I don't do water changes

[houstonhobby]

Everyone,

I have been in the fresh-water hobby for 45 years, in planted tanks since the early 80s, but in salt water such a short time that I don't own any fish or corals yet. Just a 90 gallon tank with some live rock and apitasia. :xlbirthday:

That said, I stopped doing water changes a number of years ago. And I did not stop because I am a lazy bum (although I don't deny the charge). I stopped because a water change is an admission that you are doing something wrong. A water change means your fish don't live in optimal conditions all the time, just right after the water change. A water change, especially a big one, is very stressful for the animals.

So I changed my practices so that my nitrates are never out of range, and my phosphates are never out of range, and my tank always has the micro nutrients that it needs, and therefore there is no reason to stress everybody out by doing a water change.

I use bio-remediation, denitrators, GFO reactors, activated carbon. On salt water you guys have this cool thing called a skimmer. What a great thing for getting rid of DOC! I could not be happier.

So, I know this is controversial, but I don't think a water change every week is something to be proud of.

 

[Allmost]

and how do you deal with other 72 elements that make salt water that you didnt mention in your post ?

note that you have no fish or corals ... so of course you have almost no bioload, and nothing using up trace elements, so why do a water change ?

when you have corals growing at crazy rates, taking up ALOT of elements with them while they grow ... then you need to replenish the lost elements, how much of each 72 elements ? some we can test like KH and CA++ .. but how about others we do not test for ? we do water changes to REPLENISH those we dont do water changes to clean up water.

 

[Kyle918]

Well then you must not have a huge bioload in the tank. Performing a water change replenishes serval trace elements that unless you are dosing, your tank will eventually be deprived off.

For fresh water, it makes sense. For saltwater, it may work but only if your tank doesn't need those trace elements. I believe there are well over 50 of them in common salt mixes. I perform water changes not because I want too or to gloat that I do when someone else does not but because there is invaluable major and minor elements and trace elements that your tank won't get unless its supplemented.

 

[Kyle918]

and how do you deal with other 72 elements that make salt water that you didnt mention in your post ?

note that you have no fish or corals ... so of course you have almost no bioload, and nothing using up trace elements, so why do a water change ?

when you have corals growing at crazy rates, taking up ALOT of elements with them while they grow ... then you need to replenish the lost elements, how much of each 72 elements ? some we can test like KH and CA++ .. but how about others we do not test for ? we do water changes to REPLENISH those we dont do water changes to clean up water.

Well put in the last sentence. The OP is assuming water changes are to clean something or remove filth but really it's to replenish what we don't measure and/or supplement.

 

[rbarn]

Water changes are simply a way to remove the toxins that you are removing with chemical media. They are not a sign of doing something wrong, just another way of skinning a cat per se. They are just one way of dealing with closed system with a heavy bio load when compared to nature.

There are lots of people that have stopped water changes because they did not think they were needed. The tank prospers for a while but eventually starts a gradual decline that is hard to reverse.

 

[jorda9095]

fish and other animals poop and it will eventually build up in your tank till it crashes

 

[houstonhobby]

For those discussing trace elements in a reef I make two points. First, you are correct when you say I don't have enough experience to know about this issue. Second, if I need to do this once I get the reef going I will drip new saltwater into the tank continuously and take a bit out continuously, not do 10% water changes in a single day. In the planted tank world we drip fertilizers continuously, often using systems adapted from the medical industry.

For people talking about fish excreta etc. that is what good filtration and bioremediation is about.

 

[jerpa]

For those discussing trace elements in a reef I make two points. First, you are correct when you say I don't have enough experience to know about this issue. Second, if I need to do this once I get the reef going I will drip new saltwater into the tank continuously and take a bit out continuously, not do 10% water changes in a single day. In the planted tank world we drip fertilizers continuously, often using systems adapted from the medical industry.

For people talking about fish excreta etc. that is what good filtration and bioremediation is about.

Many people do continuous water changes just as you describe. This hobby also relies on peristaltic pumps for dosing and continous water changes.

Your filtration can deal with the detritus that reaches it but it is impossible to design a system that includes live rock and a substrate that won't have detritus accumulation somewhere. It will eventually need to be dealt with.

