Who does and who does not do water changes

[Staceon]

I do 20% on two tanks at the begining of each month. No trace elements added.

[Scott Eiswirth]

I do no water changes and minimum additives. The more I leave it alone the better it seems to get.

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Thanks
Scott
www.angelfire.com/me3/fishtank

[Fishwife]

I do about 5% a week.

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Fishwife

"By the sea, by the sea, by the beautiful sea..."

[Martyn]

OK OK I have searched the subject all over the place.
And have seen that some do and some don't.
But would like to know more like if you don't do any water changes do you add extra trace element or are you saying trace elements are not needed.
If they are needed then how do you know if you are adding the right amounts or are you talking about the force
I do very small and often Water changes.
Little and often.

Martyn

[BristolWorm]

no water changes

[Joez]

15% twice a month.
Drip Kalk in replacement water half the time.

[Tommy]

I change out 4 gallons a week on a 75 gallon.

[Jester]

I do a 20% water change every month. I add calcium, iodine, and strontium every now and then. Everything seems to be doing great. Hope I helped some.

Jester

[Raszagil]

10 percent every week in my 20 gallon long tank. Just got past the killer diatom algae stage, heading into the "can't see a d*mn thing" green spot algae stage...

It's a new tank and the thought of *not* doing water changes scares me. ;)

Raz

[fishpoo]

10% every two weeks. (55 gal.)

[Clam Man]

No water changes.

My reactor replaces the Ca++ and most elements.

On occasion I will give a squirt of Iodine and "liquid gold" or whatever trace elements I get by trading coral growth. After so many years of this hobby you will just "KNOW" when to add untill then measure or practice.

[FishDaddy]

In my 55, I change 10% every 2 weeks and drip kalk for top off water. It works for me.
Dick



[This message has been edited by FishDaddy (edited 05-03-2000).]

[Larry M]

20% to 25% once a month.

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Larry M

See my tanks at Northern Reef (http://www.reefcentral.com/northernreef/index.htm)

[Nemo]

20% every month. Dose kalkwasser and trace elements. Skim heavy.

[hesaias]

20%-25% once every month or so. Dose kalk into tank 24/7. all trace elements I get from water changes

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hesaias
My Reefscape (http://www.angelfire.com/on3/hesaias/index.html)


My Homepage (http://www.angelfire.com/on2/hesaias/index.html)

[Bubafat]

Ya, when i get around to it. But i average around 20% every 3 weeks or so.
buba

BTW, you people who do no water changes, just wondering, how long have you had your tank setup?


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Have fun and happy reefing. "The goal in life is to reach pure happieness." Aristotle

[O'Man]

My water changes have ranged from 10% every 4 days to none for 18 months. Right now, I am back to no changes. My additives, are SeaChem Reef Builder, Reef Advantage, ESV Iodide, and (once in a gerat while) Kent Iron.

My oldest tank is 10 years old. The other two are 6 months. Those tanks were seeded with water and sand from the established tank.

[BlinkBoyCK]

I do 15% water changes every 2-3 weeks on my 30g reef. I also use some supplements but not all that much.

CHAD KELLY

[Martyn]

Thanks all.
That’s 17 responses.
There are 3 that don't do any water changes.
B W does not mention if he adds any thing!
S E adds minimum additives.
C M uses a calcium reactor and on occasions adds trace elements.
The 15 that do water changes
Myself I do about 5% a week of 120 imp gallons sometimes worked out split into 7days a wk but I will also split into three times a week and some times split into twice a week and sometimes I miss a water change for a few weeks.
This includes evaporated water which I add RO-water to the made up water this dilutes the whole of the water and I trickle it into the tank over an hour or so.
I use a calcium reactor to keep my alk and calcium levels.
I don't add any trace elements now.
The other 11 range from 5% a week to 25% a month Some add trace elements some don't and I think most keep their alk and calc levels with the addition of kalkwasser.
So conclusion so far is more people tend to do some sort of water change.
And a few do not do water changes.
I think we all some times neglect to do water changes but mostly on occasions.
From other threads it seems that most use kalkwasser than a calc reactor but some do use a calc reactor successfully too.
Not taken into account is the main coral species kept or a coral mixture or the bioload of fishes kept or what routine of maintenance is kept also type of Skimmers water turbulence lighting etc etc.
As a whole there are so many variables and what we are trying to accomplish that there is no one correct way to do anything.
Buy studying observing your tank and through time and amount of time we spend with are systems we learn what is best for our systems and are or should always be prepared to learn from others however experienced we can all think we are.
It seem there are many ways to water changes.
Thanks for the data I will add it to all the other W/Change data I have found and see if there is an overall average.
Best Regards.
Martyn

[Vins Fins]

no water changes, using ca reactor, reef devil skimmer,good sand bed and macro in the sump.
http://home.twcny.rr.com/vguarno/

Vinny

[Goodfish]

I was thinking that if you have a good skimmer and put in RO/DI water in your tank, then just add suplements you really don't need to do water changes. Maby I'm wrong, but it makes sence to me if your really just adding pure water from a RO/DI and supplements for top off, then you would not need to do water changes since the skimmer is going to take out all the junk anyways.

