Water Changes Yes or No?
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Young Frankenstein
I sniff ozone and relax.
The question is how stable is your system and how knowledgeable are you. To be asking for no water changes you must have knowledge from 1 to 10 ………10+ so make your choices accordingly 
mnat
Valuable Member
Since I have always had small tanks (57g is my biggest right now) water changes are essential. I have been doing 10% weekly for years now. I recently ran into some parameter issues and the best thing I did was just increase water changes. Everything looks a heck of a lot better and my params are all normal. I think once you get into much bigger systems you can relax on the water changes, but they are still important at least monthly.
Reefer Addict
Community Member
Yes, the solution to pollution is dilution
Ace25
Active Member
While a good quote, it isn't the only answer. How about removing the pollution from the water in the first place instead of diluting it?
Another thing to ponder here... a lot of answers say "to replace trace elements" but not 1 person test for trace elements. How do you know your not raising something like molybdenum to levels that become toxic by doing more frequent water changes? If X tank consumes Y amount of trace element, and you replace that lost element with 4x Y during a water change, one could really be skewing certain elements. At some point wouldn't you think that by doing more water changes your actually making some parameters worse and more out of balance, unless you do 100% water changes?
gmoney243
2500 Club Member
Because people have had tanks running for 20+years doing water changes and I donr believe anyone has experienced a trace element problem
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Ace25
Active Member
How do you know they never had problems related to trace elements? That same line of thinking can be used on the other side of the coin as well. People have had tanks running for years without water changes and they can also (falsely) say they never had a trace element problem. No one really knows when it comes to trace elements, everyone just "assumes", and we all know what assuming leads to. 
Isn't one of the golden rules of this hobby "Never add anything to your tank that you can not test for"? I see that advice all the time when questions arise in regards to dosing Iodine, Strontium, Alk, Ca, Mg, etc.
Just playing devils advocate.. I actually encourage the vast majority to do regular water changes.
Isn't one of the golden rules of this hobby "Never add anything to your tank that you can not test for"? I see that advice all the time when questions arise in regards to dosing Iodine, Strontium, Alk, Ca, Mg, etc.
Just playing devils advocate.. I actually encourage the vast majority to do regular water changes.
Trex
Valuable Member
Find me an accurate (( and not too expensive )) test for those trace elements and I will test for them.
Until that happens, I am going to trust my eyes (( how the tank reacts to water changes )) and my 20+ years in this hobby.
Until that happens, I am going to trust my eyes (( how the tank reacts to water changes )) and my 20+ years in this hobby.
Ace25
Active Member
Believe me, I hear you 100% on the lack of testing abilities for trace elements. That is exactly the point I am trying to make, there is no way for us to test those things at the hobbyist level cheaply and accurately and I really wish there was.
That is the exact reason I don't do water changes anymore. I feel I have eliminated all the reasons for doing them that I can test for. Since I can't test for certain things I know I should be testing for, I have to trust my eyes and 20+ years keeping fish in glass boxes to tell me if something "untestable" is wrong. Some people do a water changes hoping everything turns out good in the trace element department, others dose things like B-Ionic (which does contain additional trace elements), or simply a product like Kent Marine Trace Elements. I certainly can't say if one method is better than the other, but I know 1 method is quite a bit cheaper than the other. I feel I have enough experience for me to make that call on my tanks, just my tanks, no one elses. I think it takes many years to really get that feel for personal tanks, which is why for the vast majority I would recommend regular water changes.
Say the ideal level of iodine is 2ppm. Your salt has 2 ppm already bound to the sodium chloride molecules. Therefore, no matter how many water changes you do, it will get no higher than 2 ppm. If you buy an iodine supplement, which is, say, 5000 ppm, and you dump the whole bottle, that is a problem. Basically, unless you have bad salt, it is physically impossible to overdose.How do you know they never had problems related to trace elements? That same line of thinking can be used on the other side of the coin as well. People have had tanks running for years without water changes and they can also (falsely) say they never had a trace element problem. No one really knows when it comes to trace elements, everyone just "assumes", and we all know what assuming leads to.
Isn't one of the golden rules of this hobby "Never add anything to your tank that you can not test for"? I see that advice all the time when questions arise in regards to dosing Iodine, Strontium, Alk, Ca, Mg, etc.
Just playing devils advocate.. I actually encourage the vast majority to do regular water changes.
fingas
Community Member
This is along my line of thinking. If you use a salt that has the parameters that you want to maintain then you could change 20% everyday and not have a buildup of any of the elements.
Coral Allelopathy and too bring in line elements that are added through additives that dont get used up. Eventually they can build up if not used and possibly become toxic.
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I am a firm believer you should test before adding or taking away anything in my tank! this includes waterchanges, every system is different and has different requirements
sometimes I go 5-6 weeks between waterchanges it depends on how much I feed the fish, if I took a bunch of frags out(have to replace the water).............
sometimes I go 5-6 weeks between waterchanges it depends on how much I feed the fish, if I took a bunch of frags out(have to replace the water).............
OP
OP
I always looked at a water change as a breath of fresh air for my tank (figuratively speaking)
Chameleon
Valuable Member
You can't raise stuff higher than it is in the water being added. Most salt mixes (that people buy) don't kill off all the fish and corals. Therefore the levels in the salt mixes are fine and you don't have to worry about adding too much of a trace element. The only case in which it would be problematic is if a trace element was added in large amounts in a bound form and catabolized over time adding to the levels. In this case water changes would help reduce the levels. The moral is water changes will not skew trace elements in an unfavorable direction unless you believe the water you are using already is unfavorable (buy a different salt...). That being said my tank does really well without regular water changes but I think water changes could improve it as long as I am careful about not causing temp/alk/etc swings in the process. My reason for not changing water is simply 'if it aint broke dont fix it' and things look great atm. I used to do water changes often and things looked great then, however where I live now the water is not cheap and I can't convince the wife the RODI waste is worth it on the bill so I truck in all my water from my lab and that is just used for ATO and the less frequent water change.
-Cham
Chameleon
Valuable Member
+1...i wish i had more knowledge....The question is how stable is your system and how knowledgeable are you. To be asking for no water changes you must have knowledge from 1 to 10 ………10+ so make your choices accordingly
Ace25
Active Member
How does the addition of food affect trace element levels in the tank?
