Dosing all for reef, water change necessary?

[rueric]

Hi,

I'm running a 32g fluval flex with coral and some fish.
I've finally got some fish in there (ran fallow until quarantine was complete) to raise my nitrate and phosphates past 0 for the first time since setting up the tank 3 months ago.
I have dragons breath algae slowly growing in the display as well.

With my nitrates at 3.5 and phosphates reading 0.06 (Hanna Nitrate HR and Hanna phosphate ULR)
Also dosing all for reef for my major and minor trace elements..
According to my test results from my weekly testing
Alk = 9.5
Calc = 436
Nitrate = 3.5
Phosphate = 0.06
pH = daily fluctuations of 8.0 - 8.2
Temp stable at 78

Question is, do I need water changes?
My understanding of the standard 10% water change weekly or 20% every two weeks is to replace major and minor trace elements and also remove nutrients like nitrate and phosphate from the system..

Since everything is stable and nitrates remain low and the replenishment of elements using all for reef.. are water changes necessary?

 

[blaxsun]

The standard can vary (10% every 2 weeks is also common), but yes - water changes on smaller tanks is recommended as they can easily tip out of balance much more quickly than larger systems.

If you’re dosing you may be able to get away with less frequent water changes, but you’ll need to continue testing to ensure your levels remain consistent. You may also find that as you add more fish, corals and inverts that you need more frequent water changes to keep everything balanced.

Without knowing what you have for filtration, biomedia, etc. it’s hard to speculate how frequently you’ll need to change your water, but accessories like protein skimmers can also really help.

 

[MONTANTK]

I’d still recommend water changes. Keeps you in the habit of completing them and helps to make sure your No3 and Po4 stays stable rather than getting out of control

 

[rueric]

Since I've been struggling to get any nitrates and phosphates, I turned off my protein skimmer a long time ago..
I do plan to continue my weekly testing. The only thing I'm not testing for is magnesium
The one concern I have is with the trace elements.. From my understanding, AFR should contain almost everything.. but are there any elements that AFR won't replace compared to a water change?

 

[PeterC99]

TM AFR will replace most everything that a water change will replace. The only difference is that you are pulling out some bad things like NO3 & PO4 with the water change.

 

[rueric]

TM AFR will replace everything that a water change will replace. The only difference is that you are pulling out some bad things like NO3 & PO4 with the water change.

So as long as my nitrate and phosphates are in check.. really no need to water changes

 

[PeterC99]

So as long as my nitrate and phosphates are in check.. really no need to water changes

Correct

 

[sgg30102]

Another question, with a heavy coral load (zoas, frogspons, leather gonis, chalice) should you add mag and cal to your water change water?

My tank usually runs 1450 mag, 450 cal dKH 9-10, pH 8.2-8.4. I dose the tank with all for reef, so should I dose water change water to meet the tank and those parameters?