I don't do water changes

[power boat jim]

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.

There are not many hard fast rules because we tend to compare apples and oranges. I cant say the same maintenance should apply to someone with a tank full of aptasia and fish vs someone with a tank full of sps, but we do it all the time though. We dont always know what type tank someone is running when we offer advice. We tend to offer help based on our inhabitants not the persons asking the question.

 

[dppitone]

There are not many hard fast rules because we tend to compare apples and oranges. I cant say the same maintenance should apply to someone with a tank full of aptasia and fish vs someone with a tank full of sps, but we do it all the time though. We dont always know what type tank someone is running when we offer advice. We tend to offer help based on our inhabitants not the persons asking the question.

well said, very well. i wouldn't say "we" though. it's analogous to the expression "there's many ways to skin a cat." there are many schools of thought, yet a common thread of successes, and failures, through all of them.

 

[houstonhobby]

As the original poster, I want to say two things.
(1) I have enjoyed this post and
(2) I do water changes all the time.

In fact, I do it a little differently from everybody else. What I do is I leave my skimmer set on maximum, and collect the skimate in a bucket. Sometimes I get 5 gallons a day, or even more, sometimes, not much seems to be happening.

I check the salinity 1 or 2 times a day using a refractometer and when it drops below 1.025 by a detectable amount I give the tank a squirt of pre-made salt water that is at 1.025, filling up the approximately 3/4 of an inch of headspace in the tank between the low-water mark and the high-water alarm of my Tunze ATO.

I make water in two 34-gallon Bruts that are in a closet near my tank. One is always "resting" with new-made water, the other is in use. I have things setup so all I have to do to give the tank a squirt is press a button. Toughest part is remembering to turn it off again before high-water alarm starts going off.

Thanks,
Rod

 

[dppitone]

tricky

 

[55willys]

Good point, we should be using natural seawater if we can... But for those of us who can't then water changes are needed. Also, I believe it was mentioned that smaller more frequent changes are better, frequent changes would add more of the trace elements we are looking for... I went a month without doing a water change and my tank looked like crap...

Is using water from the beach a good idea for changes? or will it throw off balance

 

[billsreef]

Is using water from the beach a good idea for changes? or will it throw off balance

Considering artificial seawater mixes are man's best attempt at recreating natural seawater, if you have a good clean natural seawater source your good to go with it. For collecting directly off the beach, only on an incoming tide during good weather.

 

[vitz]

Considering artificial seawater mixes are man's best attempt at recreating natural seawater, if you have a good clean natural seawater source your good to go with it. For collecting directly off the beach, only on an incoming tide during good weather.

(and there lies the rub )

i would also recommend giving nsw a 'full sterilization' protocol w/ bleach, and/or uv, before using it in a 'home' system. it's easy, safe, and prevents ALOT of pathogens (presumably) found in nsw from getting into the system.

i worked for awhile for a (now defunct) small importer/whoresaler near oxnard ca, and they used water pumped in directly from port hueneme. the water was treated w/chlorine bleach for a day or so, then the bleach was removed, iirc, by using sodium thio and carbon. worked very well, never an issue

having said that, ...

given the present configuration of some of the salts available today, i can't see any major benefit in using nsw over artificial salt mixes. if anything, the avoidance all of the pathogens and organics of nsw, along w/the risk of introducing pollutants (known and unknown), makes using an artificial mix a 'no brainer', for most.

(and given the success w/ so many species being captive bred using salt mixes, that whole 'toxicity of salt mixes' thing/'theory' of which shimek was such a shill for has pretty much been proven to be absolute 'bunk', for all intensive purposes).

sadly, today there are alot more unknowns for the hobbyist re: what's in nsw, compared to what hobbyists know about what's in artificial sw.

when you use nsw, you're also introducing (for example) 'micro plastics' into your system. that can't be good, for anything. (just one of many examples of the 'modern ocean's' ingredients list)

 

[bigdookie]

great thread on something i've been struggling with. i admit, im pretty lazy about water changes too, probably why my tank is struggling with algae right now, and its only stocked with snails, crabs and 1 fish.

 

[Calappidae]

great thread on something i've been struggling with. i admit, im pretty lazy about water changes too, probably why my tank is struggling with algae right now, and its only stocked with snails, crabs and 1 fish.

Nutrients (phosphates and nitrates) influence algae blooms which is what's removed during water changes. Also make sure your tank isn't close to a window with direct sunlight.

 

[houstonhobby]

I have three crabs. I bought two emerald green ones and got one brown one as a hitchhiker. Just wish they weren't so secretive.

 

[tmz]

I keep my display tanks in direct sunlight from a bay window and skylight without any issues. I know of others with successful reef tanks who do as well. There is no plausible reason not to do so, ime. I don't know where the notion that sunlight is bad for reef tanks originated.
Water changes are more about maintaining useful levels of trace, minor and major elements . Since they add them and steady levels are what I'm after , small frequent water changes are preferred even though they have a very limited effect on nutrient export.
If dissolved nitrogen and/or phosphate and /or organics is/are issue(s)., there is an imbalance between nutrient import and export.

