The no water change revolution!

[joeyhatch11]

Thanks, that looks like a great product! I'll probably start off using that and after a year or so I'll see where my nutrients stand and start dosing specific nutrients then.

I've been sending out water for ICP ever 4-5 months to see where the tank stands. So far so good.

 

[najer]

Long story short, the system is 28 months old and runs at 550 litre water volume, I did about 200 litres in water changes 4 or 5 months ago after an extended power cut.
I dose liquid kh buffer daily by hand and an all elements buffer when I remember.
I test kh once a month.
I manually top up about 2 gallons a day RO.
I have 2 refugiums and a skimmer.
Taken today and as mentioned before, each to their own as long as your animals and fish are happy!?

DSC_0006 by sshipuk, on Flickr

 

[Murica]

Wow! I know there's a hype for sps tanks, but I'll always be a lps fan. Tank looks outstanding!

 

[nashorn]

Here's my ICP report

 

[Murica]

Here's my ICP report

That's awesome, now you can see what you need to tweak. Are you even going to worry about those toxin levels? They seem pretty low. If so, how will you export them?

 

[nashorn]

That's awesome, now you can see what you need to tweak. Are you even going to worry about those toxin levels? They seem pretty low. If so, how will you export them?

Yea, seems low and tank looks good so not sure.
Mess with one thing and cause another problem.
Silicon is high but I do have lots of cool looking sponges. Hmm.... been dose Zeovit sponge powder.
I since added some carbon pellets
Maybe other can chime in?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Your salinity looks very high.

 

[Murica]

Yea, seems low and tank looks good so not sure.
Mess with one thing and cause another problem.
Silicon is high but I do have lots of cool looking sponges. Hmm.... been dose Zeovit sponge powder.
I since added some carbon pellets
Maybe other can chime in?

I find it impossible to lower my silicate from the water. Creates a few patches of diatoms, that's about it. I'm not to worried about mine

 

[nashorn]

Your salinity looks very high.

Thanks Randy
Yea, it does but when I test it only a bit high. I start to lower it over the next week or so.
When I test with distilled water I get 1.00 so that shows my meter is calibrate , right?

 

[nashorn]

Mag way up there too.

 

[Squamosa]

Calcium too, is very high!
What is your alk running at?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Thanks Randy
Yea, it does but when I test it only a bit high. I start to lower it over the next week or so.
When I test with distilled water I get 1.00 so that shows my meter is calibrate , right?

How high do you think it is? SG = 1.027? The icp data suggests much higher.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Here's my ICP report

If that ICP data is correct, the salinity is close to 37.6 ppt, or a sg of about 1.0284. I'd look to lower it.

FWIW, that is not inconsistent with your reading, since that device only claims accuracy of +/- 2 ppt.

 

[nashorn]

If that ICP data is correct, the salinity is close to 37.6 ppt, or a sg of about 1.0284. I'd look to lower it.

FWIW, that is not inconsistent with your reading, since that device only claims accuracy of +/- 2 ppt.

Thanks for converting that number since I was wondering how to do it.
Good to know the Sg reading is off by +.001
I'll start a new thread to address the problems in my tank.
Hope you can chime in with your expertise

 

[Leaellynasaura]

I wish to declare that 3 weeks ago I left the no water change club. I decided to spend the money on lots of salt and I am now doing 20% changes each and every Saturday. My corals were just not super happy and it was more pain and trouble for me trying to keep nitrates zero and alk/calc stable with no water changes.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I wish to declare that 3 weeks ago I left the no water change club. I decided to spend the money on lots of salt and I am now doing 20% changes each and every Saturday. My corals were just not super happy and it was more pain and trouble for me trying to keep nitrates zero and alk/calc stable with no water changes.

Do you see any difference yet?

 

[User1]

I always wondered at what frequency people change water with larger tanks. That is one of those hidden costs some people overlook or at least those coming from smaller tanks. I know when I went to fill up my 210 that is cycling now I forgot to factor that in so was a bit surprised. I'll be darned if I didn't order anything either during the various holiday sales which made it worse. Someone did some rough math in another thread that I found interested in the yearly cost. Maybe it was you Randy - I don't remember. In any case even with my lowly 210 I'm going to try and not do has many, if any, than what is absolutely necessary.

Cost and because I'm lazy.

 

[mtraylor]

I wish to declare that 3 weeks ago I left the no water change club. I decided to spend the money on lots of salt and I am now doing 20% changes each and every Saturday. My corals were just not super happy and it was more pain and trouble for me trying to keep nitrates zero and alk/calc stable with no water changes.

To not perform water changes you need good mechanical filtration to start with and good husbandry habbits. You will need supplements as well to keep everything replenished. Just as an FYI. I"m not sure zero Nitrates is a good thing or something to strive for.

 

[Dugless]

Trying to skip out on simple scheduled water changes by dosing many different individual elements based on what might be week old data seems backwards to me. Why complicate things?

 

[2Wheelsonly]

Triton doesn't test alk? Also, I know they don't test no3 so that would assume the triton solution does not account for nutrient export? Are you guys relying on some form of carbon dosing? I'm all for heavier nutrients but if it does nothing but creep up then eventually I would think a crash would happen over time.