Too many water changes?

[Neptune1707]

Do you feed with any amino? I use Red sea reef energy twice a week (suggested is daily but I don't want to overdo it)

agree....I noticed a wee bit of cyano after dosing daily. Scaled back.

 

[Scott.h]

I purposely keep my nitrates around 5ish because of the issue you are having. I'm not sure how much you are feeding, but aside from feeding more which certainly wouldn't hurt try just doing 10 gal weekly water changes. Depending on how much stock you have id think your trace elements would be fine at that. If I had zero nitrates I'd see no reason to change as much water personally. Also adding new water there is a bit of difference I'm sure every time you add that water in it could be a change to the corals versus more stability of the same water as well.

 

[Rogergolf66]

Interesting feed....I just posted this on my Facebook Red Sea max page this morning: So my Max 500 been up and running since January. Live rock & fish transferred from old 90g setup. Currently all water parameters seem spot on. My zoos, colt coral, chalice, frogspawn, coral mushrooms are alive and open, just not seeing any growth. My zoos have a small footer starting to grow with 3 polyps but that's about it. Any thoughts on growth. Or I'm a just an inpatient reef keeper? LOL

My tank is pretty clean Nitrate, Phosphate at 0. Is it possible my tank is "to clean". Just started to notice a little bit of algae on a couple of rocks but nothing of to much concern. I'm so confused at this point, because I was committed to have a lot of fish and work at keeping nitrates and phosphates at 0 so that I could also keep coral. Maybe this is old school thinking. Back when I got in the hobby it seems like you either had nutrient high fish only tanks, or extremely pristine water for keeping corals with hardly any fish. Now the more blogs I read...reef keepers are talking about adding more nutrient for their corals to thrive. So did I miss something in "reef school"....or is there a happy medium

Currently adding 2 part A/B calcium, Red Sea NoPoX, Red Sea A/B reef nutrition and that's all. Doing a 35g water change about every 3 weeks on 135g system. Any thoughts?????

Well one test kits are a bit better measuring lower then the old days and more accurate. So back in the day when u had a zero reading on a test kit you likely still had some. Now with better skimmers, changing filter socks often, better rodi systems, carbon dosing and so on it is easy to strip the water of coral food supply that's in the water naturally. So some have dosed nitrate back into there tanks with good results. I am in your boat. All my tanks have always been to clean. I purchased notate but haven't used it yet. I. Scared .

 

[michael4111]

You kh is to high in my if you run a clean tank you need to lower it between 7 and 9 or it will bleach or pale your corals out of your tank is high in nutrient then you run between 9 and 12 ask any experenced hobbiest more info on this.......I run carbon and gfo as well had the same problem my kh was 11 and lowered it to 7.5 and my colors pop now also started me polyp extender

 

[jsker]

to be responsible, look at all of the parameters and dose trace elements. it depends on bio load.

I agree with @saltyfilmfolks, Trace elements should be dosed and this point. In fact to make life simpler look into the balling method of dosing. Beside you Ca,Mg, and alk the trace elements are also dosed.

Last year about this time I was convened that water changes were my answer reducing my Po4's. One thing i discovered was with the water change may corals were looking better, but also stripped my bio load and kill most of my fish. So I went back to my weekly water chances, and started dosing a color program and my colors started to improve. What salt are you using? Then after playing around with the color program, the balling method was suggest. Wow what a difference in my colors and growth.

 

[CodyRVA]

My main system (80G) is going on 9 months without a water change. I used to run GFO and it was stripping my system. Corals bleaching hardcore. I was also running pellets, which I still am, but in a very small amount. I currently have a fuge, chaeto, pellet reactor, and a very over sized skimmer. I use a turkey baster to stir the entire 1 inch sand bed and rocks once a week. Change carbon once a week. I won't ever use GFO again unless I have a nutrient explosion. I alternate weekly dosing between amino acids and phytoplankton. Dose ALK, CA, MG and Red Sea coloration kit.

 

[Dreamreef]

Everyone has a difference of opinion to be well respected and received in this hobby. I was one who did a scheduled water change knowing for a fact there are many benefits. About 7 years ago I stopped doing water changes and if I just happen to feel the urge, it was literally twice a year. I had 90g and currently I have a 120g mixed reef and have tremendous success in a colorful oasis. I dose aminos, vodka, Kalk and run carbon 2 days max 3 a month.

 

[Dreamreef]

My current 120

 

[Dreamreef]

My 90

 

[Brew12]

My 90

Wow.. seeing tanks like yours gives me motivation to keep working on my system! I'm still in the 1/2 finished stand and dirty used tank that needs to be cleaned stage.

