SpartaReef
New member
There's a guy in my local reef club who hasn't done a water change (aside from a recent upgrade) in five years... But his tank crashed just before the upgrade
I don't do water changes
- Thread starter houstonhobby
- Start date
Calappidae
Harlequin Shrimp
I never knew to do water changes when my 29 was up in running... I had hair algae and cyano like you wouldn't believe! Eventually, my magic toothbrush and a small petco recused sailfin tang cleaned it all up. I knew I was setting up a bigger tank soon so I figured to recuse it.
Anyway, my 29 crashed also. I tested my water, added reef buffer, and did what I normally do as always and then all of a sudden the scooter blennies stopped scooting.. the upside down jellyfish stopped pulsing, and the sailfin tang was breathing really hard and began to lean on it's side.
No loses thankfully, but I had to take out my mantis and invade his home with these fish and tore down the 29... maybe I had something on my hands? I never use buffers anymore.. only WC...
Also the skimmer broke weeks before the events happened..
mate209
New member
Calappidae
Harlequin Shrimp
vitz
New member
hate to break the bad news to you, but every time you do a wc, you're using buffers.
even with wc's, most coral containing systems need some type of supplemental buffering, and/or dosing, of something, at some point.
only their improper use leads to issues
Calappidae
Harlequin Shrimp
hate to break the bad news to you, but every time you do a wc, you're using buffers.
even with wc's, most coral containing systems need some type of supplemental buffering, and/or dosing, of something, at some point.
only their improper use leads to issues
I highly disagree. Buffers mess up other parameters. If you dose with reef buffer, it will raise your alk and mess up your calcium. when I first tested DKH I got a reading of 27
and that was 6 months of reef buffer's doing. The alk raising from the buffer was also screwing up my Ph which caused daily dosing of reef buffer to keep everything in check..My calcium, alk, ph, mag, and everything else is perfectly fine in my 10 gallon mini reef strictly on weekly WC
Even when using buffers, your still going to have to WC to fix the other parameters they screw up.
WC isn't a buffer, its a natural, good remedy for water quality issues.
Decadence
New member
I highly disagree. Buffers mess up other parameters. If you dose with reef buffer, it will raise your alk and mess up your calcium. when I first tested DKH I got a reading of 27
My calcium, alk, ph, mag, and everything else is perfectly fine in my 10 gallon mini reef strictly on weekly WC
Even when using buffers, your still going to have to WC to fix the other parameters they screw up.
WC isn't a buffer, its a natural, good remedy for water quality issues.
To an extent, doing a water change is buffering the system but you would have to be going off of unnecessary technicalities. With any decent quantity of stony corals, not using any additives will be detrimental due to alk swings. My own tank loses will hit 6dkh if I don't add kalk for a day.
Only if your incorrectly dosing them. Alk, pH, Ca, Mg are all interrelated. Mg not high enough and the water can't hold enough Ca. Alk too low, your pH is going to have issues. Alk too high, and again issues with both pH and Ca...and so on. The trick is to measure parameters and add what is needed accordingly, not dose for 6 months and then measure. Getting whacked out parameters like that is not the buffers fault, it's the users fault.
blanden.adam
Team RC
I think an important point here though is that the word "buffer" in the technical sense is used haphazardly in the aquarium industry. To a scientist, all alk solutions provide buffers, water changes provide buffers, when you drip in limewater or run a calcium reactor you are adding buffer etc. BUT, things typically marketed as "buffers" that advertise pH control are essentially very expensive alk products, and when using any buffer to chase a pH in a saltwater aquarium, that's when you run into trouble.
So, it is just much more economical and better defined to dose alk as an alk solution and let pH take care of itself rather than using a product marketed as a reef "buffer" to control pH. That's why we say don't use buffers -- not that we don't use buffers, all of us do, but that the products marketed as buffers are expensive, not as well defined, and their purported use to control pH leads to problems.
So, it is just much more economical and better defined to dose alk as an alk solution and let pH take care of itself rather than using a product marketed as a reef "buffer" to control pH. That's why we say don't use buffers -- not that we don't use buffers, all of us do, but that the products marketed as buffers are expensive, not as well defined, and their purported use to control pH leads to problems.
Terms can be confusing.
I agree that salt mixes contain "buffers" like carbonate, bicarbonate, borate and others. These are also known as total alkalinity.
Akalinity is a measure not a specific thing . Adequate total alkalinity
(7 to 11dkh) minimizes pH swings.
About 96% of the alkalinity in nsw is carbonate and bicarbonate which is what we are most intersted in since it's what calcifying organisms use to make calcium carbonate for their skeletal structure. Test kits give us total alkalinity which we use in the main as a surrogate measure for carbonate alkalinity. As these organisms use carbonate/ bicarboante to make calcium carbonate or some precipitates abiotically ; supplementation of both calcium and carbonate( alkalinity/ buffers) is needed.
