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

[Decadence]

Can lanthamum chloride be added to the auto water top off - in the RO water?
Say 20ml of Lanthamum chloride in a 25 litres drum.
As the water evaporate, the ATO dumps the RO water with diluted Lanthamum chloride. Is that OK to do?

You wouldn't want lanthanum to be dosed without being metered under any circumstances. You ATO will just keep pouring if you spring a leak or something.

 

[slavetonet]

You wouldn't want lanthanum to be dosed without being metered under any circumstances. You ATO will just keep pouring if you spring a leak or something.

Good point on the spring a leak part.
Currently I am drip dose 1 drop per second in a 1 litre bucket into the weir overflow and having a sock at the down pipe. The sock is 150 microns, but it does the job and straight after is the protein skimmer to take out any leftover.
I will get some 10 microns filter sock and do this properly. :bigeyes:

 

[Decadence]

Good point on the spring a leak part.
Currently I am drip dose 1 drop per second in a 1 litre bucket into the weir overflow and having a sock at the down pipe. The sock is 150 microns, but it does the job and straight after is the protein skimmer to take out any leftover.
I will get some 10 microns filter sock and do this properly. :bigeyes:

What brand of LaCl are you using and how much do you dose daily? or do you just dose when you want to lower phosphate? I'm trying to set up daily dosing with little user input to keep phosphate rate around 0.03.

I used a large reactor and added a pump to recirculate water in it. It has a slow feed of tank water which flushes out the reactor between doses. The doses are very small and take place every three hours. The output of the reactor flows through an extremely thick DIY filter sock.

 

[Aquarist007]

I think we are getting off topic here. I did post the link to the lanthanum chloride thread above

 

[Decadence]

I think we are getting off topic here. I did post the link to the lanthanum chloride thread above

I've been reading about people who with with a minimal water changes or "none". If you do let's say, one water change a month, what else do you do? What equipment do you have? How many gallons to you change?

My current tank is a 150g total and I do a 20g water change every week and I run a alpha cone 200 skimmer with a medium bio-load at the moment and will be heading to a 250g total in a month and was wondering if I would "have" to keep with maybe 40g water change per week? I already dose 2 part from BRS so Ca, Mg and Alk will be supplemented via dosing. I'm also going to set up bio-pellets with the new set-up

It will be awesome if I can stay with a 40 per month instead.

To people who do minimal/no water changes, what else do you dose? And how does your tank look? Any pics?

I feel as though talking about any for of nutrient reduction or dosing would be on-topic given the title of the thread and the original post.

 

[slavetonet]

What brand of LaCl are you using and how much do you dose daily? or do you just dose when you want to lower phosphate? I'm trying to set up daily dosing with little user input to keep phosphate rate around 0.03.

I used a large reactor and added a pump to recirculate water in it. It has a slow feed of tank water which flushes out the reactor between doses. The doses are very small and take place every three hours. The output of the reactor flows through an extremely thick DIY filter sock.

I am using Lo-Chlor Starver - Australian brand liquid phosphate remover.
A bit of information about my 4ft x 2ft x 2ft mix reef aquarium - total of 400 Litres net - Running in the 2ft sump are marine pure spheres, 500ml of all in one bio pellets, 500g purigen and 500g carbon.
Nitrate is usually undetectable, but phosphate is usually around 0.1 with Redsea test kit.
I don't do water change, besides ATO and ASW top up if my salinity drops to 1.023. It usually stays around 1.024 there about.
I do use a doser to do my CAL, ALK, MAG and Seachem reef plus.
Everything in my aquarium is happy. :bounce1:
Because I am feeding Reef roids just about every night to my corals, the phosphate does starts to creep up to 0.2ppm. Hence I need to dose 5ml of LaCL every weekend to control it.

 

[Aquarist007]

I feel as though talking about any for of nutrient reduction or dosing would be on-topic given the title of the thread and the original post.

