Stopped doing water changes...WOW

[Kalied20]

Well I did a lot of reading and study and decided to give something a try. Since I have setup my 90 gallon, I have had very little growth from all of my corals. I could figure it out. Water was good, I was doing regular feedings for the fish and occassionally the corals. I replaced my T5 bulbs, changed the spectrums. Nothing. The corals stayed healthy but not and inch of growth. I was doing a 15% water change every two weeks.

Now here's the weird part. I stopped doing water changes about 8 weeks ago. I have been keeping a close eye on the parameters and the growth of anything. And in about the last 4 weeks I have seen a hugh difference. I have not been adding anything except food for the fish and about every two weeks I put in some things for the corals. I haven't added Cal or Mag or Alk Supplements at all. The parameters of the water are staying constant. The only thing I am doing is adding topoff RODI and occassionally adding a little new saltwater when my skimmer takes out too much.

My monti cap has grown about and inch. The pink birdsnest from a little stick to about 4 different inch branches. My GSP's have begun to grow onto the side glass (which I have been trying to do forever). The small blasto colony has 5 new heads. My frogspawn has 6 new heads. Even my Figi Leather looks about twice it's size from before. I had one frag of an Acro left that is beginning to show some growth. Everything is growing great. I don't get it. I don't really want to. I am just hoping that this balance stays for a while.

Anyone else have a tank like this?

 

[crumbletop]

A few random thoughts:

The change you have noticed could be related. It is my belief that newer aquariums (<1 year) don't have something in the water that corals like in order to thrive -- especially SPS. Perhaps not doing water changes allows whatever this is to build up more quickly.

Another thing, is whenever I stop messing with my tank (i.e. I leave town for a little while) -- it always looks better to me than when I am tinkering with it more. Not doing water changes could have helped with this. This brings up a point that maybe the way you do your water changes stresses your inhabitants somehow. I always match the water I'm adding as close as I can (temp, sg) and do the water change in my sump so as to minimize the "shock" in the display.

It is odd that you are not seeing any calcium or alk drop and seeing SPS growth. They are pulling calcium and carbonate from somewhere. Are you using kalk? Water changes would help to keep those in check.

All in all, I think water changes are a good idea, although there are those that keep successful tanks and rarely do a WC.

 

[jfolley67]

My experience over the last few years kind of matches what crumbletop is stating. I used to do my water changes every week at first, then every 2 and then every month. No I do them about every 6 weeks and I only add reef complete once a week. Things seem to do better when I don't get my hands in the tank.....HOWEVER.......when I do get that water change in after a long period, the next day things just look very open and happy....so I guess you might just find that spot in time where things are just about ready to get that water change in and waiting to short or long. It took me a while to figure out that 6 weeks was a good point for me. I do get more splitting of my candy canes and such this way.
good luck!

 

[Amazon4]

We see it too. If we leave it alone - except for an ATO - things grow. If we dose, etc...we have problems. Guess we're not alone!

 

[gflat65]

How long had it been set up (and with the corals you're using as growth benchmarks) before you stopped doing water changes, too? IME, corals sometimes need a few months t ostart growing at all, some longer. Zoas are an excellent example. Most of the ones I've had don't really start exploding in growth until they've been in the tank for 2 months or so. Then, the growth seems almost exponential. It could be that your inhabitants are finally really happy in their new home... If you have much for SPS, you'll have to dose. I had a fully stocked SPS tank before the move and was dumping in ~300ml CA of Randy's two part every other day, and ~300ml of alk every third day. If I missed a few days, my dKH was down around 2-3 and Ca would drop to 250-300. I agree that keeping your hands out of the tank and letting it do it's thing helps the entire system most of the time, but don't don't get too comfortable. If youy have mostly sofites with a few stonies, the effect won't be as dramatic, but if you start adding SPS, expect to need to test and add more often. My wife's 20L has been set up for about 7 years now and is largely softies with a few LPS and SPS thrown in for fun. Typically, all it gets is top off water. I might do a water change every month or two (sooner if it starts showing bad signs), so setup will certainly dictate how much/little is needed. At some point, though, you need to give them some fresh tasting water.

 

[Lint_Licker]

The green Sinularia I got you from gary, has really taken off recently. I never do water changes, only top off and test the water. I adjust it as needed. My tank crashed back in march from a sand problem(never buy your buddies sand when he breaks down a tank). Thats all finally worked out after losing most of my corals, and only saving about an inch of the sinularia that is now 5"s since that was worked out.

I am a FIRM believer in less is more. I have always had good growth doing things this way. People were always shocked to see the growth I have in my tanks. The bam bams I got in jan grow 4+ polyps a week. You'd think Im adding steroids or something but Im not. My test results as of yesterday, everything is perfect.

Again, what works for one tank, might not work for another. I have a small bioload with excellent filtration and more then enough flow.

 

[Fanof49ASU]

Very interesting thread.....now I don't feel so guilty about letting my water changes slip.

Zoas are an excellent example. Most of the ones I've had don't really start exploding in growth until they've been in the tank for 2 months or so. Then, the growth seems almost exponential.

I've had my 5 gallon going about 3 months now (Apr 5th), and just as you say, I'm really noticing it take off.