I also agree that using " buffers" to raise pH is a poor strategy which may bump the pH for an hour or two and leave higher alkalinity behind. Managing CO2 levels in the water is the key to controlling pH; not buffer additions.
I agree that salt mixes contain "buffers" like carbonate, bicarbonate, borate and others. These are also known as total alkalinity.
Akalinity is a measure not a specific thing . Adequate total alkalinity
(7 to 11dkh) minimizes pH swings.
About 96% of the alkalinity in nsw is carbonate and bicarbonate which is what we are most intersted in since it's what calcifying organisms use to make calcium carbonate for their skeletal structure. Test kits give us total alkalinity which we use in the main as a surrogate measure for carbonate alkalinity. As these organisms use carbonate/ bicarboante to make calcium carbonate or some precipitates abiotically ; supplementation of both calcium and carbonate( alkalinity/ buffers) is needed.
I also agree that using " buffers" to raise pH is a poor strategy which may bump the pH for an hour or two and leave higher alkalinity behind. Managing CO2 levels in the water is the key to controlling pH; not buffer additions.
Calappidae
Harlequin Shrimp
Actually, the 10 gallon I have has never seen a buffer before. I ONLY have done weekly water changes on the 10 gallon since it was setup. Everything is just fine the way it is. LR I heard has an influence on Cal and mag, and the alk is pretty stable at 11DKH with the water changes.
10lbs. Premium decorative LR
20lbs. Black hawaiian LS
Mag: 1320
Alk: 11
Cal:460
Ph: 8.1
My bio-load in there is pretty heavy so I still have to keep up with the other parameters. I only use a HOB penquin bio-wheel 100, No media, only carbon.
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blanden.adam
Team RC
LR does not have an effect on cal or mag at pH > 7.6 -- at higher pHs the rock is more or less inert. With large water changes and low consumption it's certainly possible to just keep up with the cal and alk demands with just water changes. At higher consumptions this becomes impractical though.
Calappidae
Harlequin Shrimp
2 gallon WC are performed on it. Do to the bio-load and phosphates, I do waters change a little more to keep up with it.
vitz
New member
I highly disagree. Buffers mess up other parameters. If you dose with reef buffer, it will raise your alk and mess up your calcium. when I first tested DKH I got a reading of 27
My calcium, alk, ph, mag, and everything else is perfectly fine in my 10 gallon mini reef strictly on weekly WC
Even when using buffers, your still going to have to WC to fix the other parameters they screw up.
WC isn't a buffer, its a natural, good remedy for water quality issues.
er- buffers are an integral part of salt water. ergo, when you do a water change, you're replacing buffers with the new salt water you're using. w/out buffers, you're alk and ph will plummet.
the only reason for buffer additives messing up a tank is user error. they're an integral part of reefkeeping for most, and only their misapplication can cause problems, not their proper and judicious use
in other words - YOU use buffers and recommend them
vitz
New member
once again, can you explain what phycotoxins are ? please explain which ones you think are 'consumed by bacteria', which bacteria consume them, etc.
why doesn't the same happen to all of the items on your posted lists earlier in this thread?
(i.e.-please back up your assertions-something tells me you cannot, other than by way of smokescreens for rubes)
you purport yourself to be an expert on the substances that macro/micro algaes released into the water column,and where those substances end up (the insinuation that algaes release vitamins into the water, and that there's some form of uptake of said vitamins) as evidenced by your earlier posts, (and your constant shilling of your 'algae scrubbers'-one of the biggest scams in this hobby, along with miracle mud and the eco aqualyzer), which were merely links to technically oriented books.
can you at least explain how the lipid based items in your above mentioned lists (like vitamin 'a') get absorbed by fish or corals via the water column ?
an algae releasing some vitamins into the water column, does not, unfortunately, mean that those substances are available for uptake by anything. many vitamins, etc., need to be *ingested* by the organism in an actual food item because they *aren't water soluble*
if you really don't know what phycotoxins are, i can provide you w/ an excellent and educational wiki link.
i'm still waiting for you to back up any assertion you've made on multiple forums that a: algaes release anything of benefit into the water column that are *actually usable*, and b: to finally admit that your*scrubber* releases all sorts of quite poisonous substances/toxins into the water column. something which has been established scientific fact for decades, and that you constantly ignore, *every* time your confronted w/ this information.
i would expect someone selling a product to have at least the basic science knowledge behind that product. or to be able to *properly* defend their assertions
so let's hear what you have to say about 'absorbability' of the beneficial items you claim your scrubbers produce, and the phycotoxins they pollute the water column with (some of which severely impede coral and fish health).
i'll be patient
hello? santamonica? are you there?
jimmyj7090
aka John K
Give the guy a break, he's busy collecting money from his buisness based on those things he can't explain.
dppitone
In Memoriam
If it works for you, then it's workable. There are very few rules in this hobby, though many folks that tout so-called rules.
