Why should i do water changes?

X-37B · Jan 30, 2020

Scorpius said:
And by the time a problem arises you're already in reaction mode trying to curtail a parameter swing which may have been completely avoided by doing regular water changes.

Its all about stability. I get your reaction and opinion from everyone I know in my area. They laugh at my no water change system.

fishguy242 said:

Now thats a coral. Love it.

fishguy242 · Jan 30, 2020

been fragging it over 20years by the chunk,and thanks

fishguy242 · Jan 30, 2020

congrats you just hit 1000 messages

fishguy242 · Jan 30, 2020

new here but i think addicted

X-37B · Jan 30, 2020

fishguy242 said:
new here but i think addicted

Yep. There is worse things to be addicted to lol.

fishguy242 · Jan 30, 2020

put down the bottle pick up the bucket

Punchanello · Jan 30, 2020

I'm a big believer in water changes and have crashed my tank by not doing them.

It's a case of diluting whatever is going in to your tank, particularly the things we can't or don't measure. The things that are going in come from source water (yes even RODI), dosing, salt mix, soap, detergents and surfactants from your hands or elsewhere, and air pollutants from sprays, cleaners, corrosion and leeching from equipment etc.

Most brand name balling dosing products contain trace elements and promote their benefits. Most have heavy metals in them like copper for example. You aren't just dosing calcium and alkalinity but any number of other trace materials. Most people assume this stuff is being taken up at the rate it is dosed. But, take up of any element compared to another would depend on the type and quantity of corals, and other biological and chemical factors. So unless you are doing regular water changes there is no guarantee there isn't a built up of one element or another.

I thought that I could slow down or stop water changes because I was dosing all the trace elements that would normally come in via a water change, my N and P were where I wanted them and I kept stable calcium, alkalinity and magnesium. I was wrong. I took and ICP test to find that heavy metals and other elements were all on the high side. Copper for example was at .08! My tank only started to recover when I started doing regular water changes again and switched to plain old two part.

My advice is, if you are a beginner like I am/was, there is no insurance like water changes and if you really don't want to do them, you better be investing in plenty of ICP tests. And even then, they don't test or detect everything.

X-37B · Jan 30, 2020

Punchanello said:
I'm a big believer in water changes and have crashed my tank by not doing them.

It's a case of diluting whatever is going in to your tank, particularly the things we can't or don't measure. The things that are going in come from source water (yes even RODI), dosing, salt mix, soap, detergents and surfactants from your hands or elsewhere, and air pollutants from sprays, cleaners, corrosion and leeching from equipment etc.

Most brand name balling dosing products contain trace elements and promote their benefits. Most have heavy metals in them like copper for example. You aren't just dosing calcium and alkalinity but any number of other trace materials. Most people assume this stuff is being taken up at the rate it is dosed. But, take up of any element compared to another would depend on the type and quantity of corals, and other biological and chemical factors. So unless you are doing regular water changes there is no guarantee there isn't a built up of one element or another.

I thought that I could slow down or stop water changes because I was dosing all the trace elements that would normally come in via a water change, my N and P were where I wanted them and I kept stable calcium, alkalinity and magnesium. I was wrong. I took and ICP test to find that heavy metals and other elements were all on the high side. Copper for example was at .08! My tank only started to recover when I started doing regular water changes again and switched to plain old two part.

My advice is, if you are a beginner like I am/was, there is no insurance like water changes and if you really don't want to do them, you better be investing in plenty of ICP tests. And even then, they don't test or detect everything.

Agree. A beginner should follow the water change method. If you are an advaced hobbiest and know what you are doing and using the correct chemistry water changes are not needed.
I would guess <5% or less are doing the no water change method. Hard to break what has been beaten into our minds since the hobby started lol.
Do what works for you. Its all good.

The cats wrasse · Jan 31, 2020

Jake_the_reefer said:
Totally agree with that but with mechanical filtration such as my filter socks removing poop and food and a protein skimmer my nitrates and phosphates are low. I'm not worried about the dirtiness factor because my sandbed, rockwork and water are crystal clear with no detritus settling down

skimmer takes out freefloating particulates (poop etc) refugium takes care of nutrients (dissolved poop etc) carbon can take care of toxins.... if it isnt breaking dont fix it is my motto as much science that goes into this hobby there is still plenty of magic no one realllly knows the best way to have a tank..water changes are a solution to a problem if you lack that problem hats off

Shinte122305 · Jan 31, 2020

Jake_the_reefer said:
So on both of my nano tanks I have been avoiding water changes for some time now. Maybe one every month or so I'll do a water change but i have no idea why i am doing so lol.
I dose seachem 2 part which keeps my alk, calcium and magnesium where it needs to be. Also from my understanding the 2 part has trace elements in it.
I run skimmers and refugium so my nitrates and phosphate is low my corals seem to be happy and colorful so my big question is. Why should I be doing water changes during this time?
If theres a big reason to be doing water changes I'll be increasing my water change frequency!

