ReeferDave01
Active Member
Hows your water flow? I assume it's fairly strong to keep deitrus suspended
No Water Changes - FarmerTy Reefing Method
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Kershaw
Valuable Member
I would rather do water changes then dose. I always notice my corals open up allot more after water changes. I think both methods work. Maybe not stop water changes just reduce to monthly or less. Just a thought.
evmibo
Active Member
The only thing he's dosing, iirc, is amino acids. CaRx is doing most of the work and that's automatic.
OP
OP
Thank you Elder! I still always suggest water changes to any new members I run across locally when starting a new tank. Unless you go the route of the reactors I use, then I think no water changes can really get you in trouble and that's not what I really want to spread to new hobbyist. Once a person feels comfortable being able to monitor nutrient levels and foundation elements, that's where I think the next step can be taken to remove water changes entirely and employ reactors instead to remove the need for water changes.
Yes, strong enough for my acros but can't really quantify it. Detritus, at least my personal opinion, is not the devil if you have ways of dealing with nutrients. I've never removed any detritus over the years from my sump in this tank or the last tank with no water changes. I'll end up with often a 1" layer of detritus in my sump over time. It is actually somewhat beneficial in many ways such as a source of calcium carbonate, reef "snow", and gives scavengers and filter feeders a food source.
My question is what for? If I can go 3 years with no water changes, why bother doing them monthly or less? I change GFO and carbon monthly, which I would do with a water change system anyways if I kept a tank with routine water changes. So the main difference in my husbandry is running biopellets for nitrates and a CaRX for foundation elements, both of which I only top off media every 6 months. Doing that prevents me from doing 20% water changes on 250 gals of total water volume. Have you ever done monthly water changes of 50 gals? Quite the chore... At least for me, I'd rather just top off my CaRX media and biopellet media and walk away.
I have actually stopped dosing aminos the last 6 months experimentally. I haven't noticed a difference yet but will probably start dosing them again and see if I notice any changes going back to them.
OP
OP
My last Triton test since I run them annually to monitor trends.
I believe this was back in November.
Just to clarify, the husbandry method is for no scheduled water changes. There is water exchange on occasion when I take my frag tank to a swap and drain 15 gals for the frag tank, which I replace 15 gals with new saltwater. There is water exchange from my skimmer removing water over time. I accidentally overdosed Mg last year and did 60 gals to bring it back to my desired level.
Just wanted to throw it out there that there is unintended water exchanges on occasion but otherwise, no scheduled water changes are any of significant volume besides my 60 gal water change to reduce Mg level.
I believe this was back in November.
Just to clarify, the husbandry method is for no scheduled water changes. There is water exchange on occasion when I take my frag tank to a swap and drain 15 gals for the frag tank, which I replace 15 gals with new saltwater. There is water exchange from my skimmer removing water over time. I accidentally overdosed Mg last year and did 60 gals to bring it back to my desired level.
Just wanted to throw it out there that there is unintended water exchanges on occasion but otherwise, no scheduled water changes are any of significant volume besides my 60 gal water change to reduce Mg level.
OP
OP
Nutrient reduction is not why I do water changes.
Your method does not account for accumulation of undesirable organics that may be toxic or yellowing, and expensive ICP testing tells you if some things are accumulating or depleting, but does nothing about it. Regular water changes help limit problems from these issues without the expense of testing and the lack of even knowing what to do about some of them if you find accumulations (which are not at all unusual if you read the ICP reports posted online).
Not sure if you're talking to me or the other gentlemen but if me, you are 100% correct. I do use a 110 watt sterilizer that may help to break down yellowing compounds or toxins but to the degree of effectiveness is debatable.
I only run one ICP test a year so I'm happy with the costs versus a 200-gal box of salt 3x/year. Of course I'm not factoring the reactors and media but I'm pretty sure in the long run cost-wise, I'm winning out versus water changes.
I'm not concerned about accumulations or deficiencies currently as my stock has proven at least in the interim that it causes no perceivable issues. Will this last forever, I highly doubt it, as I can see that eventually there will be an accumulation or deficiency that will cause an issue with my corals or fish. But until then, I'll keep running the methodology.
At worst when that moment comes, I'll do some large scale water changes to "reset" everything and then do it all over again for the 3-5 years that it worked before. I mean, why not? [emoji5]
Randy Holmes-Farley
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I don't know if it is hurting anything or not, but your major ions are skewed quite a bit from NSW (elevated calcium, magnesium and potassium at the expense of sodium; low sulfate and presumably elevated chloride) and water changes might have reduced that.
OP
OP
Thank you Randy for looking it over. Until it causes issues with the livestock, I'll consider it a non-issue. When it does cause an issue, I'll be happy to share with the community so we can all add to our collective knowledge of how these off-based major ion ratios can possibly affect livestock.
Squamosa
Well-Known Member
Just read through this whole thread. Makes me feel better about my system as well. I have never done a water change on it in the traditional sense either. Just micro changes here and there. Maybe 5-10 gal per month on a 240 gallon total system.
I dont run GFO, BioPellets or Carbon either. Just Ca Reactor, heavy skim and the fuge. My system is not that old yet so we will see. But doing 25-50 gallon water changes is not practical for me and just doesnt seem necessary. This is an SPS tank also so I too have high flow.
I dont run GFO, BioPellets or Carbon either. Just Ca Reactor, heavy skim and the fuge. My system is not that old yet so we will see. But doing 25-50 gallon water changes is not practical for me and just doesnt seem necessary. This is an SPS tank also so I too have high flow.
I do a monthly water change of 25% sometimes I go longer. My nitrates are 2.5 and phosphate I don't bother measuring really as I struggle to read the tests. But I change the GFO in the reactor monthly.
I have a nitryx brick, siporax and 1 litre of denitrate with a skimmer. I run a low dose of Ozone just for water clarity...although visually I don't really notice much
I have a nitryx brick, siporax and 1 litre of denitrate with a skimmer. I run a low dose of Ozone just for water clarity...although visually I don't really notice much
OP
OP
Hi Reeftang, I do not. I just run an extra large skimmer, biipellets, gfo, and activated carbon.
wow thats nice to hear because i thought that my issue is that i dont have place for a fuge to grow cheato. so i see it can be done without it. Currently im carbon dosing (redsea NOPOX)and also dosing the regular stuff cal, alk, mag, but i cant seem to grow any sps what can be the problem?
OP
OP
How old is your system? What are your parameters? Specifically salinity, Ca, Alk, Mg, NO3, PO4, temp.
What is your lighting? What is currently thriving in your tank?
So my system is about a year old.
water parameters:
salinity: 1.023
Cal: 490
Alk: 10
Mg: 1360
NO3: 10-15
PO4: 0.08
temp: 78 - 80
Lighting: Ocean Revive Arctic T247
What is currently thriving in your tank? mostly zoanthus, lether tree, but every time i introduce sps or any stony coral they will die.
OP
OP
Here are my thoughts:
-reduce your alk to below 8.0 dKh. When carbon dosing, you'll get alk burn from having it above 8.0 dKh. This may be the singular reason why stony corals (LPS and acros) aren't surviving your tank.
-salinity can increase a bit to 1.025-1.026
OP
OP
What percentsges are you running on your lights? How high above the water? For how long?
Interesting that you're saying that because i do have burned tips on the sps. I was under the impression that the reason you might get burned tips when carbon dosing is because your tank is untra low nutrient but in my case my nutrients are not that low are they?
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