallons in one month) in more than a year. You tell me: Coral growth yay or nay?

Filtration is only an ASM G5 protein skimmer. Top off is using a Tunze ATO.

So how do you remove phosphates and nitrates?

 

[JimWelsh]

So how do you remove phosphates and nitrates?

I dose vodka and skim wet to keep nitrate down. I do also run GFO (RowaPHOS) to remove phosphate.

 

[merlberg]

I dose vodka and skim wet to keep nitrate down. I do also run GFO (RowaPHOS) to remove phosphate.

Vodka?! This might be a stupid question but are we talking about the same vodka here- liquor? To keep nitrate down n if so how much ?

 

[JimWelsh]

Yes, that vodka. You can read more here http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-08/nftt/index.php and also use the Google.

 

[Rausch]

Out of a 90 with a 33 gallon Sump i do about a 15-18% water change weekly (25 Gallons) even though i run carbon, GFO and heavy protein skim i think water changes are the only way i can personally keep my levels as steady as possible. Definitely see happy SPS in my tank after i have stayed diligent with this method.

 

[merlberg]

With a fowlr tank what would some suggestions be on the amount of wc i should do on a 120 gal tank n 55 gal sump? I recently upgraded n my 55 use to be my main tank n i use to do a monthly wc.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

With a fowlr tank what would some suggestions be on the amount of wc i should do on a 120 gal tank n 55 gal sump? I recently upgraded n my 55 use to be my main tank n i use to do a monthly wc.

Are you trying to not dose calcium and alkalinity, and do you want coralline growth? That impacts how much you might need to change.

The answer is probably not that much if you do not care about coralline and/or will dose for alkalinity maintenance.

 

[domination2580]

So if I were to dose alkalinity and calcium, and had macro algae to eat my nitrates and phosphates, I shouldn't have to do a lot of water changes

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

So if I were to dose alkalinity and calcium, and had macro algae to eat my nitrates and phosphates, I shouldn't have to do a lot of water changes

FWIW, I don't do water changes for any of those parameters, but for the many that I do not measure. Potassium, chloride/sulfate ratio, export of metals and organics that may accumulate, import of trace elements that are needed, etc.

This has more:

Water Changes in Reef Aquaria by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-10/rhf/index.php

from it:

Conclusion
Water changes are a good way to help control certain processes that serve to drive reef aquarium water away from its starting purity. Some things build up in certain situations (organics, certain metals, sodium, chloride, nitrate, phosphate, sulfate, etc.), and some things become depleted (calcium, magnesium, alkalinity, strontium, silica, etc.). Water changes can serve to help correct these imbalances, and in some cases may be the best way to deal with them. Water changes of 15-30% per month (whether carried out once a month, daily or continuously) have been shown in the graphs above to be useful in moderating the drift of these different seawater components from starting levels. For most reef aquaria, I recommend such changes as good aquarium husbandry. In general, the more the better, if carried out appropriately, and if the new salt water is of appropriate quality.

Calcium and alkalinity, being rapidly depleted in most reef aquaria, are not well controlled, or even significantly impacted by such small water changes. In order to maintain them with no other supplements, changes on the order of 30-50% PER DAY would be required. Nevertheless, that option may still be a good choice for very small aquaria, especially if the changes are slow and automatic.

 

[merlberg]

Are you trying to not dose calcium and alkalinity, and do you want coralline growth? That impacts how much you might need to change.

The answer is probably not that much if you do not care about coralline and/or will dose for alkalinity maintenance.

Wow i have no idea wht those are lol.. I will look them up now tho n is it a plus to do in a fowlr tank? N why please?