Water change as needed?

[Scottayy]

My nitrates had bottomed out for a while so I've been overfeeding and checking weekly.

The last few weeks they were undetectable. This week they are between 5 and 10.

I know water changes have 2 purposes, nutrient export and trace mineral replacement.

Seeing as I only have soft coral, I'm not worried about the trace elements as much.

But is it more important (or better) to :

A) do a partial water change on a schedule regardless of test results

Or

B) do a partial water change as needed for nutrient control?

Tank is about 4 months old, 13.5 gallon evo, 2 baby clownfish, clean up crew, a bubble tip anemone, green star polyp, a mushroom, and 2 zoa frags. I'm still figuring out maintenance.

 

[blaxsun]

c) As little as humanely possible.

 

[MNFish]

I am an A for my 75 and started as an A for my 13.5, until my nitrates zeroed out then switched to a B....
I think both are valid strategy, but I think consistency is very important, which is why I usually do A.

 

[Scottayy]

c) As little as humanely possible.

What's the reasoning behind this? Just a hands off approach? I understand if everything is fine, leave it alone.

 

[Scottayy]

I am an A for my 75 and started as an A for my 13.5, until my nitrates zeroed out then switched to a B....
I think both are valid strategy, but I think consistency is very important, which is why I usually do A.

I have always been an A, but like you my nitrates bottomed out and I was wondering if consistency matters.

At the moment I'll only do it to keep my nitrates under 10. I was worried for a long time when they were they undetectable, but I'm sure they were still there.

 

[blaxsun]

What's the reasoning behind this? Just a hands off approach? I understand if everything is fine, leave it alone.

I just don't necessarily subscribe to the theory behind frequent water changes.

For example, I use Tropic Marin salt. If I was doing 10% every 2 weeks I'd be well into a new unopened pail which is apparently defective (manufactured in Turkey) and most likely having issues with all my corals. Or worse. So having not done a water change recently probably saved my reef.

I've also seen two recent examples on YouTube where the reef tanks were almost completely destroyed by bad batches of salt. There have been a lot of people reporting weird ICP test results and problems with their reefs, and I can't help but think that QC has gone to crap the past few years.

 

[Scottayy]

I just don't necessarily subscribe to the theory behind frequent water changes.

For example, I use Tropic Marin salt. If I was doing 10% every 2 weeks I'd be well into a new unopened pail which is apparently defective (manufactured in Turkey) and most likely having issues with all my corals. Or worse. So having not done a water change recently probably saved my reef.

I've also seen two recent examples on YouTube where the reef tanks were almost completely destroyed by bad batches of salt. There have been a lot of people reporting weird ICP test results and problems with their reefs, and I can't help but think that QC has gone to crap the past few years.

That's interesting.

I'm definitely a fan of less is more.

I wouldn't be opposed to only doing pwc as needed.

Do you still see good coral growth?

 

[blaxsun]

That's interesting.
I'm definitely a fan of less is more.
I wouldn't be opposed to only doing pwc as needed.
Do you still see good coral growth?

I'm seeing fairly solid coral growth. Nothing spectacular, but that's fine as I'm not having to dose extreme amounts of supplements, either.

 

[Spare time]

Soft corals may use more trace elements than stony corals.

 

[JoJosReef]

I just don't necessarily subscribe to the theory behind frequent water changes.

For example, I use Tropic Marin salt. If I was doing 10% every 2 weeks I'd be well into a new unopened pail which is apparently defective (manufactured in Turkey) and most likely having issues with all my corals. Or worse. So having not done a water change recently probably saved my reef.

I've also seen two recent examples on YouTube where the reef tanks were almost completely destroyed by bad batches of salt. There have been a lot of people reporting weird ICP test results and problems with their reefs, and I can't help but think that QC has gone to crap the past few years.

That is understandable. I buy my Red Sea Coral Pro water made at an LFS, and I didn't check the last batch before doing a 10% WC. When I saw my tank at 1.029, I flipped. The water was at 1.039, and they usually make it at 1.025-1.026. They replaced all of it, but I'm currently getting some weird Alk readings using Red Sea kits... I had some losses that could be related to those swings.

May be some merit in going minimal WCs and just monitoring/adjusting all elements. I'm sticking to frequent WCs and dosing NO3 and PO4 when necessary to keep 5ppm/0.05-0.01ppm, respectively--just keeping it easy mode.

 

[Scottayy]

Soft corals may use more trace elements than stony corals.

Really? I thought the trace elements were used for skeleton building.. Which soft coral don't have.

 

[mdb_talon]

I know water changes have 2 purposes, nutrient export and trace mineral replacement.

I am not trying to talk you into any approach, but would add a third use for water changes which is to remove buildups of bad thing(or good things that become bad when we get too much). There is a lot more things that can build up in our tanks than just nitrates/phosphates.

Personally i started doing few to no WC. I dose trace elements and nutrients also low. I found i kept having things show up high on ICP(not things i was dosing or at least knee i was dosing necessarily). Started doing WC again and noticed good improvements(though I still do much less than I once did).

 

[Spare time]

Really? I thought the trace elements were used for skeleton building.. Which soft coral don't have.

No the skeleton is simply calcium and carbonate (alk) (and occasionally strontium or something else that gets shoved in there for some reason).

 

[Tamberav]

I would agree that soft corals benefit from trace elements, some more than others.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Really? I thought the trace elements were used for skeleton building.. Which soft coral don't have.

No. While some trace elements may be incorporated into skeletons, a very large amount are incorporated into tissues of all organisms, including hard corals, algae, fish, soft corals, dinos, cyanobacteria, snails, crabs, etc.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

This article shows an analysis of elements in caulerpa (macroalgae), xenia, and sarcophyton (leather coral):

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-12/rs/feature/index.php