Your right I can see that now:uzi:

 

[Aquarist007]

Because I am feeding Reef roids just about every night to my corals, the phosphate does starts to creep up to 0.2ppm. Hence I need to dose 5ml of LaCL every weekend to control it.

Why not switch to another Gfo like Rowaphos in a reactor which will keep phosphates down consistently rather then waiting to dose once a week?

I didn't realize reef roids contributed that much to phosphate levels?
Are you sure there is nothing else you are adding that could?

 

[Decadence]

Why not switch to another Gfo like Rowaphos in a reactor which will keep phosphates down consistently rather then waiting to dose once a week?

I didn't realize reef roids contributed that much to phosphate levels?
Are you sure there is nothing else you are adding that could?

I wouldn't be surprised to find out that they intentionally put phosphate-rich ingredients in there. The SPS color difference that I got after removing GFO from my tank was insane. I wish that there were a better way to utilize GFO un such a way that it did not either strip nutrients far too low or exhaust extremely fast.

 

[slavetonet]

Why not switch to another Gfo like Rowaphos in a reactor which will keep phosphates down consistently rather then waiting to dose once a week?

I didn't realize reef roids contributed that much to phosphate levels?
Are you sure there is nothing else you are adding that could?

Probably not the source of phosphate. Mysis shrimp not washed and just dump it in could be it, but I reckon it is a combination of both that does it.
The all in one bio pellets is a mix of GFO and carbon - that was suppose to replace the GFO.
Once the Nitrate is stripped to nothing, the All in One Bio pellets doesn't seems to reduce phosphate any lower. Colouration of the coral is great with current setup. Not sure if I would change it much as it looks good to me.
Everyone is different, as I am waiting for some nice colour SPS frags and gauge my colouration from them.
It is a big learning process and my own theory to experiment on.
You noticed I don't have Caulerpa in my system to export excess phosphate as I am relying on technology and chemical to do it for me.

 

[Aquarist007]

Probably not the source of phosphate. Mysis shrimp not washed and just dump it in could be it, but I reckon it is a combination of both that does it.
The all in one bio pellets is a mix of GFO and carbon - that was suppose to replace the GFO.
Once the Nitrate is stripped to nothing, the All in One Bio pellets doesn't seems to reduce phosphate any lower. Colouration of the coral is great with current setup. Not sure if I would change it much as it looks good to me.
Everyone is different, as I am waiting for some nice colour SPS frags and gauge my colouration from them.
It is a big learning process and my own theory to experiment on.
You noticed I don't have Caulerpa in my system to export excess phosphate as I am relying on technology and chemical to do it for me.

Mysis are very low in phosphates and not washing them has little impact
Love to see your system. Can you post a pic?

 

[slavetonet]

Mysis are very low in phosphates and not washing them has little impact
Love to see your system. Can you post a pic?

I can't take picture at the moment, I have marine ICK infestation and have move all my fish into a QT tank for like 1 week now.
The tank looks like algae heaven growing on all the rocks without the foxface, tang and blenny to eat them.
I don't have any snails to clean up. I should get some I know. :sad2:
But the corals are looking great. :lmao:

 

[kybreos]

I think I'll chime in, my tank has been running since 2003. I've been through all the algae outbreaks at one time or another. Even diatoms and dinos, but they all phased out after a while(no longer than a few weeks at most for any outbreak). No outbreaks in the last 6 years though. As for water changes I'm notorious for going months without one, last stretch was 8 months. During that time my clowns have bred roughly 6 times. I do skim heavy and use filter socks. No additives, but I have a filter bag of carbon in the sump. I will say though I go on water changing kicks and I'll change 30 gallons every week for a few weeks then I get lazy again. In my opinion the tank and the inhabitants seem happier after a water change but no real detrimant going without one for a few months.

