David Saxby - No water change in 2 and half years ? Recent interview discussion

[VintageReefer]

I’ve done maybe 3-4 water changes on my 75g over the last 10 years. 5g each time. Never had an icp

 

[Uncle99]

However dosing 2 part or using the balling method by tropic marins gives an accumulation of Sodium ions /chloride ions which increase the Salinity slowly which needs to be corrected by Water change or RODI water. So to avoid doing a water change, All-For-Reef or Kalkwasser would be a better idea in this case ?

Kalk does give a pH boost which would help fight a lower pH by the Carbon Dosing.

I know that a reef tank without ANY water change is unrealistic but reducing the amount is where I'm trying to get at haha.

I reduced my water changes by using them to manage nutrients rather than frequency and size.

But once I go beyond 4 weeks, I do a small change anyways.

I know absolutely nothing about trace elements and there use, so I have relied on the salt mix to keep these in check.

So from weekly to monthly.

 

[scotty333]

However dosing 2 part or using the balling method by tropic marins gives an accumulation of Sodium ions /chloride ions which increase the Salinity slowly which needs to be corrected by Water change or RODI water. So to avoid doing a water change, All-For-Reef or Kalkwasser would be a better idea in this case ?

Kalk does give a pH boost which would help fight a lower pH by the Carbon Dosing.

I know that a reef tank without ANY water change is unrealistic but reducing the amount is where I'm trying to get at

Well, for me! And I stress FOR ME ( don’t want to make out I run a perfect reef cos I don’t ) but my ph is 8.35 , nitrates are controlled at 10 with 3ml of vodka 1ml every 8 hours so no ph swings like from vinegar or nopox etc
Also have a dsb which is 8 years old so no longer functions as far as I’m aware but it’s a good place to breed pods and other life forms
Now, phosphates I control with food input ( still nailing the amount of food down needed but getting there) and with caluerpa growth it’s even more tricky!
Kh, mag , calcium and trace are dosed via tritons core7 be and monthly icps tell me which extra trace to add which goes in my ato and dosed over 12 days.
Calcium’s 4/5 and mag 1350
I run a skimmer which doesn’t produce a great deal because ( I believe) running ozone also reduces skimmate.
I have carbon on a timer with the ozone for 3 hours a night to catch any biproducts maybe produced by ozone.
Current orp is 350 and can report water clarity is great.

Complicated? Yes probably but over the 25 years of this it’s a combination of old meets new

Hope I didn’t bore you tears haha

 

[scotty333]

I’ve done maybe 3-4 water changes on my 75g over the last 10 years. 5g each time. Never had an icp

Optimising imo

 

[VintageReefer]

Optimising imo

I use a algae turf scrubber for nutrient control. I don’t use a skimmer or vodka. I use all for reef to maintain Calc and alk.
Trace who knows I let all for reef handle it plus I dose manganese manually. I have a cryptic zone in my sump with live rock, sand, and live sponge.

I’m not anti icp. I have a kit on my counter. I will be sending it in to see what my trace levels actually are and if I need any intervention.

 

[scotty333]

Afr is very popular , I wonder if I’d have gone that route I wouldn’t need 2 x 4 head dosers

 

[SomeHappyFish]

I’ve done maybe 3-4 water changes on my 75g over the last 10 years. 5g each time. Never had an icp

Hoo cool ! Any sps or softies and lps only ?
Why did you choose to do only 3-4 water changes over the last 10 years?

 

[VintageReefer]

Afr is very popular , I wonder if I’d have gone that route I wouldn’t need 2 x 4 head dosers

It eliminated my need for two part, and also handled my need to manually supplement trace elements. Game changer. 20 years ago I was wishing for a product like this. It’s not absolutely perfect but, it’s a huge help.

I removed two dosing containers, two pumps, and freed up two outlets

 

[scotty333]

It eliminated my need for two part, and also handled my need to manually supplement trace elements. Game changer. 20 years ago I was wishing for a product like this. It’s not absolutely perfect but, it’s a huge help.

I removed two dosing containers, two pumps, and freed up two outlets

Hmmm now you’ve got me “re” thinking

 

[SomeHappyFish]

Scotty333 How do you manage to get a pH of 8.35 ?
I only use a Salifert test kit so I only get the value of 8.0 but I always wondered if I could boost it easily past 8.0

 

[VintageReefer]

Hoo cool ! Any sps or softies and lps only ?
Why did you choose to do only 3-4 water changes over the last 10 years?

