Reasons Why Im Not Doing Water Changes Anymore.

[larangcon]

Wow! less than a month with that kind of spurts and the growth is amazing! I tried it for a month without water changes and I saw a couple of my frags encrusted end are starting to RTN. Chickened out and started changing water right away, I guess it's not for everyone's tank or you just have the wet thumb as they say...

 

[diesel3443]

I was in the same boat before and did no waterchanges for a year. Everything was doing great, then the tank crashed. Now I am doing them every 3 months going forward.

 

[JimWelsh]

No water changes for over 14 months here. Last Triton test showed no measurable heavy metals at all. SPS dominant tank with nice growth and color. FTS taken two months ago:

 

[SnailQueen]

The science teacher in me finds the whole idea of no changes fascinating! For those that aren't doing regular water changes, you're obviously testing the water parameters, so I'm curious to know which ones you find yourself needing to dose for most frequently and which ones (if any) seem to stay stable without dosing the longest?

 

[TylerS]

@Tangchaser, do you have a build thread anywhere with details on your fuge, micro-algae export, tank size etc? I would be really interested in learning more about your system. What are you dosing and how often etc.

 

[Tangchaser]

Wow! less than a month with that kind of spurts and the growth is amazing! I tried it for a month without water changes and I saw a couple of my frags encrusted end are starting to RTN. Chickened out and started changing water right away, I guess it's not for everyone's tank or you just have the wet thumb as they say...

RTN or STN have to do with water quality in most cases. I can only comment that when It occurred in my tank it was from swings in parameters or when I had red bugs.

@Tangchaser, do you have a build thread anywhere with details on your fuge, micro-algae export, tank size etc? I would be really interested in learning more about your system. What are you dosing and how often etc.

Yes I do. I'm trying to keep it current and in line with what's going on in my tank.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/tangchaser-65gallon.226998/page-2#post-2727100

 

[Betta-Chetta]

In all honesty if I were to do that for my 29 gallon reef what would you suggest. I do not have a refugium or protein skimmer and I am hoping to get those soon. As of right now I use reef crystals, dose with seachem multi pack 1. I did the first water change this past weekend. I tested all my levels and the only thing I had an issue was nitrate

This is my test results:
Salinity 1.024
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 5
Calcium 420
KH 12
Phosphate 0.
So what should I do so I can be able to achieve your method.

 

[Tangchaser]

In all honesty if I were to do that for my 29 gallon reef what would you suggest. I do not have a refugium or protein skimmer and I am hoping to get those soon. As of right now I use reef crystals, dose with seachem multi pack 1. I did the first water change this past weekend. I tested all my levels and the only thing I had an issue was nitrate

This is my test results:
Salinity 1.024
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 5
Calcium 420
KH 12
Phosphate 0.
So what should I do so I can be able to achieve your method.

You may not like what my opinion is but if I was you I would stick with water changes for now. To go this route I would recommend a comparable setup to what I have. Water changes are a method of import as well as export of nutrients. Good filtration for exporting and dosers for importing is needed in my opinion when going this route. I don't suggest doing this unless your an experienced reefer looking for a route that fits your lifestyle. There are many amazing reefs and methods none are essentially the "right way" of reefing. It's a learning experience and patience and understanding is key.
In my opinion all your parameters look good but the alk is a little high. I recommend staying between 7.8 and 8.4. Also recommend testing magnesium and read a couple of published articles on reef chemistry. Randy has some awesome info on here. Google dutch synthetic reefing for more information on this method of reefing. Look into building a better system then buying corals. Good filtration, controller and dosers will help stability in water parameters. Stable water conditions are the number one important thing in reefing.

 

[Gamma]

I am very interested in knowing the size of tank and sump for those of you not doing regular water changes and how long it has been running successfully!

 

[Tangchaser]

I am very interested in knowing the size of tank and sump for those of you not doing regular water changes and how long it has been running successfully!

