people who go with "almost" no Water Changes needed!
- Thread starter Enzel
- Start date
I havent done a water change in over 12 months on my sps reef.
I love your tank!!! what's your light & your light combo.
Can I see a pic of your sump setup??
Last edited:
Sacohen
New member
I don't do water changes.
I have a Natureef denitrator that removed nitrates from the system.
I also use GFO and Carbon reactors for Phosphates.
My tank is mostly softies with PowerCompact lighting and everything is doing well.
It is about a 1 1/2 years old.
I do add supplements of Calcium, Iodine, and other supplements that are needed.
I have a Natureef denitrator that removed nitrates from the system.
I also use GFO and Carbon reactors for Phosphates.
My tank is mostly softies with PowerCompact lighting and everything is doing well.
It is about a 1 1/2 years old.
I do add supplements of Calcium, Iodine, and other supplements that are needed.
3 years no water changes....
3 years no water changes....
i have never ever ever done a water change in 3 years!.. I have a 72 gallon bow front, hob reef octopus skimmer, uv sterilizer, rena xp3 filter ( filled with live rock rubble, bioballs, fluval ceramic pieces, chemi pure elite or similar brand called blue ???), 2+ pounds of live rock per gallon. all my water tests perfect every time. some times my phosphates raise up one level too high and I add phosphate removing chemical... i haven't lost a fish since the 2nd month after my tank first cycled.. .. no corals in this tank...... 1 clean up crew per gallon.. (orange and a black clown fish pair, scissor dartfish, zebra dartfish, firefish dartfish, purple firefish dartfish, bengai cardinal fish, pajama cardinal fish, royal gamma basslet, female salon fairy wrasse, cleaner shrimp, peppermint shrimp, narrisus snails, thin spine sea star, red sea urchin, red and blue leg hermits, bumblebee snail, marguerite snail, ninja star snail,)
my 21 gallon coral tank has been running 1.5 years no water changes except a 20% change when i added chemicals to remove green bubble algae/cyanobacteria, i only did a water change that one time. cuz that algae came on some live rock i bought for $3 a pound and came with 2 free mini maxi anemones and a ricordia mushroom and 2 zoas... the free corals were too good to pass up over some bubble algae.. this tank is a 24 gallon biocube with needle wheel skimmer more than 1.5 pounds of live rock per gallon... one clean up crew per gallon, chem pure elite, purdgen, phosphate removing material balls, (kryptonite candy canes, white candy canes, mystic sunset monti, orange monti, green flowerpot, blue shrooms, neon orange shrooms, green stripe shrooms, pink shrooms, rainbow tonga shroom, furry shroom, 2 coco worms, green feather duster, torch anemone, ricordia shroom, 2 mini maxi anemone , xenia, zoas, birds nest, lawnmower blenny, 6 line wrasse, yellow stripe wrasse, blue leg hermit crabs, narcissus snails)
finally i have a 6 gallon fluval edge with a wartyskin frogfish/angler, no water changes 6 months, 2.5 gallon sump with pinwheel skimmer, chem pure elite, nano canister filter, live rock about 5 pounds, live black sand, (never cycled this tank) bought already cycled water from the lfs tank system.. put the fish in the same day never saw diatoms, or any change in water quality tested the water every other day for 2 months i was so nervous about not cycling the tank..lol it worked ... gorilla crab in sump.....
heaters and power heads in every tank....upgraded reef lights on all the tanks..
3 years no water changes....