Less food or smaller bio load reduces the import;

more aggressive filtration/removal methods increase the export ,such as: cleaning accumulations of detritus, skimming, granulated activated carbon, denitrators, PO4 adsorbents like gfo, macro algae refugia,organic carbon dosing and to a lesser degree small water changes.

Complicating the nuteint question a bit more is the fact that differnt orgnisms use more or less nutrients( organics, N and P ) than others or at least vary in tolerance for higher levels . Xenia, capnella and some other leathers lps do better with less skimmiong ,ime ,as exmples

 

[houstonhobby]

Interesting point about the sunlight. I think the idea probably comes from freshwater, where the notion that sunlight will cause unwanted algae is well ingrained, warranted or not.

For a nano, too much sunlight might cause a temperature spike.

 

[Calappidae]

Sunlight will help algae grow in any aquarium, salt, reef, fresh, whatever. If your water quality is up to scratch, then the algae won't have the nutrients inorder to grow. Usually in saltwater we do keep up to scratch so we don't notice it as much as in freshwater. Basicly what the OP said.

My old 29, sad to say, would be a perfect example of not having up to scratch water quality and in direct sunlight:

And this photo was taken when it first started..

 

[SpartaReef]

If our lights are the correct quality, why would direct sunlight make a difference?

 

[KafudaFish]

Nutrients (phosphates and nitrates) influence algae blooms which is what's removed during water changes. Also make sure your tank isn't close to a window with direct sunlight.

Sunlight will help algae grow in any aquarium, salt, reef, fresh, whatever. If your water quality is up to scratch, then the algae won't have the nutrients inorder to grow. Usually in saltwater we do keep up to scratch so we don't notice it as much as in freshwater. Basicly what the OP said.

My old 29, sad to say, would be a perfect example of not having up to scratch water quality and in direct sunlight:

And this photo was taken when it first started..

The direct sunlight is not the problem in your tank. It is simply a driver. I could argue that your water is "perfect": nutrient levels are where they should be according to testing; however, though numbers don't lie they don't tell the entire story either.

 

[Calappidae]

If our lights are the correct quality, why would direct sunlight make a difference?

Sunlight offers the proper spectrum for algae to grow as well as corals. Others algae wouldn't survive. When we have our lighting we try not to provide the spectrum for algae. (example: red leds etc.)

The direct sunlight is not the problem in your tank. It is simply a driver. I could argue that your water is "perfect": nutrient levels are where they should be according to testing; however, though numbers don't lie they don't tell the entire story either.

Nitrates would sometimes spike to 180 in that tank.. I'm well aware of what I'm doing now but back then I had no experience. That photo was when I first started the hobby. I eventually upgraded to a skimmer, did weekly WC, and a toothbrush.. all gone now. I also upgraded the lighting system (still with sunlight..) and I got a mangrove seedling to soak up the nutrients. never had a prob since.

 

[SpartaReef]

Sunlight offers the proper spectrum for algae to grow as well as corals. Others algae wouldn't survive. When we have our lighting we try not to provide the spectrum for algae. (example: red leds etc.)

Coral uses algae to make energy from sunlight... If our lights won't grow algae they won't grow coral... Your point is pointless...

Algae is going to grow no matter what, minimize the available nutrients is all we can do... Sunlight from a window isn't going to hurt your tank, nor will it cause algae to grow faster than a normally lighted tank....

 

[houstonhobby]

The amount of par value in direct sunlight is way above what we usually provide, plus the spectrum issue which has ready been mentioned.

 

[SpartaReef]

And corals have been proven to grow faster in our tanks under our specialized lighting than in the wild, where they get significantly less light as they are typically in deeper water than our tanks...

Again, if our lights are insufficient, then our corals wouldn't grow either.... When it comes to algae, its not the light that is the problem.... In fact remove the light that grows the algae and your corals will loose their color (from algae).

 

[Calappidae]

Coral uses algae to make energy from sunlight... If our lights won't grow algae they won't grow coral... Your point is pointless...

Algae is going to grow no matter what, minimize the available nutrients is all we can do... Sunlight from a window isn't going to hurt your tank, nor will it cause algae to grow faster than a normally lighted tank....

Zooxanthella, the symbiotic algae in live corals requirs a different spectrums of light. Algae can grow in a tank without a light sometimes, corals cannot. Thats because corals need a different, stronger spectrum or color intensity then algae that only proper fixtures can provide. I've had this discussion a while back when choosing my LEDs. I've heard too many red LED's can help nuisance algae grow. I think green also helps but I'm not too sure there. Sunlight is full spectrum, Our fixture's spectrum depends on what we put on.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chlorophyll
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoozanthellae

Chlorophyll needs certain spectrums. Usually the coloring of corals and plants is based on the chloroplast from what I read.