How often do you do water changes? Anyone do none?

[joshwaggs]

So, I have been considering not doing anymore water changes. At all. It has been a couple months since my last water change and so far everything is very stable. I have to feed heavy just to keep the nutrients above zero, too. I dose Polyplab ONE and sometimes, two part. I also dose amino acids, PNS Probio, Phytoplankton, and PNS Snow. The two part is Brightwell, which has trace elements. So I dont dose trace elements very often. I keep dkh at 10.

Is anyone else doing the no water change option? How has it gone for you?

I completely understand that this is a heated topic, but please keep this friendly. I want to hear what people have seen with no water changes over long swaths of time. What works and what doesnt?

 

[Jon Fishman]

Every 3 or 4 months I do about 35%

 

[joshwaggs]

Every 3 or 4 months I do about 35%

Do you notice any swings or changes in your tank after the water changes?

 

[Scorpius]

Sigh.....

 

[HuduVudu]

So, I have been considering not doing anymore water changes. At all. It has been a couple months since my last water change and so far everything is very stable. I have to feed heavy just to keep the nutrients above zero, too. I dose Polyplab ONE and sometimes, two part. I also dose amino acids, PNS Probio, Phytoplankton, and PNS Snow. The two part is Brightwell, which has trace elements. So I dont dose trace elements very often. I keep dkh at 10.

Is anyone else doing the no water change option? How has it gone for you?

I completely understand that this is a heated topic, but please keep this friendly. I want to hear what people have seen with no water changes over long swaths of time. What works and what doesnt?

@Lasse has been running for (I think) 3 years without water changes. There are some caveats. Maybe he will jump in and share.

 

[joshwaggs]

@Lasse has been running for (I think) 3 years without water changes. There are some caveats. Maybe he will jump in and share.

YES! @Lasse Share all the things!

 

[Erick Armanii]

I did no water changes for 3 years on my old tank no supplements outside of traditional 2 part. My fish were fine, simple corals were okay.

New tank.. weekly 10-20% water changes since Feb2020 and everything is running perfect..

At this point it’s so easy there really isn’t a reason as to why someone wouldn’t do it

 

[HuduVudu]

YES! @Lasse Share all the things!

Don't get your hopes up.

 

[joshwaggs]

Sigh.....

I hope that doesnt mean this is probably going to be a fire thread. I just want to hear peoples experiences.

 

[Uncle99]

10% every week until the tank is about 1 year.
This is because your beneficial bacteria is not fully completed, so WC help us get through those first 12 and keep nitrates low.

Once the tank is a year, you can virtually stop the water changes provided you maintain the trace elements.

 

[Jon Fishman]

Do you notice any swings or changes in your tank after the water changes?

Changes? No.

Swings? I don’t test my water

 

[joshwaggs]

I did no water changes for 3 years on my old tank no supplements outside of traditional 2 part. My fish were fine, simple corals were okay.

New tank.. weekly 10-20% water changes since Feb2020 and everything is running perfect..

At this point it’s so easy there really isn’t a reason as to why someone wouldn’t do it

Yeah, my tank is small and is close to the water tanks, but everything is so stable right now that I dont want to mess it up. Of course, all that could stop and dinos crash the party, but who knows.

 

[Phildago]

I have not done a water chance since the first weekend on covid shutdown In March. Tank never looked better

 

[Erick Armanii]

Just saw your build thread.. smaller tank, and you got an apex.

Can’t be that tough to manually change a 5gal bucket lol..

But you could easily buy DOS pump for auto water changes.. new $300 used 2-250..

 

[joshwaggs]

Just saw your build thread.. smaller tank, and you got an apex.

Can’t be that tough to manually change a 5gal bucket lol..

But you could easily buy DOS pump for auto water changes.. new $300 used 2-250..

lol, I was doing water changes a couple times a week for a while. It was really easy, with a small tank. I just dont want to screw with anything when it is all so stable. The only coral that isnt really happy is the walt disney, but it is still new and came from a lower alk. So it might take a while to make it happy.

 

[Phildago]

lol, I was doing water changes a couple times a week for a while. It was really easy, with a small tank. I just dont want to screw with anything when it is all so stable. The only coral that isnt really happy is the walt disney, but it is still new and came from a lower alk. So it might take a while to make it happy.

Then don't do them. If things look great, leave it. If you need a water change then do it when it's needed

 

[Paleozoic_reefer]

I did weekly 10% WCs on my softie tank for years. Then I started dosing Tropic Marin all-for-reef and now just do a 10% every 3-4 months. Although, I think it took a while for not only my tank to mature to get to this point, but also for me to understand what kind of coral my tank can have before I decided on my current minimal maintenance regiment.

 

[Lasse]

YES! @Lasse Share all the things!

You will find everything in my Build Thread

My general idea is not to do regular WC - only if needed. During this three years I have done one major WC because of ridiculous high Si (near 20 ppm)

Sincerely Lasse

 

[X-37B]

120 16 months since startup.
Only 2 water changes.
1 9 gallon around 13 months just because, no swing.
One at 14 months 12 gal after a half dose of fluconazole to treat hair algae, no swing.
Check my build thread for more info as these threads always turn into arguements.
No scheduled water changes work if you have a plan and know what you are doing.

 

[harley32907]

40 gallons once a month