Contriversial subject

[michealprater]

I only do water changes about once every 3 months. I did not start doing this until my tank was about 2 years old and was very stable. So far I have not seen any ill effects. Infact, my coralline growth has more than doubled! I cannot explain it. Lets hear everyones thoughts on this.

 

[Cesspool]

if u kno wat ure doing and can handle the problems that may or may not arise go 4 it. the way i c it if ure tank is healthy all da fishies r happy who cares??? dats my .02

 

[ferret]

Translation please.

 

[michealprater]

I was not asking if I should do it. I already have done it, and was curious what the comments would be.

 

[reefobsessed]

I would never risk it myself. I am a once a monther on the water changes whether the test kit shows I need it or not... For me its to hard to get a tank back to being stable after a crash. If it aint broke dont break it is my theory....

 

[Doan]

Yeah if it is working for you that is great. Myself I do a weekly 10% every Sunday while I watch Football or Nascar or whatever it's just part of the rotuine now. I might even feel a little strange if I didn't. If it is working for you good luck .. me personally I would not be able to enjoy my tank if I felt that I wasn't doing all I could to keep my animals healthy and I would just feel like that would be asking for trouble. But if it is working for you great

Doan

 

[Guest]

I do mine changes every other week and I would feel strange if i didn't.. Gives me a chance to make sure everything is running at peak performance. Thats not to say its not possible for tanks to go longer without changes. Heck, I know a guy with a reef that all he does is top offs and hasn't done a change in years and he propagates the corals in it reguraly..So I assume it works for him.. But he's got a bunch of stuff piped into it too..So who knows..

 

[SquishyFish]

There are two main problems with NOT doing water changes...Import and export. Your corals use up the Trace elements and nutrients in the salt. If you are not doing water changes, how are they being replaced? Chems? If so, are you testing for them?

Export...Our tanks build up heavy metals that will not leave the tank through any other means than physically removing water then replacing it with new water. negelecting water changes can be a major factor in speeding OTS.

I'm not the best at keeping up with water changes, but I definitely would encourage everyone to do them on a semi weekly or monthly basis.

Squishy

 

[pecan2phat]

When my 90g was a true FO with a wet/dry, I only performed a 25 to 30% water change every 3.5 to 4.5 months. This went on for about 10 yrs. Since it was a FO tank, I've had my ups & downs with specimens but the levels were never so out of whack that I had to perform a water change. I did not see any significant down side to the lack of water changes, although at that time I did add weekly trace element additives. My NO3 levels were always on the low side for a FO tank. (10-15 ppm) I attribute this to the plenum that I placed under the CC about 15 yrs ago. Interesting that the NO3 levels stayed high for the first 4-5 yrs. (80-100 ppm)
The tank has since been converted to a semi-FOWLR, (kept the wet/dry running) and since I waited 15 yrs to purchase a RO-DI unit, I've changed my water changes to about 12-15% bi-weekly. I'm sure that it's just a new toy thing (RO unit), in a couple of months, I'll be back to monthly, then quarterly.

 

[got bait?]

After reading all of these threads, I am starting to realize that no two aquarist or two tanks are alike. I think that's what makes this hobby (addiction) so interesting, is that everyone can add their own little flair and it all works out for everybody. As long as nobody or fish gets hurt.

 

[scuba_steve]

michealprater i understand the no water change and some can get away with that while others cant !! some cant keep a gold fish alive for that matter but my question to you is what size tank are we talking about and what husbandry practices do you do ?? the point here is im guessing your knowledge on marine life is good and when one gets to that point ya can look into a tank and tell things are going a miss before it happens !! but knowing that i feel you prob better at cleaning and or not over feeding/stocking were a normal person i feel wouldnt be able to get away with that with out having huge issues !!
ie.. a 55 gallon tank with corals and mabe 2 fish yea i agree if ya know what your doing and have the right equipment and things looking good why change it right !! but 2/3 of people here have or try to put 10 fish pluss and corals in a 55 and thats were the prob lies !!!