Ok for the people reading this and interested in this method I suggest reading about Glenn Fong. I first read about his dutch synthetic reefing in the 1st quarter of 2014 issue of reef hobbyist magazine. I don't suggest this route for everyone but it is working for me. (just noticed r2r has posted this on fb).
My tank is 65 gallon and sump holds maybe 10 to 20 gallons (biggest I could fit under stand) I don't really know exact amount. Its been without any water changes for a year now tank is just over 2 and half years old.

 

[yellojello]

I think the opposite can be said as well. With enough water changes, you can get away with no skimmer, no gfo/carbon, no macro algae or sump, auto doser or dosing, etc...

But for water changes, remember the basics of matching the parameters of your new salt water to the tank water. Primarily for me is Alk/Ca/Mag. With IO salt, I use Muratic Acid to lower Alk to 8.5 dkh, and 2 Part to boost Calcium to 420 and Mag to 1250. You are supposed to do this with each new box or batch of salt, but it's pretty consistent between batches and I check like once a year. So making every 18 gallon salt water batch, I just add the same amount, which is about 7 mL of Muratic Acid, 150 mL of BRS Calcium, and 200 mL of LFS Magnesium. Oh yea, and salinity also, duh! Remember, the amount of salinity you mix will correlate to the amount of alk/ca/mag and trace elements you have. More salt used = more of everything else added.

 

[Crystalsreef]

Now that i think about it, since i have done less water changes and constant checking and dosing, my tank growth has exploded with coral growth. I was doing 10% every week, but then i tried some nualgae and ended up with a cyno outbreak and basically changed all my water through the treatment, after that i started only doing 10% maybe once a month or bimonthly. I usually just do top offs. I do check my specific gravity and add plain ro/di water and instant ocean as needed.

 

[Spcoley1]

Following

 

[Bruce Burnett]

I had my 300 gallon system setup for 14 months without water changes except to makeup for skimmer and reactor cleaning. Then I moved 350 miles tank has now been setup 7 months without water changes. Any problems with corals has been because of things like sudden temperature drop, way low potassium, elevated alkalinity or new stressed out frags. The less I do the better everything is.

 

[Smiz]

Following along. I've always agreed with this method, however with out having monitoring equipment like an apex it scares the crap out of me lol. I've had two brs dosers sitting in the box for a year now. Of course I'm also a guy who works on turbine generators so what do I know

 

[Berlibee]

Following.

 

[Caylua]

I also cut back on water changes, everything seems to do better with less change. The problem I ran into about 4 years down the road was high nitrates that I cannot seem to get rid of (due to not physically removing them). I do not have macro algae and it is a predator tank so there is heavy pooping. I have read there are certain single chamber reators that can remove the nitrates through an anaerobic process, is this true? Please forgive me, I am still learning the science behind some of the equipment. Or would you have any other suggestions that keep in line with the less water change theory. The fish can handle the nitrates, but I would love to get some corals other than mushrooms and keep a healthy environment for everything. Thank you.

 

[mattgreene22]

I hardly ever changed any water in my last tank...it was Sps heavy, but also lightly stocked with fish. Can OP comment on bioload?

I liked the stability of infrequently changing water, however bubble algae eventually got a foothold and ran rampant ... partly due to my not having room for a fuge with competing algae. I would also note I had one very large rock that I believed contained most of my anaerobic bacteria.

 

[acidtablockshifty]

I don't know dosing mag without shaking the bottle, do they have paint can shaker breakout box for those controllers, to give the jug a shake before it doses?

 

[Eckolancer]

Just did a 20 gallon WC on my 108 because on acro is showing strange signs that I can't even figure out. It's not STN or RTN. But my tank has been about 18 months without one and looking good with great growth from acros, zoas, and chalices. I will say that my brain corals are ok but not growing. But I don't feed corals just let them pick up poop from fish.

April 2014

October 2014

June 2015

Dec 2015

Today before WC