The no water change revolution!

Cornerboy · Jan 17, 2018

I have a similar plan Murica but no results to share. Plumbing and baffles phase for a 55 DT with a 55 fuge/sump. Cheato, skimmer, ozone, carbon, kalk as needed, maybe dose vinegar. I'm thinking about setting up an active anaerobic zone underneath the filter socks micro microdosing carbon there, but I'm not sure if that's a good idea at all. Dr. Randy is steering me away from that last part.

Good luck!! Maybe we can share results 6 months from now

happyhourhero · Jan 17, 2018

My guys love the fresh new water. They chant "out with the old, in with the new!" Freaks my cats out every time.

Murica · Jan 17, 2018

Cornerboy said:
I have a similar plan Murica but no results to share. Plumbing and baffles phase for a 55 DT with a 55 fuge/sump. Cheato, skimmer, ozone, carbon, kalk as needed, maybe dose vinegar. I'm thinking about setting up an active anaerobic zone underneath the filter socks micro microdosing carbon there, but I'm not sure if that's a good idea at all. Dr. Randy is steering me away from that last part.

Good luck!! Maybe we can share results 6 months from now

Sounds like a plan to me. I'm going to try it for about a year then reevaluate. If my tank is thriving then I'll stick with doing it, if not back to water changes.

As in my original post, I think I'll still do a 25 percent water change once or twice a year. Maybe even more, like a 50 percent. So if there are any build ups of bad nutrients that's how I'll be able to export them. Especially with the one or two large changes, I honestly don't see how this plan isn't going to work out. I guess time will tell.

Squamosa · Jan 17, 2018

Ive run tanks for years without a change of water, only replacing what was lost from fragging etc. The longest a tank went without a change was 3.5 years and that was pre-Triton days.

Here is my latest tank thread, the first part documents one year without a water change and the second part will document the progress froward after moving the tank to a new home.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/better-than-ever-after-tank-crash.332566/

I'll just leave this image here of one of my sps corals

Murica · Jan 17, 2018

Squamosa said:
Ive run tanks for years without a change of water, only replacing what was lost from fragging etc. The longest a tank went without a change was 3.5 years and that was pre-Triton days.

Here is my latest tank thread, the first part documents one year without a water change and the second part will document the progress froward after moving the tank to a new home.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/better-than-ever-after-tank-crash.332566/

I'll just leave this image here of one of my sps corals

Proof that it works! Thanks for sharing!

Squamosa · Jan 17, 2018

Murica said:
Proof that it works

Well, proof to me that there's more than one way to skin a cat

MUTiger · Jan 17, 2018

719bloodhound said:
I’m kind of looking to go this same route, just keep dosing my two part and dose what is needed after triton testing

What is Triton testing?

Bulldog5 · Jan 17, 2018

I’m in the planning stage of setting up a 250 gallon I wanted to do the triton method cause I hate water changes. And some times forget. But reading this is really helping thinking of doing the hybrid way. This post really gave good info and making think about other routes to take

Murica · Jan 17, 2018

MUTiger said:
What is Triton testing?

In short, it's eliminating water changes using triton chemicals, nutrients, equipment, and procedure. The "hybrid" that some of us are talking about is using triton lab testing to test your water so we know what needs to be dosed while using your own equipment and procedures. For example, triton requires you to use a base supplement for calcium, alk, ph, and magnesium. I'm going to use kalkwasser instead.

This is a good read on the triton method.
Guide to the Triton Method
https://www.reef2reef.com/index.php?threads/Guide-to-the-Triton-Method.299187/

you may also hear about the Dutch synthetic reefing method which is another variation of a no water change method.

nashorn · Jan 18, 2018

I'll been doing no water changes on my 57gal tank for a little over a year now.
Tank started 4 yrs ago major crash 2yrs ago and a few things survived
Details
-Top off with tap water(60tds) with prime
using a kalk reactor
- only testing only salinity
- volka dosing since start
-oversized skimmer
-using a Zeovit reactor and stones to grow the mulm
- dosing 2 part ,reef elements , iodine( noticed blue zoa regain color after)and sponge powder
Tried acro power but not sure if it doing anything. Also a few Zeovit snake oils but who knows.
- 3 radion xr30 gen3

