6 months with no water changes

[reefinmike]

middle of this month will be 6 months that this tank has been up with no water changes whatsoever. it is a 29 gallon with a 20 gallon fuge(half full), fish are:

scooter blenny
baby blue tang(he will go in my 125 when he gets bigger than 1.5 inches tang police )
flame hawk who is scared of my cleaner shrimp(cleaning whore)
sixline wrasse
clown

about 50 hermits, and two trochus snails

40 lbs of rock
lots of fast growing corals

the sand is only about 1.5" deep in both the refug and the main tank. i havent done a waterchange in 6 months and it has 0 nitrates and everthing is thriving... does this happen often?

 

[Illuminati]

That is a TON of hermits. Maybe that has something to do with it. Either way good job, tank looks very good.

 

[victorcan]

Do you use Chemi-Pure ? I run it in my tanks and I do water changes once every 3-6 months as well. Addittionally that many hermits will deffinatley aide in keeping your polluttion down

 

[paulfromero]

Hi,

I'v e used Chemi-pure for about 1 1/2 years now. It seems to keep the water good enough for hardy softies and fish, however not good enough for sps etc. I change out the chemi pure every 2 months with the filter cleaning, but I dont usually change water.

Paul

 

[Paul B]

6 months should be no problem in a tank, neither would a year. You could go indefinately if you wanted to. The animals would not begin to show suffering until they ran out of an essential element that they need which they will eventually. Also there are wastes building up that will also poison them eventually but until that happens the detrimental changes will be very gradual until of course it is too late to change them.
We could keep humans on a space station indefinately if we keep giving them food. They can recycle their wastes and make some oxygen but did you ever see pictures of those people when they come back after a few months?
Paul

 

[reefinmike]

never touched chemi clean

i am due for a wc soon as i am aware of the corals sending off toxins and other things to stun growth of nearby corals.

 

[JamesJR]

IME the tanks that do the best long term are those that are the most meticulously cared for and planned. I had a friend with a beautiful tank and everything did okay but the tank looked really sloppy.