dosing water changes DO WE NEED TO

[ReeferRookie]

Oh yeah i started it the age old debate do we need to does ect i have a friend who has a gorgeous 160 g. Display that he hasnt done one water change on and his fish and coral looks amazing i personally dont dose my own tank a small 36 g bowfront. And all my fish and coral are happy. The lfs down the block has a stunning 250 g display that they dont dose. (But did recomment water changes ) ans they have no negative results. So my question is are we adding nutrients and chemicals which can natrually occurr without our interuption ? What are the benifets to dosing. Do yoy have a tank that you have never done a single water change or dose has it come out okay ?

 

[ReeferRookie]

little pic never hurt

 

[redfishbluefish]

If you don't want to do water changes, I'd highly recommend Natureef Denitrifier.


If you don't want to dose, it's call a FOWLR or FO or a softy tank. I can't see how you can have hard corals without dosing.

 

[choff]

https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/reef-chemistry-forum/162872-dsr-method-dutch-synthetic-reefing.html

 

[ReeferRookie]

I don't care for sticks. I prefer softies. And zs and ps. But. It isnt a requirement is it

 

[sawdonkey]

How are you exporting nutrients? Do you skim? Without dosing or water changes, your coral options are pretty limited.

 

[ReeferRookie]

Just. Water changes. I do water changes my friend does not. And limited to what ? Mushrooms zs ps softies. Sounds good to me lol

 

[sawdonkey]

You can't keep anything with a hard skeleton unless you're maintaining alk and calcium (through dosing or water changes). With zs and ps and shrooms, you should be fine.

 

[ReeferRookie]

Im judt curious if anyone has kept hard skeletons without dosing

 

[Bad Company]

I just used up my first bucket of salt. I have had my tank for a year, and between the 63 gallon cube and 20 gallon sump, I have about 70 gallons of water. I don't dose, but my corals are almost entirely zoas and star polyps. I do have a Duncan which has gone from one had to 6. A waterfall algae scrubber keeps nitrates at zero.

 

[ReeferRookie]

Well im on a budget reef no sump. So.water changes are a must as i only have rock to do my.bio filtration and.a mechanical.back hang for debris. Which i also keeps my gfo and carbon in

 

[-Logzor]

It's really a matter of if your alkalinity, calcium, and magnesium get too low, if they get too low then you have to dose those additives (sodium bicarb / calcium chloride / magnesium chloride). It's really as simple as that. It's not a matter of theory or perspective, assuming the test kits are valid, the numbers are what they are. If they get too low your corals will die, in many cases soft corals are not as sensitive to the levels of these chemicals simply because they don't build calcium skeletons. Relatively low demand systems can be successful with just water changes.

 

[ReeferRookie]

But is it possible to have a tank and not have to dose if those levels dont get old.

 

[-Logzor]

But is it possible to have a tank and not have to dose if those levels dont get old.

Yes if your test kits show that your levels are OK.

 

[GHill762]

there's no way around it if you want stony corals, they use elements to build their skeletons, these elements have to be replaced either through water chages or dosing or both. calcium, alk, mag, etc don't just magically appear in the water column, they need to be replenished.

softy only tanks can go a long time without adding anything other than topoff imo..

 

[Kennyb1]

I can agree with everyone here. You need the trace.

 

[ReeferRookie]

Amazing the difference in opinions. I feel as tho were getting no where lol. So let me ask this question. Does anyone have a tank they dont dose but keep stonys. Also. Does anyone have a tank. They dont do water changes in

 

[JFrar]

i have LPS/SPS dominated tank and barely(1-3mL of alk per week) dose and have great success...but i do use Red sea coral pro salt, which supposedly has most of what i need anyway, and i try to do at least 3 10% water changes per month

 

[ReeferRookie]

Finally someone whos done it. Lol so you can attest u do very little dosing. But with water changes you do have what.u need for a lps dominate tank

 

[sawdonkey]

Finally someone whos done it. Lol so you can attest u do very little dosing. But with water changes you do have what.u need for a lps dominate tank

You're making this way too hard. Everyone is basically saying the same thing. The elements get depleted in your tank, faster with skeleton building corals, slower with softies. You have to replace these elements either through water changes or dosing. Period. Pick which one you want to do. It seems like you're trying to start and argument and there isn't one to be had.

I think you said you're not skimming? You're going to need to do water changes to export nutrients anyway. If you don't, you'll have a dirty algae-filled tank with high nitrates and phosphates that even the easiest corals won't live in. If it's bad enough, you'll even have a hard time keeping fish.