Good reef aquariums without water changes? - Page 2

scaryperson27 · 11/13/2006, 05:30 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by sir_dudeguy
well what about all those other things like calcium, mag, etc??? Keeping a reef isnt just about getting rid of crap in the tank which causes nitrates...you've also got to keep all the elements that the corals USE in the right ranges.

Maybe...but again...look at what the corals actually USE. They're gonna be using up stuff like calcium and whatnot. So in theory, yes you could go without doing water changes. You could "simply" just add in the additives (calcium etc..) at a rate that counter acts the rate they're being used up by the corals. And this is all of course taking into account that you can keep the nitrates and stuff down in the first place.

So if you can consistantly keep nitrates down, and consistently keep adding back all the additives that the corals are using out of the salt, then you can go with no water changes. Because what else is the salt adding (besides salt ) that gets used up? Just the stuff used by corals.

That all being said...i still prefer water changes Just not many of them. I do about once a month because my tank stays perfectly fine for that long. As of now i've only got softies so they hardly use anything at all and all the levels stay perfectly fine for that long...so i see no reason to do a water change if theres nothing that needs it.

However I will be getting some lps corals pretty soon, at which point i probably WILL have to do more water changes because they'll be using a bunch of calcium.

Overall, imo yes you can go waterchangeless...but its sure gonna cost you a heck of a lot more. Think of all the additives you'd have to be adding year round just to keep the levels right. And thats considering that you have perfect amonia nitrite and nitrates/phosphates.

okay start addin
http://www.hw-wiegandt.de/Englisch/M.../meersalz.html

jdieck · 11/13/2006, 08:39 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by scaryperson27
okay start addin
http://www.hw-wiegandt.de/Englisch/M.../meersalz.html

Are you trying to say something?

Anemonebuff · 11/13/2006, 09:26 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by jdieck
Just as a side note, replacing evaporated water is not the same as replacing salt water. Evaporated water is like distilled water that carries no pollutants with it so they just concentrate in the tank.
On the other hand skimming wet and replacing skimmate water does the trick.

When you skim wet, you are removing saltwater. If you skim very wet like I do, you need to add salt to your makeup water.It is like doing a water change a skimmer cup full a day.

scaryperson27 · 11/13/2006, 09:28 PM

Oops didn't catch the last part of your post. I thought you were advising the guy to add all the chemicals needed.

Anemonebuff · 11/13/2006, 09:28 PM

Oh yeah, I do a 15% water change about 4-6 times a year.

es_surf · 11/14/2006, 12:17 AM

no water changes here
my tank looks just the same today as it did 2 yrs ago when i started to stop do them. only differnece is that everything is much bigger.
i am gonna do a 25% change soon,..i will let you know if i see any improvement

best of luck

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...hreadid=965155

11/13/2006, 09:28 PM	#29
scaryperson27 Moved On Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Cape Coral, F.L. Posts: 2,106	Oops didn't catch the last part of your post. I thought you were advising the guy to add all the chemicals needed.

11/13/2006, 09:28 PM	#30
Anemonebuff Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2001 Location: LI,NY Posts: 3,877	Oh yeah, I do a 15% water change about 4-6 times a year.

11/14/2006, 12:17 AM	#31
es_surf Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2003 Posts: 74	no water changes here my tank looks just the same today as it did 2 yrs ago when i started to stop do them. only differnece is that everything is much bigger. i am gonna do a 25% change soon,..i will let you know if i see any improvement best of luck http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...hreadid=965155