i have never ever ever done a water change in 3 years!.. I have a 72 gallon bow front, hob reef octopus skimmer, uv sterilizer, rena xp3 filter ( filled with live rock rubble, bioballs, fluval ceramic pieces, chemi pure elite or similar brand called blue ???), 2+ pounds of live rock per gallon. all my water tests perfect every time. some times my phosphates raise up one level too high and I add phosphate removing chemical... i haven't lost a fish since the 2nd month after my tank first cycled.. .. no corals in this tank...... 1 clean up crew per gallon.. (orange and a black clown fish pair, scissor dartfish, zebra dartfish, firefish dartfish, purple firefish dartfish, bengai cardinal fish, pajama cardinal fish, royal gamma basslet, female salon fairy wrasse, cleaner shrimp, peppermint shrimp, narrisus snails, thin spine sea star, red sea urchin, red and blue leg hermits, bumblebee snail, marguerite snail, ninja star snail,)
my 21 gallon coral tank has been running 1.5 years no water changes except a 20% change when i added chemicals to remove green bubble algae/cyanobacteria, i only did a water change that one time. cuz that algae came on some live rock i bought for $3 a pound and came with 2 free mini maxi anemones and a ricordia mushroom and 2 zoas... the free corals were too good to pass up over some bubble algae.. this tank is a 24 gallon biocube with needle wheel skimmer more than 1.5 pounds of live rock per gallon... one clean up crew per gallon, chem pure elite, purdgen, phosphate removing material balls, (kryptonite candy canes, white candy canes, mystic sunset monti, orange monti, green flowerpot, blue shrooms, neon orange shrooms, green stripe shrooms, pink shrooms, rainbow tonga shroom, furry shroom, 2 coco worms, green feather duster, torch anemone, ricordia shroom, 2 mini maxi anemone , xenia, zoas, birds nest, lawnmower blenny, 6 line wrasse, yellow stripe wrasse, blue leg hermit crabs, narcissus snails)
finally i have a 6 gallon fluval edge with a wartyskin frogfish/angler, no water changes 6 months, 2.5 gallon sump with pinwheel skimmer, chem pure elite, nano canister filter, live rock about 5 pounds, live black sand, (never cycled this tank) bought already cycled water from the lfs tank system.. put the fish in the same day never saw diatoms, or any change in water quality tested the water every other day for 2 months i was so nervous about not cycling the tank..lol it worked ... gorilla crab in sump.....
heaters and power heads in every tank....upgraded reef lights on all the tanks..
spamreefnew
New member
I have gone 18+ months without water changes in the past. IMO sea water does not go bad and there are more trace elements in ASW than your corals could ever use. just my.2 
rabbitrun
New member
Just out of curiousity because it seems like WC are considered beneficial from the majority of people posting.
Even if they are not completely necessary which is debatable for everyones tank. I have personally spent at least 4 grand on my tank (as of now) and noone argues that this hobby is not an expensive one. Why would you not take the time to change out your water more frequently to be on the safe side....
I prefer to be proactive instead of reactive. Although it would be nice to go months and months without changing water. I personally dont think I would be willing to risk my investment because I was not willing to put in the work.
But my tank is new and football season is coming up so will see what happens.
Even if they are not completely necessary which is debatable for everyones tank. I have personally spent at least 4 grand on my tank (as of now) and noone argues that this hobby is not an expensive one. Why would you not take the time to change out your water more frequently to be on the safe side....
I prefer to be proactive instead of reactive. Although it would be nice to go months and months without changing water. I personally dont think I would be willing to risk my investment because I was not willing to put in the work.
But my tank is new and football season is coming up so will see what happens.
And because the mayority do wc and condeming those who don't. People who get great results without wc keep their experience to themselves.
The response may be from:
If you don't want to do wc, why bother starting a reef tank?
to
Why do all the work testing and adding elements if wc is so easy?
There never seems to be a valid reason to omit wc.
So we all stay put with what we know en never go forward.
The response may be from:
If you don't want to do wc, why bother starting a reef tank?
to
Why do all the work testing and adding elements if wc is so easy?
There never seems to be a valid reason to omit wc.
So we all stay put with what we know en never go forward.
FastUno
New member
I have so many corals & I started out saying I would do water changes once every 3 weeks. At times I go longer & longer without changes & I still don't notice any ill effects.
3 Weeks led to 4, then 5, then 6 & then I went one time 2 months without doing a change.
I would do the change right away if I saw ill effects, but I just don't see any. At one point I had an algae bloom months ago & I did see ill effects by week 3, so I did the change. Once everything is smooth & back on track again I can go longer without change. I don't know why I can go longer, but I just know that I can
I will still TRY to do water change every month, but most likely that will go on to 6 weeks or so.
I dose Randy's 2 part, Magnesium, & Iodine (Tech I).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIdF5ENdAFU&feature=player_detailpage
3 Weeks led to 4, then 5, then 6 & then I went one time 2 months without doing a change.
I would do the change right away if I saw ill effects, but I just don't see any. At one point I had an algae bloom months ago & I did see ill effects by week 3, so I did the change. Once everything is smooth & back on track again I can go longer without change. I don't know why I can go longer, but I just know that I can
I will still TRY to do water change every month, but most likely that will go on to 6 weeks or so.
