NO water changes in 6 months

[Corey Baker]

HB AL, great job. tank looks amazing. I went this route a while ago and went about 8-9 months with out a water change and then i added some new rock and it threw everything out of wack. i believe this really works if the tank is stable and happy. BUT if something changes it changes fast, trust me. haha. Congrats on a great tank with less work. Good reefing!

 

[HB AL]

Ok nobody laugh, here's all I'm doing and none of it is etched in stone.
As far as dosing the big 3, I use the Seachem powders.
The reef builder for alkalinity and keep it between 7 and 9.
The reef advantage for calcium and keep it above 400.
The reef advantage for magnesium and keep it above 1400.
As far as replacing trace elements I use Kent marine essential elements and coral vite, I add around 40ml of each once a week sometimes 50ml of each.
I also add Red Sea reef energy A and B once a week using 40ml of each.
That's all I've been dosing for the 2+ years the tanks been setup but since I stopped doing water changes I settled on the amounts above.
For nutrient control in my sump I have a Vertex 130 skimmer, a bag of Kent marine carbon and a bag of Seachem phosgaurd, I also dose 20ml of Red Sea no3 po4 every few days or so.
I have a ton of live rock so I'm sure that helps things out overall.
Also I have a uv sterilizer.
I have a lot of fish which I honestly enjoy more than the corals so I figure if the corals are growing and colored up especially the Acros then the water is in good shape for the fish.
I have 15 fish, some would say too many and my tank is overstocked, but they are all healthy and get along great. In my mind I'm maxed out on fish and haven't added one in about 8 months.
1- gold spot rabbit
1- yellow tang
1- purple tang
1- blonde naso
1- hippo tang
1- red coris wrasse
1- green coris wrasse
1- sargassum trigger
1- blue jaw trigger
1- maroon clown
1- tomato clown
1- bangia cardinal
1- large damsel of some sort
1- squirrel fish
1- bicolor blenny

Just to give an update it's now been 16 MONTHS with no water changes, as some guys asked questions today I had to go back and read what I was doing then and now, a little has changed, I stopped the red sea reef energy a and b around 6 plus months ago, for trace elements I now dose redsea abcd since I stopped dosing the other trace elements. As far as the fish goes my green coris wrasse really started harassing the red coris even though the red coris was double the size, I elected to remove the red coris and trade it in to my lfs for a generous credit I used all on food(loaded up on Hikari cubes) since the green coris constantly scours the rocks and corals looking for critters to eat and that is a good thing so I kept him. Other fish change was around 6 months ago or so I traded in to my lfs my gold spot rabbit for a clown trigger(triggers are my favorite fish). All the other fish in the original list are still in the tank.
Also in the last month i got the acropora addiction/disease seeing how well my acros were doing and I sold off all large colonies of non acropora that were taking up prime real estate and bought a few nice frags of acros at my local fish store and bought 2 $600 battle boxes a couple weeks apart from Adam at @Battlecorals and have a HOMEWRECKER frag coming tomorrow. So I still have a big variety of corals but probably 6 or so acro colonies from the originals and around 50 or so acro frags purchased in the last 5 months or so. Heres a few pics of how the tank looks now after the recent changes.

 

[HB AL]

do you have any problems with the red coris wrasse eating your clean up crew

When I had him no but I had to get rid of him, posted above in an update as to why.

 

[HB AL]

are you still going without water changes im at about a year and my nitrates are threw the roof po4 is low I just started a fuge and bought a n18 reactor a few months ago so far not impressed with how much it was

Read latest update I just posted.

 

[Cassian]

this is amazing! really nice tank!

 

[HB AL]

this is amazing! really nice tank!

Thanks, it’s been my most successful tank in 30+ years of keeping aquariums, trial and error taught me a lot back in the day, now we have this internet thing and it sure does quicken the learning curve if you listen to the advice the way the very knowledgeable people on here do things, I call them the pros, and I’m not one of them.

 

[Cassian]

Thanks, it’s been my most successful tank in 30+ years of keeping aquariums, trial and error taught me a lot back in the day, now we have this internet thing and it sure does quicken the learning curve if you listen to the advice the way the very knowledgeable people on here do things, I call them the pros, and I’m not one of them.

lol. that is true!