did you say NO water changes? wow, wow. how do you keep your paremeters so good and your tank thriving and phosphates and nitrates testing zero? what kind of method are u using? is there a thread here on RC with your tank info if so direct me there? i want to know more about this. is there any secrets? lol
I shouldn't say NO water changes...I add a little bit back every couple months or so as I sell a lot of frags, so I need to keep the salinity somewhat in-line. Other than the occasional gallon or two every couple months, it's simply topoff with fresh. And tapwater at that.
I run my tanks from the natural approach: sand bed, live rock, skimmer. That's basically it for filtration. No mechanical (filter pads, floss), chemical (carbon, etc.) other than the skimmer, and that's really about it. I also keep a LOT of macroalgae growing in the sump.
Current bioload consists of (not including corals):
1 pair Maroon clowns
1 Lamarck angel
1 yellow tang
1 dusky jawfish
6 green-banded gobies
1 breeding trio of Banggai cardinals
8-10 baby Banggai (right around an inch now)
3 skunk cleaner shrimp
2 peppermint shrimp
6 Sexy shrimp
~50? blue-legged hermits
~1000? cerith snails (they're breeding in the tank)
~50? Nassarius vibex snails
~25? Astrea snails
~5 turbo snails
Coral (etc.) occupants include:
~30 zoanthids colonies
~10 Acropora colonies
lots of acro frags
5 Goniopora
7 Montipora colonies
2 5" T. derasa clams
1 4" T. crocea clam
1 2" T. maxima clam
There's also some random leathers, softies and some others as well.
I feed 2 cubes+ of food each day, target feed all my LPS every night, my SPS at least 2-3 times a week, and feed the fish heavily. Algae does need to be scraped once in a while, but aside from that, that's about it. My tank isn't really set up for display at the current moment as a whole, but you can check my gallery for pics of some of the corals in the tank.
Again, it works fine for me, always has. In the long run I'd probably get better growth from my corals with more frequent water changes, and if I ever have the time, I'd likely increase them at least a little bit. But with the multiple species breeding and pretty decent coral growth (for example, a quarter-sized Monti frag I got in December is now nearly 5" in diameter...not staggering growth, but decent), I simply can't be bothered.
Both approaches to reefkeeping can be successful if you do them right, and I think that's the important thing to take away.
And for the record, this isn't the only tank I've ever run like this. I've had multiples in the past (this one is going on 2 years) and used to set up and maintain tanks for a few folks that were set up the same.
