Thoughts on no water changes?

[Chris H Reef]

Hey all,

I have a 75 gallon system that has been running for about 5 months and I have only done 1 water change. I have not fussed with it because my fish are healthy and my parameters have been very stable.

The only “new” water is from my ATO. The only thing that has not been going extremely well is my corals. I have only soft corals in my tank and they are not extending as much as they use to. Could that be because of the lack of nutrients since I am not replacing water? I have just started dosing AB+ this week and am planning on doing that 2x a week.

What are everyone’s thoughts on water changes? If the perimeters are stable and where they’re suppose to be don’t mess with it?

 

[Troylee]

Change your water! Doc’s collect and no way to get rid of them besides a water change.. here comes the moonshiners lol lol…. Even triton wants you to change water no matter all the claims you don’t have too! Salem Clemens has been touching this subject a lot lately who has scientifical data to back his claims.. nothing bad has ever happened from changing water and that’s all we had back in the day before all the mechanical filtration and supplements of today.

 

[saltyfins]

as long as your running a good ICP test, your fine. but I run with Moonshiners, and I am CONSTANTLY having to add trace elements. that's a given, as the system uses them. I'd start with an ICP-OES test. then decide. I promise your minor elements aren't "stable"

 

[saltyfins]

Change your water! Doc’s collect and no way to get rid of them besides a water change.. here comes the moonshiners lol lol…. Even triton wants you to change water no matter all the claims you don’t have too! Salem Clemens has been touching this subject a lot lately who has scientifical data to back his claims.. nothing bad has ever happened from changing water and that’s all we had back in the day before all the mechanical filtration and supplements of today.

that's what your skimmer and filtration is for .....

 

[Davileet]

I don't do a lot of water changes either, but I also have a larger aquarium. When I go extended periods I also go larger volume water changes.

What is your nutrient levels? i.e. phosphate and nitrate?

I wouldn't dose anything that you aren't testing for. AB+ is probably okay if you knew at which rate corals were taking up the trace elements, otherwise you could be overdosing. Get an ATI water test and send it off and see where things stand.

My go to early on was just doing water changes when necessary as its the easiest way to keep the corals happy without blind dosing chemicals.
Corals looking unhappy? Water change.

 

[Troylee]

that's what your skimmer and filtration is for .....

No amount of carbon, ozone or skimmer, algae scrubber etc can remove doc’s like a water change can… cheers!

 

[t5Nitro]

Haven’t changed water in several years. Full mixed reef

 

[MichaelReefer]

I have a four year old tank, haven't done a water change since I moved into my new home. No problems. Full mixed reef.

 

[saltyfins]

Read the reef moonshiners handbook. you dont have to do the shine, but read it. It will make more sense, with what you may be trying to accomplish. page 48 is where the WC are discussed.

 

[Davileet]

Moonshine is great and all for experienced reefers with a lot of coral, but its not the end all be all of reefing. Honestly, its probably cheaper and easier to just do water changes vs buying all these trace elements and topping off and chasing depletion charts, especially for beginners.

 

[vlangel]

For new reefers with a newer reef tank, nothing helps reset an aquarium quite like consistent water changes. Go ahead and do a 20% water change and see if your coral perk up. If nothing happen then nothing lost except some salt but if the coral respond positively then you have a win.

 

[RelaxingWithTheReef]

I have an SPS / mixed pico tank that consumes almost 4 dKH alkalinity a day. Using ESV B_Ionic 2-part to balance cal and alk.

For years the tank ran like this:
Day 0 - 40% water change. Tank looks great, maximum alkalinity consumption.
Day 7 – Alkalinity consumption starts to drop. Reduce alk/cal to maintain 8.0 dKH/430 ppm balance.
Day 14 – Stylophora and Acropora start to bleach.
Day 21 – Lower parts of Stylophora flesh start to detach.

Now, using ICP-MS, daily dosing of select trace elements, and ¼ recommended amount of ROX 0.8 changed monthly, the tank can go indefinitely without a water change! It may be Zero WC, but I still do a 40% monthly change to rebalance, and because the nitrate slowly increases over time.

The ICP-MS test is the only test capable of correctly measuring the level of many trace elements.

I believe it’s misleading to have an standard ICP(OES) test register “0” with many trace elements, and light up the “Green” panel as to say “all is good” when it is very possible it’s not good. I learned this the hard way as it took me years to figure out why my tank would start to fail after 7 days while ICP was all green as to say there was not a problem.

The green light is good only if you are dosing an appropriate amount of that element. Then the test only confirms you are not overdosing!

While it’s possible for anyone to duplicate these results, it is unfortunately a little complicated, and also a little costly. But I believe in general a significant percentage of tanks running today have some degree of trace element deficiency or imbalance (in some cases so bad that 10-15% WC alone cannot fix things). I believe an ICP-MS test, and the necessary corrections can greatly improve many of them. It will also relax the requirement for water changes a bit.

On the other side of the coin, if you have the right combination of tank size, animals, substrate, bacteria, feeding, etc… You may be the lucky one, and have success without any water changes. Congratulations, my hats off you

I am a firm believer in water changes, especially for beginners. My fear for the OP is that over time trace elements get depleted, and the tank goes south. ICP comes back all green, and there is no explanation as to why this is happening. Unfortunately, I believe this happens in the hobby more than people think.

 

[Chris H Reef]

For new reefers with a newer reef tank, nothing helps reset an aquarium quite like consistent water changes. Go ahead and do a 20% water change and see if your coral perk up. If nothing happen then nothing lost except some salt but if the coral respond positively then you have a win.

I’m going to give this a shot tonight. Thank you for the advice! How long do you think it will take for my corals to perk up after the water change?

 

[vlangel]

I’m going to give this a shot tonight. Thank you for the advice! How long do you think it will take for my corals to perk up after the water change?

If it's going to help them, you will know tomorrow.

 

[BubblesandSqueak]

I have a four year old tank, haven't done a water change since I moved into my new home. No problems. Full mixed reef.

are you dosing though?

 

[VintageReefer]

If you aren’t doing water changes then you would need alternate methods to maintain alk, ca, and trace elements, as well as nutrient export. If your corals aren’t doing well, then you’re methods aren’t correct

For those newer to the hobby, water changes are the easier approach

 

[Chris H Reef]

are you dosing though?

I have not been dosing anything until Sunday. I put a half dose of AB+ in the tank.

 

[Troylee]

I have not been dosing anything until Sunday. I put a half dose of AB+ in the tank.

Ab+ is nothing more than amino acids.. not really needed unless your nitrates are bottomed out and even then just feeding your fish more would cure that. Water changes replenishes your alkalinity, calcium, magnesium and minor and major trace elements all in a single shot! Btw, you should be testing cal, alk at the very minimal.

 

[VintageReefer]

If you use all for reef you can replenish alk, calcium, and trace elements all from a single product

Reef energy ab+ doesn’t replenish anything. It’s amino acids and maybe proteins…more of a coral food

 

[Koty]

Post in thread 'Are water changes over rated?'
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/are-water-changes-over-rated.1049872/post-12797249