[DSB]

I change 10% of water every month or two on a 180G system. No additives other than kalk water, dosed 24/7, for all make-up water. Moderate skimming, 40% hard corals/clams, 3 small fish, 2 medium fish. I use carbon continously, about a half cup, changed every month or two.

[Roadrunner]

5 gallons changed every other week on a 90 gallon with 30 gallon sump (about 10% monthly). I dose SeaChem Reef Plus & Reef Calcium twice weekly as well as Kent Reef Iodine (5 ml. of each bi-weekly). Top off water (1 gallon per day) has SeaChem Reef Builder (1 tsp per gallon) in it to maintain Alkalinity as well as Calcium.

SeaChem Reef Advantage is used weekly if necessary to increase Calcium levels along with Reef Builder (to keep ionic balance).....RR

[Eric B]

I do 20-25% water changes once a month. I have been known to go a little longer. Have 10-gal and 29-gal tanks.

[Anemone of the State]

I average about 10 to 20% per month depending upon laziness. I have been assuming water changes are a helpful thing for two reasons:

1. It is the easiest way to replace depleted trace elements in their proper ratios. It is certainly cheaper and probably safer than adding trace element supplements (for example, how do you know you aren't getting an excess buildup of elements such as copper?).

2. It is the best way to counter the accumulation of toxins, both from metabolic activity and from impurities introduced when topping off for evaporation.

We go to such lengths to replicate natural lighing. The ocean is one continuous water change, essentially, so why (other than laziness) do people not like to do this?

[reefgal]

5 gallon water change on 90 gallon tank weekly. 1 gallon kalkwasser daily (until CA reactor arrives). No other additives.

[wayne]

I do a 30g water change, in a 180, every month. Currently I dose 3mg of Iodide every saturday and about a 1/4 cup of 2 part Bionic Calcium/Buffer every afternoon.

I would be curious about those who don't do water changes, what filtration do they use.

[jimhobbs]

<UL TYPE=SQUARE>
<LI>35-40% weekly on a ten gallon skimmerless tank...
<LI>35-40% every two weeks on home tank{29gal}...
<LI>15-45% monthly on various other breeder/shimekdome :) tanks...
</UL>

I see right now, that I dillute more than the average reefer! ;) I agree with anemone del estado' :D This is the best way to replace elements at the exact levels... :)

Best regards...jim

[This message has been edited by jimhobbs (edited 05-08-2000).]

[Martyn]

Thanks again the more info the better.
I have found some more interesting data here goes.
Every time you add water to the aquarium to replace evaporation,(don't know if this includes RO/DI water but I think so)
You also inevitably introduce some impurities.
And these can begin to concentrate over time.
Other solutes that cannot be removed may come from dissolving mineral sand accumulating biological wastes.
In addition, aquariums are faced with the problem of a slow drift of the relative proportions of different ions present in the water.
Different ions evaporate away or precipitate out of salt water at different rates.
Just thought some may find this bit of info interesting.
Martyn

[Dave]

I do 15-20 galls a month on a 75

[FOX]

My tank is a 180 and I change 2 gallons every day.

Coincidentally, this subject came up at the CMAS conference yesterday. Dosing additives that is. I haven't dosed anything in years. Both Ron Shimek and Eric Borneman stated that dosing Iodine, Strontium, Magnesium, etc. etc. was essentailly useless and may do more harm than good. Ron did say that the jury was still out on Iodine in small doses, but that he wouldn't bother. They said that there is some evidence that many of these chemicals may actually be toxic to corals, especially strontium. There was obviously more to it than that, but that's the jist of it.

FOX

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angelfire.com/ak3/korysreef.htm (http://www.angelfire.com/ak3/korysreef/)

[The Shaman]

What's a water change? :)

Seriously, for awhile now, the only thing I do is top off the tank. I did a 20% change about 2 months ago and that's been it. No additives, no H2O quality problems, no problems w/ algae(except valonia), no worries. It sure is nice having a tank that is finally mature, unlike it's keeper :).

[Martyn]

A two part biochemistry of aquaria i have found very intresting and will read a couple more time for it to fully sink in.
Some may be interested and give their comments on it.
Martyn.
http://www.animalnetwork.com/fish2/aqfm/1999/jan/bio/default.asp http://www.animalnetwork.com/fish2/aqfm/1999/jan/bio/default.asp



[This message has been edited by Martyn (edited 05-08-2000).]