Someone asked me to explain my philosophy on waterchanges bc I used this purity calculator example. I just do not believe in blindly doing waterchanges and continuous waterchanges (no offense), makes me very angry. Your pretty much removing Small amount of water from a doser, and then adding it back in, then removing that same water, and adding new water back in. yes it sounds good but the hassle of setting and maintaining this can't be easier than doing a larger waterchange and then not having to monitor a doser, bucket, etc.
- Reasons why I stepped back from water changes. In my previous system, i wanted to learn how to grow Acros, and I wanted to be able to recreate this success on a larger scale, therefore, i did not want a water change variable. Also, I asked myself how can one adjust there nutrient transport when your constantly shaking up the chemistry with a waterchnage. In a perfect world, I would do a 25% water change every 2-3 months. In that span, i will monitor how much trace elements are being dropped via my own tests and ICP tests.
I used this calculator years ago and it made me realize that I rather assume something that may be toxic in my tank should be diluted overtime. So I try to remove as much % of the original water by Month 12 as possible. This way any unknown contaminate or buildup will effectively be removed and not build up for 5+ years and result in unknown issues. I find a good solution is to do 25% water changes every 2 months on back to back days, then let your tank be on autopilot. since all those smaller minor trace elements will effectively be raised back up.
I feel these elements are the most important - Alk ,CA, MG, SR, FE(iron), Iodine, Phosphates, and Nitrates. I can test most of these at home and easily dose them to get them back up, I dont find my tank does better after a waterchange, which lets me know that its not all that important when you understand the chemistry.
if I am a new reefers, I would advice spend a little less time doing waterchange and instead get good at testing PO, Nitrates and get used to seeing trents in your tank since everyones tanks different. Someones overstocked tank may need frequent waterchanges but if its understocked and your equipment is sufficient, we tend to do to much nutrient transport. Why are we dosing CA/ALK, food, etc and just removing it before it even has a chance to do anything.
