Water Changes: Weekly, When needed, or Not at all?

[Auquanut]

I am currently changing out 2 gallons daily on my 125 via AWC. When I was doing manual changes, I went from weekly to by-weekly, to every 3 week changes as the tank matured and parameters seemed stable. With my nutrient export method and dosing schedule, I could have (in theory) gone to a nearly no water change schedule.

while I realize that many reefers have had success with no, or nearly no water changes, I just can't get past the idea that my tank is a closed system. It doesn't get replenished by a bzillion gallons of water from the ocean. If I can smell dinner cooking, there is something entering my tank through gas exchange that I'm not testing for and probably won't show up on an ICP test. Add to that any other contaminants that are floating around my house that I haven't considered and the quality of the air itself.

I do run activated carbon, but I just figure there is no substitute for introducing known good, contaminant free water to my tank. Kind of replicating in a VERY small way the natural turnover of water over the natural reef. Out with the bad, in with the good.

 

[SPR1968]

I am currently changing out 2 gallons daily on my 125 via AWC. When I was doing manual changes, I went from weekly to by-weekly, to every 3 week changes as the tank matured and parameters seemed stable. With my nutrient export method and dosing schedule, I could have (in theory) gone to a nearly no water change schedule.

while I realize that many reefers have had success with no, or nearly no water changes, I just can't get past the idea that my tank is a closed system. It doesn't get replenished by a bzillion gallons of water from the ocean. If I can smell dinner cooking, there is something entering my tank through gas exchange that I'm not testing for and probably won't show up on an ICP test. Add to that any other contaminants that are floating around my house that I haven't considered and the quality of the air itself.

I do run activated carbon, but I just figure there is no substitute for introducing known good, contaminant free water to my tank. Kind of replicating in a VERY small way the natural turnover of water over the natural reef. Out with the bad, in with the good.

+1 to all of this

 

[Mark Novack]

A tank that needs a water change is a tank that was missing water changes. It's my opinion that a properly maintained tank never 'needs' a water change because water changes should be performed regularly before it becomes a matter of urgency. It's like Bob Marley's toe. Don't wait for the cancer to spread.

 

[reefviper101]

Water changes are essentially for nutrient export and replenishing trace elements. The general rule in the hobby is weekly water changes. This has come up for debate over the last several years as more and more reefers adopt systems/methods of reefing that reduce or remove the need for weekly water changes and some even argue that water changes are detrimental since they cause a "shock" to the ecosystem. Still, more of us are simply infrequent/inconsistent in our water change schedules due to neglect/laziness, and perhaps some people are infrequent water changes by choice--choosing only to do them when they see a need. So where do you land on water changes, and what's your reasoning?

I am actually mixed on this i was doing weekly and things where ok but slow i went to a bi weekly and thing really flourish but recently i went back to weekly due to a nutiant spike but everything is shrinking and looking sickly so i think I'll go back to bi weekly

 

[Viking_Reefing]

Doing AWC, 1% every day and found this to be the most stable way of doing things. I’ve tried most other methodologies, including not doing any water changes.

I don’t subscribe to the no water change method as contaminants will make their way in to the tank over time and potentially cause a problem. ICP tests generally only shows stuff commonly present elements so they won’t tell you everything.
Can it be done successfully for 2-4 years? Most likely. Could it work for 10+ years, I have my doubts.

 

[wmo168]

I do mine once a month maybe. I have crammed so many zoa into a 32 biocube led I have 0-1ppm nitrates. I dose reef + amino acids weekly. Everything is flourishing even my LPS so I don’t see the need to do them any more frequently. Also have a hammer coral that started as one dime sized head two months ago and is now two half dollar sized heads.

I use to do it weekly and binweekly. After 14 years in the hobby i do it once a month. 10 gallon change in 60g. Now everything is stable and flourish. Before i was battling with algae and stuff. Now i only clean the glass once a month. No film or no issue. I do auto dosing and amino

 

[paul barker]

it seems like when my tanks get ordered I don't do as many I test one a week on my 55 it's fish only and rock my 29 mix reef I change the water ones a month I am starting a 180 tank a I will start ones a week for a year a see how it goes

 

[csscuba]

with my 220 with a 40 gal. sump i tend to try for every 3-4 weeks doing about 40ish gallons and topping off when needed. with the corals and livestock this has work well for me. also i have found it comes down to what salt i use. Currently i use the Tropic Marine this cuts down on any additional additives for me at least. Personally i think it comes down to what you have in your tank (livestock and corals) some things clean the water and substrate better than others and help to keep a true balance to the system. also what someone uses for the filter system is a huge factor with the flow rate of the system. so in my opinion this is really a open ended question that comes down to what the system is as a whole. just my two cents though.