 

[afilter]

Michael,

Tell us a little more about your setup. Type, size, filtration, additives, stocking levels etc. At first it sounds a little risky but depending on how it is setup could depend. It is obviously working for you.

As for me, I have been a 10% every 2 weeks kind a guy for the first 6 months, but this month I am currently going on three weeks and plan to switch to once a month. I do add Trace elements though.

 

[reefrunner69]

IMO, the larger and more mature a tank is the less the need for frequent water changes. I personally do bi-weekly water changes, but it's on a nano tank. When I was keeping my 150 it was not uncommon for me to do water changes very 3 months or so.

 

[steve-s]

IMO, the larger and more mature a tank is the less the need for frequent water changes. I personally do bi-weekly water changes, but it's on a nano tank. When I was keeping my 150 it was not uncommon for me to do water changes very 3 months or so.

Excellent point! On my 90 gal I do not do regular water changes but on the smaller tanks they get one every two weeks and weekly on the nano's.

Cheers
Steve

 

[srgetz]

what method of salt mixing do you guys use and for how long? thanks

 

[douggiestyle]

i do 10% weekly? i like it, its cheaper than buying fish.
my buddy owns a plane and he says "its 200$ an hour to fly but waxing it is free." he does a lot of waxing.

After reading all of these threads, I am starting to realize that no two aquarist or two tanks are alike. I think that's what makes this hobby (addiction) so interesting, is that everyone can add their own little flair and it all works out for everybody. As long as nobody or fish gets hurt.

it would seem that eventualy science will come up with a fail safe only one way to do it plan.
we all do things differently but come up with the same result. how much is luck and how much technique. the lazy guy who gets good results vs the lazy guy who gets bad results. one may have lucked into doing it right and with the least ammount of effort.
a friend of mine bought a 90 gal tank. he sets it up and waits a week and goes out and buys 500$ worth of fish and in a week they are all dead. the tank is now in his garage. i do not have 500$ to blow at one time on fish. so i buy a litle of this and a little of that. after six months everything is ok. am i doing it right or am i just less wealthy.

 

[Doan]

Douggiestyle I don't think your buddies situation is anywhere near what we are talking about. You are doing a great job go slow. What happend with your buddy seems to be the tank was cycling and it killed all his fish. Cycling is nasty that is why there is the preferred method of using LR or a dead shirmp. Even if he had let it cycle then dumped in that many fish at once I will bet a weeks pay 90% would have died. He needs to let the bacteria build up to deal with the fish waste if not he had ammonia soup and that is highly toxic to the fish. Water changes do not add bacteria and they are IMO the most important thing in the tank. Without them you have no chance of keeping anything alive. You though sound like you are right on track Grats. You should talk to him about buying his 90

Doan

 

[michealprater]

I have three types of claurpa in my tank. Under 400w halides I have to prune regularly. Plus I use a two part alkalinity and calcium supliment (b-ionic). I do small water changes from time to time, but they never really amount to anything.

Let me also add, by saying I don't do water changes, I am not discouraging others from doing them. In fact, I think it is a must to do a 10% weekly change on any tank that is less than 2 years old.

Continue with the opinions, I like the diversity.

 

[michealprater]

Michael,

Tell us a little more about your setup. Type, size, filtration, additives, stocking levels etc. At first it sounds a little risky but depending on how it is setup could depend. It is obviously working for you.

Some times I forget that a lot of you newer members are not familiar with who I am or what my setup is.

In a nutshell, I have a 100 gal reef tank with 4 fish , several corals, and approx 250 lbs of live rock. Mechanical filtration, none. I have a protien skimmer but it does not do much. After my tank became stable, around 3 yrs into it I simplified, I did not become lazy. Ask some of the advisors that have been around for awhile about me. (reefrunner, fishfreek, hara, loganj, timbo2, ect.) Have they been know to give advisor status to lazy and irresponcible fish keepers?

 

[douggiestyle]

Douggiestyle I don't think your buddies situation is anywhere near what we are talking about.

Oh iknow why my buddy failed. i was just making the observation on how different factors can give different results. if my buddie didnt have his 500$ spending spree, he would have a nice tank in his house as opposed to being in his garage.