I dose Randy's 2 part, Magnesium, & Iodine (Tech I).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIdF5ENdAFU&feature=player_detailpage
I have gone 18+ months without water changes in the past. IMO sea water does not go bad and there are more trace elements in ASW than your corals could ever use. just my.2
That's certainly true of some elements, and the fact that they are also accumulating in the tank water (e.g., copper) might be a reason for a water change: to export them, not to import them.
That's certainly true of some elements, and the fact that they are also accumulating in the tank water (e.g., copper) might be a reason for a water change: to export them, not to import them.
I have gone 18+ months without water changes in the past. IMO sea water does not go bad and there are more trace elements in ASW than your corals could ever use. just my.2
That's certainly true of some elements, and the fact that they are also accumulating in the tank water (e.g., copper) might be a reason for a water change: to export them, not to import them.
Hai randy,
good to read that someone like you tried that out.
I have never done any water changes since my tank started end 2004.
Only one time, in januari 2012 i replaced 2x 200 liters of the total of 1500 liters .
Just to get control over a po4 problem 0,64ppm) due to heavy nps feeding and a defective RO device.
zoomonster
New member
I'm not a big believer in frequent water changes just for the sake of doing them. If you have a major issue that needs to be addressed that's another story and of course the amount of tank volume you have plays a big part. I've had numerous setups ranging from bare bottom to DSB. I guess the longest I went w/o a water change was back in the 90's. I built a Jaubert plenum with DSB and that tank went 3+ years with no water change other than makeup and top off. Then the tank suddenly developed a very bad case of old tank syndrome and it got torn down and redone with just a DSB (fashionable at the time lol). This time around I have a lot more tools to work with like GFO, bio pellets, better skimmer etc. so we'll see how far that goes. I'm using a sand bed this time but not so deep.
I've read through the thread and all the sidetracks hoping for droplets of wisdom to support the no water change position and found none .
Bottom line for me: there are sound reasons for water changes : water changes replenish major, minor and trace elements and maintain ionic balances and ratios and help export undesirable elements. Don't need to dose anything beyond calcium ,alkainity and magnesium with regular water changes. I do 1% per day and a little more associated with maintenance for a grad total of around 35% per month.
No one has given any reason to avoid small regular water changes. What's wrong with water? I think new water and old water are still H2O.
It's got nothing to do with advancing the hobby or methods or sticking to old methods plenums and deep sand beds etc. .
Simply,no case has been made to show why one should avoid small regular water changes with properly mixed salt water. Even if one attemps to dose all the elements testing limits make that an onerous insurmountable task to perform and why would that be better .
A simple question not answered: Why not do water changes?
Bottom line for me: there are sound reasons for water changes : water changes replenish major, minor and trace elements and maintain ionic balances and ratios and help export undesirable elements. Don't need to dose anything beyond calcium ,alkainity and magnesium with regular water changes. I do 1% per day and a little more associated with maintenance for a grad total of around 35% per month.
No one has given any reason to avoid small regular water changes. What's wrong with water? I think new water and old water are still H2O.
It's got nothing to do with advancing the hobby or methods or sticking to old methods plenums and deep sand beds etc. .
Simply,no case has been made to show why one should avoid small regular water changes with properly mixed salt water. Even if one attemps to dose all the elements testing limits make that an onerous insurmountable task to perform and why would that be better .
A simple question not answered: Why not do water changes?
steventaylor702
New member
I think it also depends on tank size and what you have as a cleanup crew and what kind a system you have running. Bigger tanks start to become self reliant and can handle going with out what changes on a regular basis as long as you keep up with supplements. But the smaller the tank is and or if you don't have a sufficient cleanup crew or filtration then regular water changes or not only good but in some cases mandatory so the system can flourish. I don't think there is a right or wrong way just different ways to do things.
spamreefnew
New member
I don't know, and I don't think we will ever really know 100% of whats going on in our reef systems but I must say IMO it is just as crazy to change 20% of the water every single week as it is to Never change it. moderation is key. I only change about 20% of my water every 8 months to a year on average. Sometimes i will look at my tank and just know when its time,the water will look slightly green or slightly dusty sometimes and I just know. Sounds strange I know,,but I just know when its time for a water change...