Water changes help rectify ionic imbalances from 2 part dosing, restore trace elements that are depleted, reduce heavy metal accumulation from salt mixes and food, and reduce organics that are not dealt with through skimming and GAC/GFO use. They aren't very effective as a means of nutrient export but they do accomplish that as well.

Needing large weekly changes to deal with N&P may indicate inadequate filtration but as a general premise I would not agree that they are a sign of bigger problems.

 

[Nina51]

I will drip new saltwater into the tank continuously and take a bit out continuously

first question that comes to mind is how are you gonna keep your salinity stable this way? the method sounds like a pain in the butt.

 

[DragKnee]

first question that comes to mind is how are you gonna keep your salinity stable this way? the method sounds like a pain in the butt.

Agreed.
I do a 10% water change once every week which takes up 10 minutes of my time. Hardly something to complain about.

If you don't have 10 minutes a week to devote to upkeep, why even keep a salt water aquarium.

 

[ninja66999]

i dunno if this method would works for me as i tend to overfeed lol.

 

[fshlover]

You would need to drip RO water continuously...contiuos salt water would just run your salt levels up. the salt doesnt evaporate, only the water

 

[Allmost]

For those discussing trace elements in a reef I make two points. First, you are correct when you say I don't have enough experience to know about this issue. Second, if I need to do this once I get the reef going I will drip new saltwater into the tank continuously and take a bit out continuously, not do 10% water changes in a single day. In the planted tank world we drip fertilizers continuously, often using systems adapted from the medical industry.

For people talking about fish excreta etc. that is what good filtration and bioremediation is about.

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-10/rhf/

some graphs in this article help alot. but yes, what you are describing is continuos water change. which is very good, for those that have the room for it

we dose calcium, carbonated, magnesium and some other trace elements through the day as well, and the water changes at the end of the week [for me at least] is to balance everything I added off. if I could do this daily, I am sure my corals would love me more

 

[houstonhobby]

Thanks for the link. This is really helpful.

 

[houstonhobby]

Hope everybody who wasn't aware took the time to read the link that Allmost supplied. In my case, it's gonna be dual dosing pumps, probably the Reef Filler 2000-2 from Champion Lighting (something funny about the name and the product list with this company, but a site that is really worth looking at). $350 for the pump but it gets good reviews on the reef forums and has the power that I need. And I'll dose calcium and magnesium, plus vitamins, via the top-off water.

 

[OTOWN78]

When using Denitrators and a GFO, your really not fixing the problem with the water its putting a band aid on the problem. If your water is requiring a denitrator or a GFO there is something in the tank driving up the nitrates and or phosphates. With a good sump, substrate and abundant live rock you should be able to do a water change in the range of every 30-45 days.

 

[Josh40996]

I don't do water changes

I would like to address the opinion of water changes and stressing the livestock. I agree that it may cause some stress, but I do not believe that it will be stressful if conducted properly. A lot of people including Anthony Colfo suggest that 100% water changes in a reef aquarium can be VERY beneficial by replacing minor and trace elements that we do not test for that promote huge coral growth and polyp extension and as drastic as this may seem, it happens in natural habitats. In nature for X amount of time, some corals are exposed to the air as the tides retreat. In shallow reefs where it is not exposed to the air, the water level will still fall and rise twice a day with the tides.

A 10% or so water change is not going to cause (in my opinion and experience) any noticeable stress on the livestock.

 

[billsreef]

Continuous input with continuous output is what we in the biz call flow-through. Best way to go, but you need a lot of SW and someplace acceptable to dump it all. About 10% water exchange daily works very well. However, it's still a water change With static tanks, i.e. the typical hobbyist set up, a water change with well aged artificial SW should not cause any real stress.

 

[SpartaReef]

This is interesting.... I like the flow through idea, but how do you keep the critters that float in the water in your DT? How do you NOT waste water that way?

 

[billsreef]

This is interesting.... I like the flow through idea, but how do you keep the critters that float in the water in your DT? How do you NOT waste water that way?

You'll definitely have some stuff wash out the overflows. It's also does use lots of water. Not really a viable option for land locked areas or keeping non native species