 

[james2662]

I am using AWC at 2 gallons a day using the Apex DOS. It is a new tank and on my last tank I had the most success when doing water changes weekly so when setting this one up I wanted to take that manual task out as I knew I would eventually start slacking on it ;Happy

 

[Mark Bradley]

I have always assumed that one size doesn’t fit all. I only have a Reefer170 which is well stocked so a 15% water change per week seems a sensible option for me.

 

[kcschwabe]

I have a diy algae scrubber and protein skimmer in a diy refugium a20 gallon breeder I use as my display I have slowly gotten to where I’m only doing water changes once a month like maybe 25 % of total water volume and that’s just to clean my sand and really my sand honestly has been cleaner so I’m thinking of dragging it out a lil longer next time all my animals seem to love it and they do a great job at keeping the tank clean.. here’s a shot of my little blue crab only not so little any more

 

[T33BLACK]

My aquarium is 5 years old, I used to do Water change every month for the first year and then every six months and then every year, 14 months at the moment and No water changes
Check my YouTube channel

What is your YouTube channel

 

[MONTANTK]

Currently I do them as needed or when I get around to it. I don’t prefer this method but my tanks nutrient export is crazy high for some reason so any time I do a water change I end up with dinos after. I’m about to start dosing nitrates and phosphate into the system so hopefully I can begin doing weekly water changes. I also plan to add a Dos so I can start doing daily water changes in an attempt to replenish trace elements

 

[Timfish]

I like weekly water changes but I've been successfull with biweekly and monthly. Water changes are the only way to get rid of the refractory DOC that builds up in reef systems without having heterotrophic (and potentially pathogenic) bacterial blooms.

 

[j0359m]

I have been in the hobby for 20 yrs, 8 of it saltwater. I stopped doing water changes a couple yrs ago when I started Reefmoonshiner method & couldn’t be more happy. Now the only time water is changed out is when I clean the sump once a yr. Everything is stable & growing like never before so I’ll leave it alone.

 

[ebeez]

I do daily water changes, 1.7%, via the DOS. Works like a charm and occupants are happy

 

[ID-Reefer]

I went the AWC route. I change out 3 gallons per day on my 243 gal system. I found in the past that I would get lazy from time to time (or simply not have time to do it). Now all I have to do is mix up 45 gallons of salt water every two weeks. I like the stability of the AWC offers over weekly or monthly changes. Its also nice not having to heat water for a water change when its done in such small amounts.

 

[McPuff]

I have been in the hobby for 20 yrs, 8 of it saltwater. I stopped doing water changes a couple yrs ago when I started Reefmoonshiner method & couldn’t be more happy. Now the only time water is changed out is when I clean the sump once a yr. Everything is stable & growing like never before so I’ll leave it alone.

My buddy was just telling me about this a couple days ago. He's going to try it out and report back. Sounds like it's not very hard to do but the results have been really positive for users. Seems like this would complement what I'm already doing so it may be something I consider.

I probably end up doing around 10-15% water change per month, sometimes less. Really depends on what's going on in and outside of the system. My focus in on the dirtiest water (sump sediment, sand vacuum) and not just a removal and replacement of water. I use calcium reactor and dose aminos (KZ) and my parameters are generally quite stable. Guess I'm closer to no water changes than I am regular water changes.

 

[tony'stank]

I have a 90G RSR450 that has bee set up for 7 years. I only do water changes as needed, for cyano , after chemiclean, etc. I have only Don two water changes in seven years. I have a skimmer, a refugium with cheats, and a reactor with Chemipure Blue and Rowaphos. I do an ICP test every 3 months and dose as necessary. My tank is heavily stocked with fish, softies and a few montipora

 

[Nathan Milender]

I have a 125 with a 60 sump at about 2 years old (maybe pushing 3 I would have to check). I initially did changes about every 2 weeks and was pretty good about it. I was having issues with no nitrate or phosphate. After importing some bryopsis and dealing with that I noticed my first detectable nitrate and phosphate but it quickly disappeared. Soft corals and euphyelias did well, sps struggled, blastos did medium. Overall slow growth.

I considered adding nitrate and phos, but this just seemed like an odd activity so I started turning off the skimmer for an interval. Mild uptick in growth. I then slowed down water changes to about every 6 weeks and then 2 months. Now it has been about 4 months. I still have almost no detectable nitrate (0-5 on nyos) and undetectable phos (hanna low, not ultra low). I started dosing the KZ coral something (vitalizer or growth, I can confirm later) with snow and iodine once a week. Growth has really sped up and alk consumption has tripled. Over the past 6 months I allowed the alk to drop from 10 to 8 as it just seemed unnecessary to run at 10.

I am actually starting to wonder if I need to consider balling method as using the BRS 2 part system I run about 1 hour of drip of alk and about 20 min of calcium. I am trying to figure out how much sodium is in there without doing the water changes and why the tank is doing so well. A part of me feels like I should be doing a water change but then I consider what the point of it is as everything is looking good. The only issue I have really had is trying to stabilize alk consumption which as risen considerably.

It seems that if you supplement you may not need to water change unless there is a specific indication.