Seem to work for me so far. I only buy Frag an inch or less so they don't seem to grow too fast.
I recently sent water in for ICP testing so waiting to see what the numbers will be.
Oh yea 3 big fish
-blue tang ( 10yrs old poor thing stuck in a small tank grow from a
-purple tang same age
- Xmas wrasse (a year hopenot would eat red flat worms)

Murica · Jan 18, 2018

nashorn said:
I'll been doing no water changes on my 57gal tank for a little over a year now.
Tank started 4 yrs ago major crash 2yrs ago and a few things survived
Details
-Top off with tap water(60tds) with prime
using a kalk reactor
- only testing only salinity
- volka dosing since start
-oversized skimmer
-using a Zeovit reactor and stones to grow the mulm
- dosing 2 part ,reef elements , iodine( noticed blue zoa regain color after)and sponge powder
Tried acro power but not sure if it doing anything. Also a few Zeovit snake oils but who knows.
- 3 radion xr30 gen3

Seem to work for me so far. I only buy Frag an inch or less so they don't seem to grow too fast.
I recently sent water in for ICP testing so waiting to see what the numbers will be.
Oh yea 3 big fish
-blue tang ( 10yrs old poor thing stuck in a small tank grow from a
-purple tang same age
- Xmas wrasse (a year hopenot would eat red flat worms)

Please share your test results when you get them [emoji106]

curiouser · Jan 18, 2018

Good thread....but.....Some of you say you do water changes bi-weekly. Is bi-weekly twice a week, or every two weeks?

The web gives both as definition:
bi·week·ly
bīˈwēklē/
adjective & adverb
adjective: bi-weekly

1.
appearing or taking place every two weeks or twice a week.
"a biweekly bulletin"

noun
noun: bi-weekly

1.
a periodical that appears every two weeks or twice a week.

Greybeard · Jan 18, 2018

biweekly, in native hillbilly, means once every two weeks.

revhtree · Jan 18, 2018

I am set to go Triton as well. Just have to get some things in order!

I already don't do water changes...oops! :/

O'l Salty · Jan 18, 2018

I do a 5g water change on my 40 about every six weeks mostly to clean the sand bed. I dose Alk,Ca, Reef Energy and trace elements by Red Sea. I was doing 10g every week but haven't noticed any negative effects.

jda · Jan 18, 2018

I am going to keep changing water because I am too lazy to test and dose.

I have it all set up where it is only about 5 minutes spread out over a few days with ball valves and adding a bag of salt.

I get the "environmental" reasoning more than the "time saving" or "cost." 200G box of Instant Ocean is only like 32... which is like $8 every month when I change 44G of water with a 50G bag. It does not get much cheaper than this.

I have never had an issue with any salt mix, so I also cannot get past why I would not want to get rid of part of anything bad and replace it with everything good.

curiouser · Jan 18, 2018

Greybeard said:
biweekly, in native hillbilly, means once every two weeks.

Thank you GB.

curiouser · Jan 18, 2018

Thank you GB

mtraylor · Jan 18, 2018

Murica said:
In a month or so, I'm going to start a hybrid triton method. Basically I'm going to keep calcium and alkalinity stable with kalk, I have a decent skimmer, macro, I'm going to get a carbon and gfo reactor... Etc etc. I'm going to send my water to triton periodically throughout the year, and dose based of those results. May do one or two water changes a year. The only thing I may have to do more often is test.

Anyone else eliminating water changes? I find that more and more people are. If so, please share your results!

Been doing it for years. I do not perform water changes in my 255 for the heck of it. My calcium reactor and dosing take care of adding nutrients, etc back to the aquarium. The tank evaporates about 5 gallons/day, so its always getting new water from that and the depletion from skimming. I have to put a cup or so of salt in the sump every now and then to keep the salinity stable. Water changes are needed some times, but over rated. Never had an issue. That was old school stuff before the equipment reactors, etc helped you out. Enjoy.

reeftigergal · Jan 18, 2018

Murica said:
In a month or so, I'm going to start a hybrid triton method. Basically I'm going to keep calcium and alkalinity stable with kalk, I have a decent skimmer, macro, I'm going to get a carbon and gfo reactor... Etc etc. I'm going to send my water to triton periodically throughout the year, and dose based of those results. May do one or two water changes a year. The only thing I may have to do more often is test.

Anyone else eliminating water changes? I find that more and more people are. If so, please share your results!

I'm very interested in how this works out for u, so I will be following along in order to procrastinate through your trials and errors until, u get it just right. Then I will do the same thing. Seriously!
Thanks.