Is it true!! Some reefers never do a W/C??

[rick12]

met a guy at the LFS today who claims he never, (unless somthing is wrong), does a water change on his 12 yr old LPS reef.
runs a calcium reactor. that's it.
can this work?

 

[allsps40]

I have read threads where people say they dont do water changes or they only do them like once a year. Most run a Ca reactor or a kalk. I personally would never do or recommend this to someone. There are so many trace elements the corals take up quickly that need to be replaced. A water change is the best and easiest way to replenish minor trace elements. Waste also builds up in the water and needs to be removed. Again water changes best way to do that. None of this is new info to most of us.

 

[Jhockey]

I'd never recommend it either,but I am one of those people. It all depends on the setup. I'd never do it on an SPS reef or heavily stocked reef. Softies and LPS seem to like "dirtier" water. The only time I religiously do WC is in QT due to lack of natural filtration. All my tanks are heavy skimmed and heavy natural filtration. I did have one reef where there was nothing but liverock for filtration,the corals thrived for 2 years until I broke it down, there was no fish in it tho. Again I don't recommend not doing WCs,this is just my experience.

 

[spamreefnew]

i know several people that only do a few a year. and i myself went about 6 months without one at one point. but i found that my water got a little yellowish, and there was always a surface film. so now i do water changes on an as-needed basis witch is about every 2 weeks IMO

 

[iamwrasseman]

stories are easy to make up and it is possible that there are living corals and fish in a 12yr old tank with no water changes .but what i would like to see it the tanks condition ,i would bet a wooden nickel that it looks pretty crappy . i also will guarentee that it is not a tank that would draw any attention if it were placed next to a properly maintained tank with similar corals and fish .

 

[zachfishman]

My old 120 (out of state) gets a 15% WC two to three times a year and is still kicking. But yes, it looks pretty crappy.

 

[reefgeezer]

I wouldn't recommend it but really nice tanks can be maintained without water changes. Export is accomplished in different ways and a lot of supplementation is required, but it is actually pretty common. I think LPS and Softie tanks are prime candidates. Skimmers, DSB, and Macro algae are really important in these syatems.

 

[saltwater4life1]

I used to RARELY do waterchanges in my 55gal unless something was wrong, Btw it was mostly sps, They never grew as good as i think they should have but my lsp and leathers grew nicely for about 3 years until the tank crashed due to a heater breaking, I now plan on being better with my waterchanges and seeing how it improves.