 

[slavetonet]

I am going to try nitrate dosing with potassium nitrate.
I have read it on the other post on RC. :bounce1:
I want to experiment to see why my zoas aren't extending, but they are open.
Not enough Nitrate in the water column?
Every time I test it with Redsea, it is not detectable. :crazy1:

 

[slavetonet]

I am going to try nitrate dosing with potassium nitrate.
I have read it on the other post on RC. :bounce1:
I want to experiment to see why my zoas aren't extending, but they are open.
Not enough free Nitrate in the water column??
Every time I test it with Redsea, it is not detectable. :crazy1:
I will report back in about 2 weeks time. :wavehand:

 

[Decadence]

I am going to try nitrate dosing with potassium nitrate.
I have read it on the other post on RC. :bounce1:
I want to experiment to see why my zoas aren't extending, but they are open.
Not enough free Nitrate in the water column??
Every time I test it with Redsea, it is not detectable. :crazy1:
I will report back in about 2 weeks time. :wavehand:

I have always wanted to try dosing potassium nitrate. Please let me know how it goes.

Zoas not extending could easily be because they are receiving sufficient or too much light. It could also be because of lower alk levels.

 

[tmz]

Zoanthus, tolerate higher nitrate better than some corals but many are high reef animals that thrive in pristine water with low nitrate and phosphate. They don't really need high nutrient water. Mine do ok wit nitrate as high as 30 to 40ppm per the Salifert test kit in one tank I keep but they do much better in terms of color and growth in the main system where the NO3 is barely detectable around 0.2ppm. .
With the algae growth noted, I doubt a nitrogen deficiency is a problem. Getting some of the algae out might help . Predation, alellopathy from the algae or other organisms or another toxin of some sort , pathogens , salinity , excess light leading to photo inhibition would be higher on my list of suspects than a nitrogen defiiciency . I'm not sure what you mean by open but not extending".

If they are infested with algae and/or pests and you can remove the colonies from the tank , a dip out of tank in 4 parts tank water and 1 part 3% hydrogen peroxide for five minutes can be very helpful,IME.

 

[slavetonet]

I have always wanted to try dosing potassium nitrate. Please let me know how it goes.

Zoas not extending could easily be because they are receiving sufficient or too much light. It could also be because of lower alk levels.

Started dosing strontium and potassium powders - 1 teaspoon each and mix in a 1 litres container.
Poured it in Monday 22/09/2014 and I can see my corals have responded nicely.
Colours have depth now and polyp extension is better.
First time adding these 2 chemical into my tank. Never really thought I needed it.:facepalm: Don't have a test kit either, but thought 1 teaspoon wouldn't raise it too much. Its the wildwest fly by my pants technician .:hammer:

 

[Decadence]

Started dosing strontium and potassium powders - 1 teaspoon each and mix in a 1 litres container.
Poured it in Monday 22/09/2014 and I can see my corals have responded nicely.
Colours have depth now and polyp extension is better.
First time adding these 2 chemical into my tank. Never really thought I needed it.:facepalm: Don't have a test kit either, but thought 1 teaspoon wouldn't raise it too much. Its the wildwest fly by my pants technician .:hammer:

I can tell you from personal experience that dosing potassium alone can completely turn around a tank while experiencing even the slightest deficiency. Strontium, I have never dosed but may be deficient. My kalk and kalkwasser should both be delivering strontium to a certain degree.

Have you been monitoring phosphate levels while dosing potassium nitrate?

 

[slavetonet]

I can tell you from personal experience that dosing potassium alone can completely turn around a tank while experiencing even the slightest deficiency. Strontium, I have never dosed but may be deficient. My kalk and kalkwasser should both be delivering strontium to a certain degree.

Have you been monitoring phosphate levels while dosing potassium nitrate?

I am still waiting for my potassium nitrate to arrive. I am not going to measure it daily to see what the results will be. Every weekend I will test it.
If it works as I have visioned, my phosphate level will be almost zero.
The algae in my aquarium will be my ultimate test. If the algae dies in 5 days and turn white. I know it is working.
Currently I don't have any fish in my tank, marine ich .. QT them. The DT looks like a jungle at the moment with 0.1ppm phosphate.