TheClark Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 Interesting article over on reefbuilders... http://reefbuilders.com/2015/06/06/water-change-conundrum/ What is your water change philosophy? Personally I am a slow, continuous changer, typically changing 4-5 gallons a day in a 450 gallon system. Because it is automated this is not a big deal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackice Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 I do about 45g every weekend on my 260-280 system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lexinverts Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 (edited) Since I am converting over to the Triton method, I am radically changing my water change regimen. I am going from weekly 10% water changes to NO water changes unless my Triton tests indicate the accumulation of something undesirable. I first considered this change after seeing Scott Fellman's talk to our club in January. They have converted all of their raceways at Uniquecorals to Triton and haven't done a water change since. The sps that I have gotten from them is some of the best I have seen---clearly it is working for them. In addition, I recently suffered a tank crash that I believe came from a combination of running my tank nutrients low from carbon dosing with an inaccurate pump, doing too many water changes (because I needed water to acclimate a bunch of new frags), and then being out of town for several days and not feeding my system while still carbon dosing. I've since become a believer in stability being KEY. My hectic schedule means that water changes are not always performed on the same day, etc... It seems that there are three main reasons to do regular water changes. In italics I explain why I am not worried about them. 1) Nutrient export. Good for small tanks with zoas and lps, but this is not sufficient for most people with bigger tanks without also doing carbon dosing or using chemical media. I use carbon dosing, so I do not have need for nutrient export. 2) Replacing trace elements. If you are not using a calcium reactor, this is probably a good reason to do water changes. I can't use a reactor with my Red Sea Max 250 systems, so I have to dose. I am using Triton Base Elementz (which is similar to Balling Classic) which also has trace elements included as well as Mg Ca and Alk, so water changes are not necessary for this for me. 3) Avoiding buildup of dissolved organics that could cause problems down the road. This is a compelling argument, but I have seen examples of tanks in Europe running Triton for years without this issue, so I am going to risk it. I think that I am more likely to stress my system by doing water changes and messing up salinity or something else (bad batch of salt, etc...) from water changes. We all have our own "methods" and I know that a variety of approaches have been successful in this club, so I am interested in hearing from as many as possible. Great idea for a thread topic, Jeremy! Edited June 21, 2015 by Lexinverts Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jadams7 Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 With the calcium reactor running I rarely do water changes now, and have seen no ill effects of doing so. I do about 30 gallons every 2-3 months (on a roughly 150g system total). As long as my temp, salinity, alk, cal, and mag are in line I do not check/worry about much else. I do not feed very heavy, do not have a large bio load, but also do not run carbon or any other type of nutrient export outside of skimming. Equipment failures this year have had their toll on me, but water quality from lack of water changes were not the culprit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cerk1985 Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 I try to change about 20 gallons a week on my 120 with 30 sump. I tend to over stock and feed heavy though. I recently started carbon dosing with red seas NO3 PO4 X and am seeing good results with that. And I just finally got my calcium reactor hooked up last night. I may go down in the volume of my water changes to 10 gallons or so, but I still plan on doing them weekly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emerald525 Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 There are lots of people on here that have great looking tanks and do not do water changes. In a larger system it makes sense. I have a 20 gallon nano and I plan to primarily have zoas and LPS no sticks. I am running a skimmer. I have chemipure elite and purigen if needed but not planning on using it regularly and plan on doing about 4 gallons every 2 weeks. I would do dosing if I had sps but I really like keeping things simple and actually enjoy the process of making the salt and doing the water changes. For me, figuring out all the dosing and calculations takes the fun out of having the tank. I am going to switch salts to red sea coral pro so I will keep you posted how that works. Tank has only been up a month so can't speak for the long term. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badxgillen Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 Between carbon dosing, macro algae, and supplemental elements via reactors or pumps there has been much success going extended times without water changing. I have been going water change free on my 210 for about 7 months now but have made sure to keep the toxin emitting corals out of the mix in hopes to keep saturation to a minimum. Other tanks I have i stick to a water changing regiment that allows for not only stability in chemistry levels but export of unwanted nutrients\elements or dissolved organics. I like how in one part of the article he says that 150 Grams of dried detritus was removed from the tank every water change, it was startling but believable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Z Reef Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 On my 210 I probably average changing 25 gals every month to month and a half. I have skimmer, macro, carbon, and GFO all doing their part to keep things clean and Ca Rx and trace dosing to keep levels up. Things have been better than back when I was weekly changing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishboys Posted June 10, 2015 Share Posted June 10, 2015 have made sure to keep the toxin emitting corals out of the mix in hopes to keep saturation to a minimum. I like how in one part of the article he says that 150 Grams of dried detritus was removed from the tank every water change, it was startling but believable. Ok Bert, could you tell me what corals are emitting toxins please? I didn't catch how big the tank was in the article, 5.3 ounces dried detritus seems like a whole lot since I am sure it was at least 90+% water to begin with. Start doing some math and the LB's start adding up. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badxgillen Posted June 10, 2015 Share Posted June 10, 2015 Generally it is certain soft corals that emit the growth inhibiting toxins such as Sarcophytons, Loophytons, Sinularias, and several other soft tree corals. I think the tank was over 300 gallons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bicyclebill Posted June 10, 2015 Share Posted June 10, 2015 Funny you mention the dried detritus Bert! I asked about that in the comments section of that article. How, do tell, does one go about measuring and weighing dried detritus? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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