I have a a small farm with over 50 corals and i barely do water changes. BUT you have to make up for it by adding trace elements. red sea has a great method with their ABCD dosing that follows calcium dosing its pretty easy. I havent done water changes in a long time and noticed my corals and color werent there and after the ABCD program everything got back to normal so there is that.

The other reason is for maintenance. every 2 months or so i plug up my python ( the siphon hose to my sink) and clean up the sump real good all my pumps and any detritus i find then i fill the tank back up with new salt.

been doing this for years now, everything happy. i do have mature rocks so that helps a lot. new tanks should stick to a water change routine.

edit- Its a 120 gallon system.

Reefer40b · Jan 31, 2020

Its all about how you wish to run your system really... If water change is working for you then keep it up or switch things up and see what not doing water changes does. Monitor closely and keep up on your testing!

X-37B · Jan 31, 2020

As a side note: most tank crashes are not caused from not doing water changes from what I have seen or read imo.

Jake_the_reefer · Jan 31, 2020

90's reefer said:
As a side note: most tank crashes are not caused from not doing water changes from what I have seen or read imo.

Right no water changes arent the root cause of the crash, but if there is something wrong and you don't do water changes then the problem could become worse and cause a crash.

X-37B · Jan 31, 2020

Jake_the_reefer said:
Right no water changes arent the root cause of the crash, but if there is something wrong and you don't do water changes then the problem could become worse and cause a crash.

I Partially agree. Thats saying something is wrong with your tank and water changes keep it at bay. Many people are not in tune with thier tank imo.
If I was to do water changes I would do 1 to 2 gallons a day say 1% of your system so as not to disrupt the chemistry of the tank. Just my take. Many ways to run a reef.

Jake_the_reefer · Jan 31, 2020

90's reefer said:
I Partially agree. Thats saying something is wrong with your tank and water changes keep it at bay. Many people are not in tune with thier tank imo.
If I was to do water changes I would do 1 to 2 gallons a day say 1% of your system so as not to disrupt the chemistry of the tank. Just my take. Many ways to run a reef.

That would be a beautiful scenario minor constant automatic water changes

X-37B · Jan 31, 2020

Jake_the_reefer said:
That would be a beautiful scenario minor constant automatic water changes

I thought about it but dont have the room to do it right.

Jake_the_reefer · Jan 31, 2020

90's reefer said:
I thought about it but dont have the room to do it right.

Same. Haha

Randy Holmes-Farley · Feb 1, 2020

Jake_the_reefer said:
So on both of my nano tanks I have been avoiding water changes for some time now. Maybe one every month or so I'll do a water change but i have no idea why i am doing so lol.
I dose seachem 2 part which keeps my alk, calcium and magnesium where it needs to be. Also from my understanding the 2 part has trace elements in it.
I run skimmers and refugium so my nitrates and phosphate is low my corals seem to be happy and colorful so my big question is. Why should I be doing water changes during this time?
If theres a big reason to be doing water changes I'll be increasing my water change frequency!

here’s the conclusion from my water change article in why they may be worth doing:

Conclusion

Water changes are a good way to help control certain processes that serve to drive reef aquarium water away from its starting purity. Some things build up in certain situations (organics, certain metals, sodium, chloride, nitrate, phosphate, sulfate, etc.), and some things become depleted (calcium, magnesium, alkalinity, strontium, silica, etc.). Water changes can serve to help correct these imbalances, and in some cases may be the best way to deal with them. Water changes of 15-30% per month (whether carried out once a month, daily or continuously) have been shown in the graphs above to be useful in moderating the drift of these different seawater components from starting levels. For most reef aquaria, I recommend such changes as good aquarium husbandry. In general, the more the better, if carried out appropriately, and if the new salt water is of appropriate quality.
Calcium and alkalinity, being rapidly depleted in most reef aquaria, are not well controlled, or even significantly impacted by such small water changes. In order to maintain them with no other supplements, changes on the order of 30-50% PER DAY would be required. Nevertheless, that option may still be a good choice for very small aquaria, especially if the changes are slow and automatic.