is it normal for nitrates to be zero after 2 years of no water change?

[betteroblivion]

I havn't changed water in forever. I only use my protein skimmer and a little carbon. I also went on vacation for 2 months and didn't do either kind of filter matience (only got someone to kill the tank with freshwater)

Do I just have kick *** biological filtration?

I have purple tang, 5 clownfish, 1 blennie, and a blue starfish

in a 55G

 

[lpkirby]

:eek2:

:mad2:

Just lucky i guess...

 

[scrmbld33]

i dont think its normal, id suspect maybe your test kit is off, id do a good water change soon

 

[AIMFish]

Any algae growing in there? I was thinking that or you've got some anaerobic areas in there

 

[lessans]

Are you growing any macroalgae?

 

[baja_01]

Unless the test kit is bad, then nothing is wrong. Water changes aren't a must do thing, but you have to be careful to keep things in balance.

 

[thor32766]

this isnt the first time i have seen something like this, i just had a buddy tell me since hurricane charile came through he hasnt changed water since then. that was 2 and a half years ago. his tank is gorgeous. just thought i would share it.

 

[betteroblivion]

yeah my water is crysal clear from all angels. I did have hair algae, but after a year that went away (today is the 3 year mark on my tank)

And I have used 3 test kits and gotten to fish store to test it.

I have no macro algae, excepet the bubble algae. (its just a little, and my tang eats it, also I had a trigger and it ate the hell out of them)

My coral is also doing well.

 

[LBCBJ]

I've experimented with the no water change route, after about 3 years I thought I was on to something, another year rolled around and my entire tank crashed. I now to 15% weekly. The no water change route simply isnt possible for long periods of time. Even if your nitrates are zero, you have extreme build up of other elements.

 

[betteroblivion]

how does it crash? Like instantly or do you slowly see an increase in nitrates? Or does everything just die?

I could do a 5G bucket weekly, that wouldn't be as hard as getting the trashcans out lol.

 

[benray4fun]

I've heard of people having tanks with no water changes for over a decade and never had problems, although they don't advise it. They always caution about knowing what you're doing and experience..."not for beginners."

Most tanks that crash usually have deep sand beds (dsb) that are not properly maintained and/or tight lids/glass canopies that obstruct proper gas exchange and it fails to complete the nitrogen cycle (breath)..."turning nitrates into harmless gas."

Same thing happens when you over stock and/or feed... the bioload over burdens the filtering capacity and the inhabitants slowly suffocate and/or develope disease(s).

It's just like baja said, "you have to keep it balanced."

 

[Sk8r]

Nitrates aren't the only item in play in the water changes.

I always have 0 nitrates, because I have a huge lot of inverts and a good biological base. I think this might go on a long time in stability if I didn't change out water.

But the salt replaces trace elements. Magnesium stabilizes your calcium-alkalinity balance, and without it, your alkalinity can drop, calcium can drop, and ph can fall. Calcium is necessary for movement and muscle function, bone and shell building. It will dissolve out of old shell and substrate, but I'm suspecting what helps it do that is low alk, which means acid water, and at a certain point it runs out of resources to continue getting calcium from that source. There are also: iodine, which helps some inverts shed shell and even move; strontium, iron, etc. So the longer you don't do water changes, the longer these elements aren't getting replenished, and the tank gets harder and harder to live in comfortably. I do 10 g a week in most weeks.

 

[bllfish]

If you do a water change, make it a very small one. You do not want a drastic change in your parameters. You will have to acclimate everything in the tank to new water.

 

[archie1709]

Yikes. I haven't changed my water in three months. I better start doing that this week. I've just been busy and have been doing a lazy route (Purple Up and Kent Coral Builder for hardness).

There's definitely no substituting a good old partial water change.

 

[Serioussnaps]

Its likely your test kit is done for.

 

[benray4fun]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7678798#post7678798 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Sk8r
Nitrates aren't the only item in play in the water changes.

I always have 0 nitrates, because I have a huge lot of inverts and a good biological base. I think this might go on a long time in stability if I didn't change out water.

But the salt replaces trace elements. Magnesium stabilizes your calcium-alkalinity balance, and without it, your alkalinity can drop, calcium can drop, and ph can fall. Calcium is necessary for movement and muscle function, bone and shell building. It will dissolve out of old shell and substrate, but I'm suspecting what helps it do that is low alk, which means acid water, and at a certain point it runs out of resources to continue getting calcium from that source. There are also: iodine, which helps some inverts shed shell and even move; strontium, iron, etc. So the longer you don't do water changes, the longer these elements aren't getting replenished, and the tank gets harder and harder to live in comfortably. I do 10 g a week in most weeks.

Most if not all trace elements are replaced when you feed the inhabitants if you're feeding different frozen foods and hopefully not
just flakes as most beginners.
That's how these old schoolers have done it for so long without water changes, they've found the balance point for their tanks, live stock...etc.
You're right it's not just nitrates, it's also phosphates...etc., but the macro exports most of these impurities continuously as it grows along with prunning and we'll kept dsb will complete the nitrogen cycle.
The biggest reasons for failure, disease and death is simply over feeding and/or overload...

 

[LBCBJ]

Fish foods do not contain trace elements

 

[benray4fun]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7690703#post7690703 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by LBCBJ
Fish foods do not contain trace elements

vitamins and minerals are in the preservatives...