I’ve kept sps in the past with these methods and then took a break after a 5+ day power outage, then moving, having kids, etc. Rebuilt as lps only. And now I’m starting sps again. I have a few I’ve been keeping a few months and have a bunch arriving this week

My corals are doing great except for a angry lobo they fell in the sand and has bleached and is recovering

 

[SomeHappyFish]

They all look great !

 

[VintageReefer]

The reasons I did water changes - it’s a technicality but I’ll count it as water changes.

Two times I did chemi clean treatments for cyano and required a water change after. Two times I acclimated fish in a 5g bucket and ended up draining 5g that needed replacement

 

[VintageReefer]

They all look great !

Thank you!

I starred early this year with some basic encrusting sps, they proved to do well, then got some birdsnest and the purple bonsai, and then a vivid raspberry milli

Everything is doing good so I declare my system - sps safe - and ordered these to arrive this week

I’m not going all out sps reef, just a few nice/higher end pieces that I think are interesting and will add color that I lack, and fill in some vertical space in time

 

[VintageReefer]

They all look great !

If you’re interested feel free to follow my tank thread,I’ve been documenting this tanks journey and discuss my methods in the beginning pages. When I get new things (every 2-4 weeks) I update it as well with more photos

 

[SomeHappyFish]

I see, technically a water change but you just replaced the water lost during a task. These are some nice acros ! I recently added a purple stylophora and a Red Montipora Digitata to my 45G lagoon and they seem to be happy. Can't wait to try Acros one day !

 

[VintageReefer]

I see, technically a water change but you just replaced the water lost during a task. These are some nice acros ! I recently added a purple stylophora and a Red Montipora Digitata to my 45G lagoon and they seem to be happy. Can't wait to try Acros one day !

Yes lol. I sometimes talk in absolutes and later realize it’s not true. If I say I never did a water change, someone could point out “well you removed salt water and replaced it with new saltwater so that’s a water change” which is true

So now I include my task related water changes when I make my statement


I never had an icp before and was chatting with a buddy on here, who’s opinion I take highly and he just threw out there…why don’t you get an ICP just for peace of mind, or to see if your on a tightrope. 40$ is a small cost to verify if you are on the brink of an issue or not. I considered it, makes sense, why not. Bought the kit and just need to do it and send it in. I’m delaying because a new food has caused a phosphate spike for me, and I wanted to get that under control first.

 

[SomeHappyFish]

If you’re interested feel free to follow my tank thread,I’ve been documenting this tanks journey and discuss my methods in the beginning pages. When I get new things (every 2-4 weeks) I update it as well with more photos

Will do ! I will ask my questions there to bump the thread back up for others

 

[SomeHappyFish]

Yes lol. I sometimes talk in absolutes and later realize it’s not true. If I say I never did a water change, someone could point out “well you removed salt water and replaced it with new saltwater so that’s a water change” which is true

So now I include my task related water changes when I make my statement


I never had an icp before and was chatting with a buddy on here, who’s opinion I take highly and he just threw out there…why don’t you get an ICP just for peace of mind, or to see if your on a tightrope. 40$ is a small cost to verify if you are on the brink of an issue or not. I considered it, makes sense, why not. Bought the kit and just need to do it and send it in. I’m delaying because a new food has caused a phosphate spike for me, and I wanted to get that under control first.

Personally I would say the ICP "saved" my 45G Lagoon. Well sort of... Corals where looking weird and not always happy and the ICP test made me realized I had none existent macro elements due to the first salt I was using (Aquaforest Sea Salt) which was not really meant for corals. It had almost no macro elements in it like Strontium ? Zero.


So I was able to fix these parameters and switch salt. I would say once every 6 month is a good "insurance" to see if something is out of bounds or yearly.

 

[VintageReefer]

Personally I would say the ICP "saved" my 45G Lagoon. Well sort of... Corals where looking weird and not always happy and the ICP test made me realized I had none existent macro elements due to the first salt I was using (Aquaforest Sea Salt) which was not really meant for corals. It had almost no macro elements in it like Strontium ? Zero.


So I was able to fix these parameters and switch salt. I would say once every 6 month is a good "insurance" to see if something is out of bounds or yearly.

I use reef crystals, it has some boosted levels I think. I have been using this since sps days and always liked it and had good results