I stopped doing water changes in LPS tank--Dangers? Things to watch for?

[daddy2kids]

Super Storm Sandy killed all the fish in my LSP/Zoa tank (list of corals should appear below). As a result, my nitrates and phosphates are now lower than they have ever been (NO3 =~2 ppm Red Sea Pro and PO4 = ~0.045 ppm Hanna), so I stopped doing water changes. Yes, I stopped doing weekly water changes. Which had been my regular weekly routine.

What do I need to watch out for? Any dangers? This is uncharted territory for me.

I regularly change carbon and GFO. I dose alk and calc and levels are great (3.45 mEq/L and 430 ppm).

I know I will need to watch magnesium to be sure it is at least 3x target Ca. (I remember Randy saying that the BSR starter kits come with a ton of Mg because not everyone does water changes with salt that provides Mg.)

I add Kent Coral-Vite and Essential Elements per package instructions.

My corals seem fine. My duncans and acans are very happy and growing like crazy. My favia, zoos, and palys look great, but don't grow as fast, which is not such a bad thing.

Any advice? Any concerns? I have added a couple of fish, but I do not have a cover, so they jumped and fed our cat. I might add fish, which will obviously change things, but until I do, any thoughts?

 

[Netta]

I am a total beginner in saltwater but I do have many years in freshwater. Contrary to what is usually thought about freshwater people, I am used to doing weekly water changes whether or not the parameters are good or bad. I think most freshwater people do weekly changes. It is still a little mind boggling when I hear every two weeks or monthly changes.
I don't know where I heard this from, but I once read that water changes are like opening a window to let fresh air in. I think your tank will appreciate some fresh air. Maybe not every week, but I'd still change something regularly.
But as I said, I am a beginner and don't know much. Maybe no water changes is totally doable.

 

[jimmy_beaner]

I think I'm currently at every 3 months in my 90. All inhabitants seem to like it just fine... though I will say everything perks up a bit when the new water comes about. Granted, I do a 50+% WC. I'd mostly watch your nitrates, though others are certainly important as well. It's also worth noting I don't have anything in the tank that would suck down calcium or anything either.

 

[xfactor1315]

To me the water change replenishes trace elements. I have noticed better growth while keeping my water changes perfectly scheduled now that have an auto water change setup. I was lazy with my water changes before since my parameters where great and I am so busy these days.

 

[tang named junkyard]

I do water changed a couple times a year and to be honest i dont think i need to I think doing constant water changes is bad and unstable. I've me er had a hair algae outbreak in my 15 years of reefing and my stuff always looks like its on steroids.

 

[mandarinfanatic]

i prefer doing preventative waterchanges than emergency rescues so i just keep on doing my waterchanges. but i suppose it depends on a lot of factors like: bio load. size of tank. filtration methods. supplementation and feeding

 

[rjdv420]

I have biocube 29 i am dosing trace element (kent) !i do water changes to boost alk < but i am new to dosing i had never dose before until my bio got overstock and everything was consuming more that the replenishment of the water change . Now i do a tiny water change of 3 or 4 galons ! always chek phosphates. i am using seachem phosgard .good stuff!

 

[rjdv420]

sorry ! i forgot to write tha i do that water change 1 in a month!

 

[NeilFox]

I think nyou will be fine. Back in the day the Berlin crowd, Peter Wilkens, Alf Nielsen etc. advocated performing only small and infrequent water changes. I started out doing the same thing and my tank was fine. I would just vacuum out detritus now and then. I did use high grade carbon when the water would get a little yellow. I did this for about 7 years and the tank never had a problem. I was dosing alot of kalk too. 2 part was around but hadn't really caught on yet. The main concern is a builup of impurities over time. Good carbon will keep this in check as well as using fresh polyfilters to remove metals. Make sure it is a liquid phase bituminous coal based carbon. You will be wasting your time with air/vapor phase carbons like coconut carbon.

It works. Nowadys I do water changes more. My tank is still pretty new though 6 mo. I think this makes a difference since I used all live rock and it won't have fully stabilized yet. You can still keep fish too.

Regards

Neil

 

[daddy2kids]

Thanks everyone!

For those of you who do infrequent (or no) water changes, would you say your tank is under-loaded compared to your phosphate and nitrate filtration? I was set up for several fish (which super storm sandy took out by killing my power for many days). Now I have no fish. But i still have chaeto, still regularly change carbon, still use GFO, still add trace elemnts, etc. So my params are very low for this particular LPS/Zoa tank (just measured P at 12 ppb; measuring nitrate now).

 

[michael_cb_125]

I keep a 95 gallon LPS reef. I do things much differently than I would recommend to the average hobbyist, so I rarely discuss my routine.

To begin with let me note that this system started out like any other, weekly water changes, normal reefing upkeep.

I only keep two fish (Bandit Angelfish Pair) and the rest of my livestock is coral and invert related.

After about a year I noticed my nitrate levels dropping drastically, so I backed off on the water changes to once monthly. My system is now almost six years old and I have nitrate levels of 5 ppm and I have not performed a water change in over six months.

I do use an ATB cone skimmer rated to 300 gallons so this may be helping, and I also run my reef at 65 in the winter and 72 in the summer.

So yes, it can be done. But I can say that not all of my systems run this flawlessly.

~Michael

 

[majicman]

I have a 90 gallon mixed reef and i have not done a water change in over a year all of my parimitors are perfect no algea problems and all of my fish and corals are doing great and growing with lots of color all i do is add fresh ro water to top off evaporating water add calcium alkalinity booster trace elements and iodine

 

[ClownFishKeeper]

My 65 is LPS dominated. I change water once a month if that. My protein skimmer is rated for a 180 so my nitrates are low, and my phosphates are well maintained. I dose with liquid reef and koral kolor twice a week to maintain color, calcium, and magnesium levels. Hell I actually use my used water for my 30gal frag tank when I do a water change on my main tank.

 

[Trigeek]

The only thing I can think of that you didn't mention in your first post is to monitor your salinity. If you skim heavily, you are essentially doing small water changes. Skimming and running carbon in an established tank with low bioload should be fine. You can monitor your corals and see how they are handling it. You probably know or can see when "trouble is coming" by looking a your corals. Monitor that way and with test kits. Good luck!

 

[wildman926]

I do water changes every 4 - 6 months. I have tremendous growth with my LPS. It is a 150g, with 3 medium sized tangs, a couple of wrasses, swallowtail angel, royal gramma, 4 green chromis, and clean up crew.

 

[HiImSean]

I was doing (or trying to do) weekly water changes on my tank. I travel a lot and skipped a few so after I did a we frequent water changes I noticed some coral issues. I stepped back and haven't done one in about 3 weeks and I've noticed those corals having problems are getting back to normal.