Water changes & water chemistry

[project2022]

Hello,
How often and in what volume do you believe water changes are necessary in the following circumstances: tank currently has no fish, only corals, snails, anemone; ammonia, phosphate, nitrite, and nitrate all test at zero; KH is at 10.9; spec gravity at 1.025; ph at 8.3; calcium about 480+; trace elements supplemented with sealab-28; skimmer is skimming small volume. Put another way, if water parameters are generally stable and trace elements supplemented, what are we replacing?
Thank you

 

[blaxsun]

Water changes are typically to remove waste and replace the main elements and trace elements - unless we're talking about massive emergency water changes to address a specific issue.

These are more important on smaller tanks where dosing may not be applicable and parameters can tend to spike quickly. On larger tanks - I can't answer that. I've only performed maybe 3 water changes in the past year on my 200-gallon system and the corals, fish, anemones and inverts don't seem to be affected in the least.

 

[keatonmjenkins]

Hello,
How often and in what volume do you believe water changes are necessary in the following circumstances: tank currently has no fish, only corals, snails, anemone; ammonia, phosphate, nitrite, and nitrate all test at zero; KH is at 10.9; spec gravity at 1.025; ph at 8.3; calcium about 480+; trace elements supplemented with sealab-28; skimmer is skimming small volume. Put another way, if water parameters are generally stable and trace elements supplemented, what are we replacing?
Thank you

How new is your tank?

 

[brmc1985]

Water changes are typically to remove waste and replace the main elements and trace elements - unless we're talking about massive emergency water changes to address a specific issue.

These are more important on smaller tanks where dosing may not be applicable and parameters can tend to spike quickly. On larger tanks - I can't answer that. I've only performed maybe 3 water changes in the past year on my 200-gallon system and the corals, fish, anemones and inverts don't seem to be affected in the least.

I agree with you. Water changes in this day and age “should” be a thing of the past. There are so many ways to replenish minor and trace elements(looking at you All For Reef) that, unless you have excess nutrients, there is no reason to do a water change IMO.

 

[project2022]

Thanks for the opinions!

 

[ZoWhat]

I agree with you. Water changes in this day and age “should” be a thing of the past. There are so many ways to replenish minor and trace elements(looking at you All For Reef) that, unless you have excess nutrients, there is no reason to do a water change IMO.