Not Doing Water Changes?!

[jiggy]

does anyone not do frequent water changes?
in the past, ive read about people that only do water changes bi-annually and annually and have successful reef tanks.. does anyone here do this?

are water changes over rated? if u can keep the levels of ammonia, nitrate, etc. down, and the levels of trace elements at where they need to be (dosing/ dosing via reactor), why even do a water change?

 

[Detritivore]

i tried it (well, actually i just got lazy ) and the corals will stay alive, but the conditions in the tank are definitely not "optimal". IMO, frequent water changes are not overrated. at the same time, they are not required to have a good tank, but IME, they will make your tank look 10x's better....if that makes any sense,LOL.

hth

 

[MCsaxmaster]

I've seen tanks do the biannual/annual water change thing before and look good for awhile, but eventually things tend to go down hill. I've seen very few if any tanks that have been able to keep this up and maintain the health of all the animals, though I've seen a couple that probably have. I think judging the health of the animals is the way to go. If it is not compromised by witholding water changes, great! If it is, then obviously one cannot stop doing water changes.

Chris

 

[phatstanley02]

Eric Borneman has a tank that has been running for 7 years without an "intentional" water change.