How long is too long for a water change? Thoughts

[jsker]

This is what I add and it claims to do a lot. Anyone know of an all in one additive that will help replenish some minerals that I need but I can't really OD on it if I follow directions lol

Not really, some use a two part, I use the balling method to add Ca, Mg, alk, elements and minerals. Balling method link I use the Aquaforest products and mix my own to save. AF has a pre mix that would last you a long time.

 

[Joshua Deretich]

Use Kalkwasser in your ATO, it's cheap, and effective. Just make sure you can measure your alkalinity while using it, once you dial it in it makes everything a breeze. That's all I dose other than Acropower/Reef Energy. Although I don't dose those regularly or even consistently, just whenever.... I was going to AcroPower via my doser, maybe 2ml a day? But wasn't sure how to come to an exact dosage. So right now I do 8-10ml every week of Acropower or Reef Energy.

Salt

Phhhf I wish I had an ATO I do it all by hand. I even use tap water AHHHH. I've looked at my ppb on my water and I it's not horrible for California water so I use prime and get away with it. My algae is a sign from it but that's all I usually get. Sometimes I use distilled when I get the chance.

 

[Joshua Deretich]

Use Kalkwasser in your ATO, it's cheap, and effective. Just make sure you can measure your alkalinity while using it, once you dial it in it makes everything a breeze. That's all I dose other than Acropower/Reef Energy. Although I don't dose those regularly or even consistently, just whenever.... I was going to AcroPower via my doser, maybe 2ml a day? But wasn't sure how to come to an exact dosage. So right now I do 8-10ml every week of Acropower or Reef Energy.

Salt

Do you think I could get away with dosing kalkwasser by eyeball? Is there measurements by gallon? I don't have an ATO I do mine by hand.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I wouldn't rely on IO Marine Stabilizer to do anything useful for a reef tank.

 

[Joshua Deretich]

I wouldn't rely on IO Marine Stabilizer to do anything useful for a reef tank.

I saw some good reviews on this so I got it with my leftover PayPal money

 

[Bdog4u2]

I went 3 years without a water change on my 75 gallon but I only had fish. in my 150 reef I do 40 gallons 3-4 times a year and I have to feed like crazy to keep nutrients romantic bottoming out

 

[Saltine]

Do you think I could get away with dosing kalkwasser by eyeball? Is there measurements by gallon? I don't have an ATO I do mine by hand.

I mean if you're still topping off by hand kalk wouldn't work. You could setup a kalk dripper, I don't have much info on that.

Thanks,

 

[Donovan Joannes]

75G SPS dominated reef, so far I never done any WC for more than 3 years. Common big 3 dosing with weekly additive additions. Cross finger, so far so good

 

[Gweeds1980]

In theory, if you have perfectly balanced import and export of nutrients and accurate dosing... you'd never need to change the water... unfortunately 99% of us don't.

There is of course the question of trace elements too... we still don't really know what a lot of them do, if anything, we don't test for them and thus we have no way of knowing the rate at which they're being depleted (or accumulated) so for safety most people will do WCs. There's probably an element of 'because I always have' and a dose of 'because I read that I should' in there too.

You can't beat looking... if everything is happy, growing etc then why change the water? The trick is to know when it's going downhill before it starts to go downhill... work that one out and you'll be the Albert Einstein of reefkeeping

 

[Gil03]

Okay so no one call the police for animal abuse but I will admit I did a water change after about 6 months and my fish and coral haven't seemed to be bothered. I have a 10 gallon nano tank, no skimmer, with just a 20 gal HOB quiet flow filter to get the job done. My theory is that my live rock has kept my levels down and with my ghetto instant ocean marine stabilizer solution I add weekly I've been able to keep PH and alkalinity solid. I do admit I skipped scrubbing the tank so it got overwhelmed with algae, and some red algae I know isn't good but I was easily able to remove it by hand. Did a water change yesterday and coral is open and clownfish is happy. What is everyone's thoughts on the matter? (Also want to know a good algae eater that I know FOR SURE won't eat my coral. Had hermit crabs that picked at my GSP, which is all I have actually.) if I sound like an idiot it's because I'm 16 so please don't rip me up, I know how passionate some of y'all can be.
How long is the longest you've gone without a water change? What are your thoughts on this? Is my theory with the live rock breaking down waste plausible? Would this only work for FOWLR tanks? Could one include a light mix of solely photosynthetic corals for a long period of time without a water change, if they're a hardy species?

So you rarely do water changes in your tank and you claim that your LR keeps your levels in check but proceed to say you have an overwhelming algae issue? If you have algae issues then what you are doing isn't working, and there are several variables that are going to come into play in getting your tank balanced because as of now it's not. I think the first thing to note is that asking other hobbyists how long they go without WC's in a effort to maybe apply it to your specific system is setting yourself up for failure. I would always recommend doing the most you can in terms of keeping your water quality at it's best possible condition that your time and wallet allows you. Only after doing that would it be ok to start SLOWLY cutting back on your maintenance routine while monitoring tank parameters to see the difference and how much cutting back affects the tank. I would never recommend a novice reefer attempt to push the boundaries of their system. Do yourself and your tank a favor and get on a regular weekly maintenance routine that incorporates at the very least a water change weekly.

