people who go with "almost" no Water Changes needed!

[SCIFI_3D_zoo]

Got pics?

 

[duncantse]

I do a a wc about every 2-3 months. Mixed reef 125. Use kalk for ato and feed once a day. Fuge and skimmer. My system is so automated it is easy to forget about it until something does not look right.

Yes! Post some pics.

 

[Dr. Reef]

i do agree with earlier post. my system is so automated that except for feeding frozen cube mysis i dont have much to do. i maintain trace elements by pouring in some every month. water change every 2 months or so.

 

[JimL77]

WCs

WCs

My tank is at least 15 years old and have always been bad about water changes except in the first year or so. I am getting ready to tear it down for the first time and switch tanks to allow for new plumbing and a good rinsing of the rocks and gravel. Will try to get some pics.

 

[Anemonebuff]

I do 24 gallon water changes every 3-4 months on a 125. I also dose Vodka.

 

[chris88]

No water changes here on my 50g sps tank with tons of large mature colonies. I have a good skimmer, test often, and dose what gets taken out. The only time i add new salt water is when i give frags away. I have to replace the water i get with the frags. I dont think every tank can do this, i have found a sweet spot and until my corals show any issues then i will continue to do the same.

 

[saintsr#1]

I have 29g that does very well with no skimmer or any other equipment. I do dose a little cal. and alk but only do water changes about every 3 months

 

[duncantse]

I have 29g that does very well with no skimmer or any other equipment. I do dose a little cal. and alk but only do water changes about every 3 months

Wow, water change every 3 months. That's pretty impressive. Can you tell me your filtration?

 

[Enzel]

Any one with a full sps with pics? Like stated before, it's different when you have mainly softies as opposed to a full sps. I'm thinking of doing a 20% water change every 4 weeks which would be about 40g

 

[schriss]

I never did any water changes. The only time water gets changed is in case my skimmer goes crazy and pulls lots of water. But other than those cases, I don't change the water.
I've been dosing Brightwell Reef Biofuel + Microbacter7, few weeks ago started using Prodibio instead (being lazy even with daily dosing).
Apart from Prodibio, I have automated dosing of Alkalin8.3, calcium and PH+.
I manually dose Strontium every now and then.
I have unknown amount of live rocks in my canister filter. A bag of Purigen but it doesn't seem to change color at all, it's supposed to be very dark before needing replacement, yet it's still light yellow after months, I simply wash it every now and then to flush bad stuff out of it.
The tank is small 65L, you can see some brown stuff and bubbles, this is most likely because I dose too much of Prodibio stuff, I need to work out smaller doses or change frequency (currently every 20 days).
No sponges, no socks. Skimmer: DeltecMCE600 (VERY happy with it, SILENT, tank is next to my bed)
Sorry about the glass, I can't reach some areas and front glass is curved, not easy to clean.
PS: current Nitrate level 0.6ppm, Phosphate 0.02ppm, both were 0 last time I checked.

 

[Lynnmw1208]

I do a 30% water change in my 125 gallon mixed reef every month, which turns out to be 30 gallons for me about. My SPS are growing and have great polyp extension and all other corals look great. During my water change I siphon the sand to collect the fish poos as well. My equipment is in my sig I do also keep a nice wad of cheato in the sump too.

I feel doing a water change every week is time consuming and unnecessary. Once my calcium starts to drop from adding more corals, I'll add kalk to my ATO and should be good. Right now water changes (with red sea coral pro salt) once a month keep my params at
ca: 430-420
mag:1440-1500
alk:9-10
nitrite, nitrate and ammonia:0 or undetectable by kits
phos:0 or undetectable

For a 250 gallon tank like you are considering, I would do around 40-45 gallons every month and you should be good

 

[Mr_N1ce]

Dude, your fish are way too big for that tank... with or without water change.

 

[aecasasus]

Doesn't the regular water changes have to do with something like softening out the water (water turns into hard water with all the minerals, trace elements, etc..) for better/easier absorption of minerals and trace elements by corals, etc...(just my input/question)?

I believe I have read/heard that a few times.

 

[lordofthereef]

IMO this is going to vary greatly on a number of factors.

- Filtration
- Stocking
- Dosing
- Other Maintenance
- Maturity of Tank

I agree that weekly changes are probably excessive, although I don't think they are a bad recommendation for a new hobbyist or perhaps even a new tank.

 

[philipph]

because i add only calcium,magnesium and alkalinity supplements to my tank I do a weekly 10% waterchange to keep trace elements balanced in the tank.I have no idea what parameters could go off if the system is left without waterchanges for a couple of months or so.maybe no problem at all,I just want to be on the safe side and I try not to be bored changing water

 

[TruespeedEM1]

i have a 120 gallon and I do 20 gallons every two weeks. Tank is coming up on its year anniversery soon. I didnt know the trend was closer to 4-6 weeks!

 

[CDW]

I have a 350 liter, dose balling light and vodca. I do water changes on average 10% every 4 weeks.

 

[Cable_Guy]

I do changes every 2-3 months.

Its a trade off, change every week to get rid of bad levels and bring up the good ones or dose.


I does vodka, 2-part and a couple different trace elements in order to keep my levels in line. I feel this is much less work but costs a little more.

 

[schriss]

Dude, your fish are way too big for that tank... with or without water change.

They were small when I got them and the tank was 40L at that time. They got bigger in the last months because they started eating A LOT more, I remember they started eating like that when my nitrates finally dropped to near zero level.

 

[Paul B]

How old are all of these tanks?