 

[CodyRVA]

Wow.. seeing tanks like yours gives me motivation to keep working on my system! I'm still in the 1/2 finished stand and dirty used tank that needs to be cleaned stage.

All tanks were once nothing more than where you're at right now, keep pressing!

 

[Ken Williams]

I've seen some members on here say they don't do water changes. Not recommending that route, just saying....

So what do you you recommend

 

[pelphrey]

Someone mentioned it but I'm also curious about the light intensity and schedule. I'm by no means an expert but I feel like sometimes the lights are over looked.

Plus I wanted to comment so I can tag along. I am setting up a new tank as we speak and the people who don't do water changes really intrigue me! Something else I need to research since I know dosing is involved.

 

[RoyalGrammaJohn]

I have been maintaining my SPS 105G tank over a year now by doing weekly 15 gallon water changes. I have not missed a single one yet. My nitrates and phosphates have always been near 0 with my ALK being close to 10. Most of the SPS have always been understandable pale in color. I have tried feeding heavier with no luck. Rather than dose to elevate my nitrates, would switching to every other week water changes help or hurt my situation? My tank has always been extremely stable...I am afraid to throw off that balance. The coral does seem to respond to the water changes by the addition of trace elements I assume (although it could be in my head lol).

 

[Debramb]

Hi reefers, don't think I read it here, but worth repeating, researchers trying to find out the cause of coral bleaching have confirmed it occurs ( in oceans) in low fish populations. They've concluded that fish pee actually is conducive to a healthy reef. Heavily populated reefs are the healthiest . Not climate change, maybe it was Breitbart! Anyway, seems to follow along with ideas on this thread

 

[Maritza The Vase Reef]

Peace All,

Water Changes has kept Maritza The Vase Reef, thriving and colorful for almost 4 years now. We do them weekly, from 25-90%, 4 hrs. after feeding the Corals. I have never witness a negative effect on Corals after the water changed. In this 1.25 gal. Mixed Reef with 28 different Corals, if the volume of water changed was a problem, you would notice it immediately, since most is being removed and changed at once.

And there are no hidden sump or filter here. Just air bubbles from a Whisper Air Pump, 12W Custom LED par38 ABI bulb, 3" Live Sand, Live Rock. We use Instant Ocean Salt regular, R.O. and prepare the water for 24 hrs. with an air stone. That's it. The problem is when you get a bad batch of Salt Mix, R.O. water with high TDS, the water not mixed completely and clear, not the same temperature, same specific gravity, or ph, or if you've changed to a different Salt Mix, without acclimating your Corals to the new mix.

If water changes are a problem if "done too much", we would not be here. If any negative side of effect from a water change, we would have known immediately in this little Coral packed system. We're still here and stronger than ever!!!

It's worked well for Us and we're grateful...!

We're not saying that it's the only way,
We're only stating that it has helped us and has never been an issue or a negative experience
with Maritza The Vase Reef.

Much Success and Happiness, All..

Blessings All.

 

[Brew12]

So what do you you recommend

I recommend listening to someone other than me for advice when it comes to these things. There are so many factors that come into play and I have almost no experience with it. I wasn't trying to imply personal expertise, only passing on information on what I have seen.
I'm still trying to figure out which route I want to go. It seems like most of the successful people I have followed go one of two paths. More frequent water changes with a fairly simplified dosing schedule and few to no water changes with heavier dosing schedules.

Sorry I can't be more helpful.

 

[Waters]

There has been a lot of information provided which gives me several different ways I can proceed. To those asking about my lighting, I am running two XR30w Pros maxing out about 63%. Both fixtures have the wide angle lenses (I was burning corals directly under the pucks prior to switching lenses...even at much lower intensities). I think, going forward, I am going to try and stop the GFO (carefully watching PO4) and feed heavier (both fish and coral). I will continue the water changes as is for now and see what happens. I should know something by tomorrow, right lol ??

 

[Ken Williams]

I recommend listening to someone other than me for advice when it comes to these things. There are so many factors that come into play and I have almost no experience with it. I wasn't trying to imply personal expertise, only passing on information on what I have seen.
I'm still trying to figure out which route I want to go. It seems like most of the successful people I have followed go one of two paths. More frequent water changes with a fairly simplified dosing schedule and few to no water changes with heavier dosing schedules.

Sorry I can't be more helpful.

Ok...no problem....thanks for your input