 

[Kalied20]

Most of the tank is softies and LPS's. This is mostly because of a crash that got about 7-8 SPS's about three months ago. My bio load is pretty big for a while with 2 tangs, an angel, 2 perc clown, a gramma, six line, and a Seagrass Wrasse. I have a lot of hermits and snails with about 5 or 6 serpent stars. My Zoanthid grow is not a much, but they are growing.

The tank has been up about 8 months now, with the first 4 being hell. I can only think that the Calc, is coming from the rock or sand or something. It is has been running about 450 for a while and is just now dipping to about 420. I think I will have to add a little after a while.

As for flow, I have a lot of it. My return is a Rio 20HF and I figure it is about 900-950 GPH. I have two Sieo 820 and 2 Korlias 1's to make the flow random. Everything waves in the flow and loves it.

 

[Lint_Licker]

IMO FLow and lighting have more to do with it then what people think.

If everybody let their tank go for a month and tested everything, they would be surprised.

 

[HowardCath]

Yes, very interesting thread. I'm more sure than ever that I don't know anything for sure.

 

[SRT80]

see im on the opposite end. My 20 started showin' better results once i switched to reef crystals and started doin a 3 gal. weekly water change. i also started gettin my water from the publix machine. maybe it was just the salt?

Steve

 

[fishdoc11]

What type of salt were you using?
What type of water?
How long did you mix it before the water changes?
What products were you supplimenting with and how much?

 

[Pickupman66]

Kalied, Let me word this correctly. I do NOT change my water. I havent in over a year (moved and had no choice). While it has worked extremely well for me, I would not adivse anyone to do it unelss they are setup for it. By this I mean a good way to remove Nitrates. (Fuge, De-Nitrator) I have the De-Nitrator. I know several folks that run both. Without a way to remmove these, they can and will build up. if you have extensive porus rock and areas of de-oxygenized water inthem, you can be ok, but with the current and flow for SPS involved, that is hard to acheive.

As for additives and calcuim introduction, araganite does dissolve calcium into the water albeit at a slower rate than teh additives we use. I use a Sealab # 28 cube that dissolves as the water needs the calc. it also releases other essential elements as well. My calc tests well over 450.

I do have an auto top off that adds ro/di water to replace evap and I do check my salinity regularly and remove water and add salt to it and then replace. the only issue I fight nowdays, is alk, which I have to constantly monitor (weekly at least) and add buffer to keep in check.

As I said, I do not advise this method unless you research it. I did alot of it. I hve a group of folks I trust that have had very successful tanks for a very long time that I would be more than happy to put you in contact with that have taught me alot. PM Me and I can get you the info...

 

[Kalied20]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10321871#post10321871 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Pickupman66
Kalied, Let me word this correctly. I do NOT change my water. I havent in over a year (moved and had no choice). While it has worked extremely well for me, I would not adivse anyone to do it unelss they are setup for it. By this I mean a good way to remove Nitrates. (Fuge, De-Nitrator) I have the De-Nitrator. I know several folks that run both. Without a way to remmove these, they can and will build up. if you have extensive porus rock and areas of de-oxygenized water inthem, you can be ok, but with the current and flow for SPS involved, that is hard to acheive.

I am running a 30 gallon fuge with a ton of cheato and a 180 MRC skimmer. It seems to work great. I am leaning back towards doing a 6-8 weeks water change. I have not seen any bad signs as of yet, but with the crash I had a while ago, I am nervous about letting it go much longer. I have noticed that right at the overflow there is a large hair algea growth that the water is flowing over into there. (tank is Reef Ready) This kind of makes me wonder if my nitrates and such are being used by the algea there and in the fuge?

But yea, send me some info and names of the people you talked with about it. I always love to learn more about it. You know when I hit the lottery the "BIG DADDY TANK" will be in the works and I will need all the info out there. (along with a lot of friends to put it together)
:eek2: :lol: :eek2: :lol: :eek1: :lol: :eek2:

 

[Pickupman66]

www.fishyfrolics.com/forum Check out this forum. I have relied on their advice for a long time.

 

[Kalied20]

Well, I still haven't change any water. I did however have to add some salt. My SG dropped to 1.022 from 1.025 with the evaporation causing salt to collect on my canopy. Also the Skimmer is set to skim pretty wet and I know I am losing some salt there.

I have been testing all the parameters every couple of days to see if anything changes, and nothing does. I have been watching the algea in the overflow to see if it is growing a lot and it is not. The Fuge is growing a large amount of Green Coraline and the Cheato has been in check for a while.

I did however make a real mistake about a month ago and added a Seagrass Wrasse without the required time in the QT. The fish had been at the store for a while and looked very healthy. But it seemed that right after I added this fish I lost 4 others. I still don't really know why, but this is the only change I made. My Sixline Wrasse, one Regal Tang, and the Seagrass Wrasse is the only fish left. It was a little heartbreaking because the clowns and the sleeper goby I have had for about 20 months since I started saltwater.

The only reading that changed was the Calcium. It dropped to about 380ppm. It was pretty high for a while around 500. I don't have very many SPS corals but I do have a small Blasto colony and a couple of Monti plates that are growing pretty good. I decided to add a little calcium from my two part solution kit to raise it back to 420.

By the way if you have a problem with Nudibranches I would suggest trying the Seagrass Wrasse if you have a 90 gallon or bigger. I have noticed my zoos have not had one on them since I added him.