 

[Gil03]

That's the thing. Testing for me is almost impossible, one I can't afford the equipment, and two i would in all honesty consider getting some basic testing kits if I had problems but so far, winging it has worked. I know it's not going to be the most successful tank out there but if I can keep something alive and growing, especially coral, I'd be happy.

You do have problems with your setup, hence the algae issues. In your case where your finances afforded to the tank are limited then most definitely simple weekly water changes are the way to go, especially since you have a very small water volume. I'm not sure where you live but in my area premium pre-mixed salt is under $1 a gallon, in your small tank that's like $5 a month which is extremely cost effective and likely will have the most effect on your systems well being. Keep in mind these individuals that are going long periods without water changes are supplementing several elements and likely have adequate bio/mechanical measures in place to keep up with this all of which equate to $. Again, a small water change weekly is going to be more cost effective for you and likely have the most effect.

 

[najer]

That's the thing. Testing for me is almost impossible, one I can't afford the equipment, and two i would in all honesty consider getting some basic testing kits if I had problems but so far, winging it has worked. I know it's not going to be the most successful tank out there but if I can keep something alive and growing, especially coral, I'd be happy.

You will be using live animals to see what can deal with the conditions.
Please just don't do it until the tank is more established.
Yes it is possible to have tanks with virtually no water changes but as stated, you need to have very established systems, my 14 G has had maybe 3 small waterchanges in the past 4 or 5 years, my 140 G has had 2 small waterchanges in 20 months, I designed the big system to be low maintenance.
I do dose manually daily as without it my sps would die.
See how the gsp goes and try not to use tap water, you really need to let the system establish itself, my 14 G is powered by a heater, return pump, powerhead and a light.

 

[Donovan Joannes]

2 years for me to learn all the essential part of reefing and countless number of ups and downs, not forgetting a bunch of failures. When I started my SW tank, I never thought it gonna be so expensive especially buying salt. Corals and fish are quite cheap. My tank has been very well established since early last year, and started SPS last October. The same water has been in there since I started more than 3 years ago. As above mentioned, once you have learned all the essential tricks in SW keeping, virtually you can stop doing WC once the tank has reached maturity.

 

[Fabian Flores]

Hi, in my case I have a 100g mixed tank with 1 year aprox without water changes.

Have an ATO in place and a doser for ca, kh, etc.

I do weekly test for all the parameters and run GFO reactor and biopellets reactor.

 

[david00061]

Okay so no one call the police for animal abuse but I will admit I did a water change after about 6 months and my fish and coral haven't seemed to be bothered. I have a 10 gallon nano tank, no skimmer, with just a 20 gal HOB quiet flow filter to get the job done. My theory is that my live rock has kept my levels down and with my ghetto instant ocean marine stabilizer solution I add weekly I've been able to keep PH and alkalinity solid. I do admit I skipped scrubbing the tank so it got overwhelmed with algae, and some red algae I know isn't good but I was easily able to remove it by hand. Did a water change yesterday and coral is open and clownfish is happy. What is everyone's thoughts on the matter? (Also want to know a good algae eater that I know FOR SURE won't eat my coral. Had hermit crabs that picked at my GSP, which is all I have actually.) if I sound like an idiot it's because I'm 16 so please don't rip me up, I know how passionate some of y'all can be.
How long is the longest you've gone without a water change? What are your thoughts on this? Is my theory with the live rock breaking down waste plausible? Would this only work for FOWLR tanks? Could one include a light mix of solely photosynthetic corals for a long period of time without a water change, if they're a hardy species?

Good luck

 

[Mark Gray]

I had a 75 gallon no coral ran fine for 3 u\years with no water changes had an under gravel filter

 

[Mark Gray]

Hi, in my case I have a 100g mixed tank with 1 year aprox without water changes.

Have an ATO in place and a doser for ca, kh, etc.

I do weekly test for all the parameters and run GFO reactor and biopellets reactor.

Looks good

 

[ALbque]

10 % water changes , every three weeks, give or take a few days. Been working great 4 me . 60gal cube about 5yrs old. Coral and fish.........

 

[John Lohsr]

Let's say I kept my regimen, do you in all honesty think I could possibly keep some other basic corals like mushrooms, zoas, Xenias, or leathers? I'm not really into the super rare and hard to keep ones. Simple and colorful is fine with me. I know getting into the hobby I wouldn't be able to afford the high tech equipment and high end corals, and I'm fine with that

Does do like a little dirtier water. As long as you have a good light source does should do ok. Also Kenya tree coral grows like a weed in almost any condision.

 

[John Lohsr]

Does do like a little dirtier water. As long as you have a good light source does should do ok. Also Kenya tree coral grows like a weed in almost any condision.

Zoas not does autocorret