Water Changes Necessary?

[Yodeling]

I used to do weekly water changes, but lately I have stopped. No water changes in 3 + months. Am I supposed to be seeing some negative effects? My LPS, softies, and even SPS are thriving and my water parameters are great. What gives? Anyone else keeping a successfull reef without water changes?

 

[xtrstangx]

Your luck will soon run out, IMO, and possibly crash.

Weekly 10% water changes are essential.

 

[DMK]

it will catch up to u. i fell into this after my son was born. no changes for over 4 months. all parameters were still stable, but i started getting bubble algae, and didn't like it. since then i'm anal w/ WC. i found it's easier and better for tank, to do weekly 10% water changes instead of the bigger PITA monthly 25-30%. now i actually look foward to doing them. before it took up to 2 hrs, pumping water back across room w/ pump, etc. now i make up water in 5g water jugs, carry over by tank, mix all together in tub by tank, let sit overnight, suck out water from tank into similar jugs. transfer over WC water w/ pump and short tubing, 40-50 min done including cleanup.

 

[wetWolger]

i went a year without a change. Did not really have much loss, but I would not recomend it. I honesly do changes to replenish elements more than trade bad water for good water.

 

[LOTUS50GOD]

How do you get rid of nitrates... and add trace elements without waterchanges.... I suppose you can get rid of nitrates with an effective fuge with a low bioload... and that will reduce water changes.... but I dont think you can replace all the trace elements without a change....

 

[DMK]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6613006#post6613006 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by xtrstangx
Your luck will soon run out, IMO, and possibly crash.

Weekly 10% water changes are essential.

especially if u have a DSB! that's what i started worrying about... a crash!. i invested way too much time and $ to be lazy and let tank slip. like i said, i actually look foward to my weekly smaller WC. sometimes i only wait 5 days. tank is looking close to it's best it's been, and i've only been back into anal WC for about a month, and there's no stopping me:uzi:

 

[3rotorFD]

is there any difference( or can i) if i do a 5/7 gallon water change every 3 days? for my 120? B/C changing 30 gallons every two weeks is a pain in the A**:mad2:

 

[Yodeling]

Sure I've heard all that before, but what I'm looking for is a something concrete. I mean, this is all just speculation, right? I'm not disagreeing with you, but I haven't heard anything convincing. What should I be watching for? My phosphates and nitrates are zero due to my fuge. I add trace elements by simply adding water ever day. Is the water in my tank loosing quality in some way? If so, how? Trust me, I feel uneasy about this as well, but I'm starting to think it's all psychological.

 

[DMK]

it's not. if u want a clean, long running system, water changes are necessary. your parameters are ok now and may be for some time, but eventually they will slip. i don't know what else to tell you. your fuge is helping some but not sure how long it will. i don't have experiences w/ fuges.
- do u have a dsb?
- how old is tank?
- when was last WC?
- why are u against doing them? if u hate doing them, switch from monthly 25-30% WC to weekly or biweekly 10% WC, easier, faster, better for system. your fuge is probably helping in convincing yourself that u may not need WC. good luck.

 

[wetWolger]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6613219#post6613219 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Yodeling
I add trace elements by simply adding water ever day.

How does adding water replace trace elements? Do you mean to say that you add trace elements in your top off water?

 

[mg426]

you will get bit at some point in the very near future.Trust me I tried the same thing and it does not work period.If you are using ionic calcium beware.Its great as long as you do water changes.If you stop doing water changes you will end up with a big mess Been there done that

 

[Yodeling]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6613557#post6613557 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jent46bow
How does adding water replace trace elements? Do you mean to say that you add trace elements in your top off water?

Yep exactly. A water change simply adds more trace elements than top-off.

DMK, my tank is 3 year old, SSB, last change about 3 months ago.

It's not that I don't like WCs, I've just never heard a good explanation on why WCs are necessary. I don't want to do WCs just because people say that it's "bad not to do them". There's got to be a better explanation than that, right? Maybe I should be asking Randy (?)

mg426, can you explain about this getting bit business? What's gonna happen? That's exactly the sort of info I'm looking for.

 

[mg426]

I cant say what will happen to you exactly.I can tell you what happened to me. I keep adding trace elements, and kept adding ionic calcium. Over about 6 months my alk and calcium was to the point where I had no clue what was going on.I was lost I would add calcium and my alk would crash.I would add buffer and my ca would crash. Along with this i lost many many a coral.I never got a visable snowstorm or anything like that. I finally commited to weekly 10 % water changes and My Ph, ca, and alk are to the point i rarely have to add anything. PH 8.3 ca around 390 alk around 10.5 steady as a rock.I have no ca reactor, but I keep a close eye on everything and keep a daily log.i try nopt to put in anything i cant test for.This works for me 125reef Full of corals

 

[corals b 4 bills]

My best friend did'nt do a water change for 1 year without a problem. NO FISH. Might have alot to do with it but I need fish to complete my underwater world.

 

[hookdonreefs]

I went a year without a change in my old 200. Corals were doing great but I do them weekly now just for trace elements. I think you could get away with it if your filtration is good and you have a way to replenish the trace elements. My tank wasnt heavily stocked with corals or fish. Now my tank is heavily stocked and I dont have filtration besides a refugium so I do 5% weekly.

 

[boxfishpooalot]

I never do water changes, since the beginning(1 1/2 years). My tank is a 125 bb.No deaths.

Water changes are for emergency situations when in times of disaster, or to prevent disaster. Its really a personal taste, to do it or not.

 

[moumda]

The only thing I worry about when not doing water changes are the toxins that test kits aren't sensitive enough for. With cal and alk additions a tank may go a long time without problems but IMO it would depend on animal load and type. I do water changes because to me it's an insurance policy for the tank I have so much time and money in.

 

[samtheman]

If you cook your rocks you don't ever have to do water changes.

 

[Bandsaw]

Besides the trace elements that added as supliments in salt mixes, my understanding is that water changes are the most effective way of maintaining an ionic balance in the water. Without a good Ionic Balance, Ca/Alk/Mg/Ph will never be balanced.

Most I have gone is 4 weeks between water changes - 5g in a 75g system.

 

[MiddletonMark]

IMO, never doing a water change is like never bathing.
Sure, you might get by fine without it ... but do you really want to?

While replentishing trace elements or correcting imbalances is useful, IMO I'm a little more concerned with organics and coral secondary metabolites/chemical releases.

While you can remove some via skimming/etc ... and while corals can learn to tolerate things that aren't optimal ... there's quite a lot of `other stuff' in the water. Given how popular mixed reef tanks are, combining many different corals and their byproducts ... it's a cheap insurance policy to help reduce any issues related to this.

I dunno, I see water changes as part of my striving for optimal conditions for my corals, as my corals seem to look/do/grow better when I've had a steady practice of w/c's vs. times when they've been more infrequent.

And the longer I go before changing, even with massive skimmer + UV ... the water I take out might test Ca 425, Alk 8, Mag 1300, Nitrate/Phosphate undetectable ... but it's never as clear as the new stuff. Certainly I'll have better light penetration with clearer water, and while it might `test fine' ... there's obviously stuff in the water I cannot test for.

Just my take on it, feel free to have a different opinion