Any way to get away with not doing water changes?

Tybota said:
Two years with no water changes on this system, 3 years with no water changes on the previous tank. Both SPS-dominant. I wanted to join the party. [emoji4]

https://youtu.be/zSLWq1DDKGo

I'm not just keeping easy SPS either, got some echinatas, "dragons", "shortcakes", milles, and granulosas in there.
Click to expand...
Looks fine to me for a tank which suppose to look like a sewer.[emoji12]

People should show their result more often, but most are affraid of being criticised, so they don't bother.

We can learn a lot from them because they manage to do something others condemn.

Happy Reefing, GlennF.
 
glennf said:
Looks fine to me for a tank which suppose to look like a sewer.[emoji12]

People should show their result more often, but most are affraid of being criticised, so they don't bother.

We can learn a lot from them because they manage to do something others condemn.

Happy Reefing, GlennF.
Click to expand...
How'd you know that was the look I was going for? [emoji12]

I will say I wasn't aiming to run a tank with no water changes. I was just able to go longer and longer between water changes until my system ran perfectly fine without them.

I don't test as comprehensive of a list as you Glenn though. I just test the foundation elements (alk, Ca, Mg), I2, K, NO3, and PO4. The rest I monitor with Triton to track annual trends.

I haven't been criticized for my method probably as much as you might have been in the beginning but that's probably because I just mainly stick to my local forum and only more recently have been posting nationally/globally. I'm sure you paved the way as well. [emoji4]
 
Tybota said:
How'd you know that was the look I was going for? [emoji12]

Haha....i thought that was common "knowledge".

I will say I wasn't aiming to run a tank with no water changes. I was just able to go longer and longer between water changes until my system ran perfectly fine without them.

I don't test as comprehensive of a list as you Glenn though. I just test the foundation elements (alk, Ca, Mg), I2, K, NO3, and PO4. The rest I monitor with Triton to track annual trends.

I haven't been criticized for my method probably as much as you might have been in the beginning but that's probably because I just mainly stick to my local forum and only more recently have been posting nationally/globally. I'm sure you paved the way as well. [emoji4]
Click to expand...

I was alway withouth WC and I did less than nothing before, but that was more ignorance and luck, rather than wisdom.
The result was limited therefore.


Now i know better, than jou see knowledge does matter and the result does inprove with understanding what your doing.

Because i watch my corals doing just fine i don't bother with lab tests... i don't need it to wel me what i an seeing.
The hobby tests works just fine for me.

Corals can take a lot more than most people realize as long as you stay within certain boundrares the are just fine. No need for chasing numbers....

I have 200+ species in here doing just fine and i am testing with basic hobby tests.

On my home forum is did have discussion with people who did not agree with me.. but nowadays they are very scares because i proved them wrong. A there a many happy reefers following my lead with great succes...


Happy Reefing, GlennF.
 
Glad to see another tank that doesn't use water changes. Great news for a California man haha.

I do have a question, do you guys every find yourselves needing to adjust the salinity at all or does it pretty much stay consistent over time?
 
Once i a while remove some water if the removal of skimmate and fragwater don't make up for the rise of salinity due to the use of NaHCO3 and CaCl2

Happy Reefing, GlennF.
 
I can't believe I forgot to ask you guys, what do you (Glenn and Tybota) use for filtration? I figure one of the essential reasons people choose to use WC is the buildup of nutrients (some of course support the trace element argument) those can be dosed though.

My goal is to one day have a tank with a decent sized refugium and an ATS to boost nutrient "export" and to feed my tangs :D.

Do you guys siphon your substrate at all? I'm currently doing that but I noticed if I design my tank as desired, I wouldn't be able to siphon without exporting water, unless I just loosen it up and let it settle in my sump – more food for the detrivorous pods I suppose ;).
 
I don't use any type of mechanical filtration other than my skimmer.

I use GFO for phosphates and biopellets for nitrates. I also use activated carbon run passively in a bag.

I do not siphon the sand ever and don't even suck out detritus in the sump.
 
Tybota said:
I don't use any type of mechanical filtration other than my skimmer.

I use GFO for phosphates and biopellets for nitrates. I also use activated carbon run passively in a bag.

I do not siphon the sand ever and don't even suck out detritus in the sump.
Click to expand...

Interesting note on the sand and detritus bit. Diving last week it was interesting to see many different types of fish that picked at the detritus and other fine items on the rocks and sand bed. It wasn't just tangs picking on the rocks. I'm talking about angels, wrasses, box fix, puffers, all sorts clearly grabbing items off the bed and rocks. Pretty interesting considering some up close and personal not being eggs or pods that I saw.
 
4dbc99cc60a2e754c1fd1ced51f9656e.jpg

1a542d77a82360932ac9131a07703dec.jpg


These pictures say it all

Carbon dosing for healthy bacteria to remove NO3

Liquid iron dosing to bind PO4

Powerfilter te remove detitritus

I even dose PO4 and NO3 to control these values.


Happy Reefing, GlennF.
 
glennf said:
4dbc99cc60a2e754c1fd1ced51f9656e.jpg

1a542d77a82360932ac9131a07703dec.jpg


These pictures say it all

Carbon dosing for healthy bacteria to remove NO3

Liquid iron dosing to bind PO4

Powerfilter te remove detitritus

I even dose PO4 and NO3 to control these values.


Happy Reefing, GlennF.
Click to expand...
Can u explain ur plumbing and dosing?
 
Once a tank is well established (reef or fresh planted tank), I let water changes mostly go by the wayside. I still do them, but not with regularity and usually only 4-6 times per year. With a reef it's a little more important since the incoming water adds a lot of trace nutrients back into the water column. For a fresh planted, I just stop them altogether except when I want to clean up detritus manually (couple times a year).

I have only kept softies/LPS with extremely low bioload, however. Keep that in mind.
 
I don't do WC as well. Here are my tank. Has been running for 2.5 years
 

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trivan said:
Agree, but the OP ask to not have to do water changes all the time. Given the OP is in CA, I'm going to guess this is due to the water restrictions put into place (could be wrong). IMO, regular water changes are mostly to clean up organics and remove the nitrates, phosphate can be handled other ways and the other things with less frequent or smaller then normal water changes.

Not looking to debate the merits for or against, as there are many successful tanks running across the spectrum of no water changes to x% every week, to continuous every day.
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Organics in the form of DOC is effectively removed with activated carbon, up to 80%, with protein skimmers removing 40% at best.
 
Subsea said:
Organics in the form of DOC is effectively removed with activated carbon, up to 80%, with protein skimmers removing 40% at best.
Click to expand...

Do you mean 80% of total load or do you think 20% DOC just wont get picked up by carbon no matter what?

I'd also like to politely ask, what is the basis of your statement?
 
At least for the skimmer numbers there's been at least 2 studies I know analyzing skimmate production of various skimmers. Both looking at different styles and types of skimmers along with DIY and higher end commercial brands like bubble king.

Basically it came down to all performing just about the same at around a 30% efficiency rate of removing DOC. There were many discussions about them and each party from each camp of every type and brand and style and no skimmer people all took something completely different away from the studies to support their xyz.

I love that a skimmer isn't 100% effective and is just 1 part of a whole in my system. It's also an effective aeration device I use to help increase pH and clear the water quality with a CO2 scrubber and ozone.
 
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