is there anyone that doesnt do waterchanges?

BiggySmalls · #1 01/04/2008, 09:40 PM

just curious?

FBNitro · #2 01/04/2008, 09:43 PM

There's a guy at my work that hasn't done a water change in a year. Doesn't have much Algae... everything that's in there lives just fine, but he can't add anything other than mushrooms, fish and inverts. If he puts something other than a mushroom in, it dies pretty quick. His tank is 4 gallons I believe.

msu spartan · #3 01/04/2008, 10:01 PM

why cant he have anything other than a mushroom?

dsn112 · #4 01/04/2008, 10:15 PM

I know a guy who does none. He has a 30g tank with 3 fish and a ton of coral, and a hob fuge. No algae, super low trates, no skimmer even.

I wouldnt do it, but his looks good and it has been a year now

baldomero · #5 01/04/2008, 10:20 PM

i do minimal water changes on my fowlr and havent had any problems.

FBNitro · #6 01/04/2008, 10:20 PM

If he adds Soft, LPS or SPS Corals they die within 24 hours, every time (he keeps trying though for some reason). I personally think the water is missing nutrients because of the lack of changes.

msu spartan · #7 01/04/2008, 10:21 PM

o ok

snagged by reef · #8 01/04/2008, 10:22 PM

me too. no water changes here. i ahve a 55 gallon with softies, lps, sps, and fish. the tank is about a year and a half now with no water changes. maybe knock on wood, but so far so great.

i'm also a guy that doesnt believe in quarentine when introducing new livestock. i have yet anything die due to not quarentining.

some things i just dont agree with and i have my tank to prove several of my beliefs.

though, i do recomend doing everything everyone else says, since what everyone else says is always right....in "their opinion"

tmz · #9 01/04/2008, 10:24 PM

Wow, I thought the debate on the benefit of water changes ended 10years ago.

msu spartan · #10 01/04/2008, 10:24 PM

do you add any nutrients or no, just let it run without changes or adding anything??

kmf507 · #11 01/04/2008, 11:01 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by snagged by reef
me too. no water changes here. i ahve a 55 gallon with softies, lps, sps, and fish. the tank is about a year and a half now with no water changes. maybe knock on wood, but so far so great.

i'm also a guy that doesnt believe in quarentine when introducing new livestock. i have yet anything die due to not quarentining.

some things i just dont agree with and i have my tank to prove several of my beliefs.

though, i do recomend doing everything everyone else says, since what everyone else says is always right....in "their opinion"

I've got a question. Do you occasionally tap off with salt water instead of pure water then? It would seem that with no WC, your salinity would start to drop over time (through skimming, not evaporation).

Also, your QT logic may be flawed. You have "gotten lucky" so far, as I have on my 90 gallon tank. But, you only have a 55 gallon tank, so how many times have you really gambled by not using QT? 6-7 times, depending on the size of your fish? My tank is stocked now, so not having a QT worked for me, but you better believe if I had a 300 gallon tank and was adding multiple pricey fish, I wouldn't take that gamble.

snagged by reef · #12 01/04/2008, 11:49 PM

i do occasionally top off with salt to keep the sainity "up". and i do a very "wet skim". always have.

as for the fish, 5 times, but i must add that one fish is a hippo and as we all know, if there is a problem fish, the hippo is it.

and same as with drip acclimating coral. every coral ive introduced has not been acclimated in any way other than temperature. and this goes from my zoas to my leathers to my LPS's to my SPS's.

again, could just be luck or extremely hardy livestock that we blame not taking the adjusting well, instead of possibly blaming the condition of our tanks.

Randy Holmes-Farley · #13 01/05/2008, 07:32 AM

IMO, water changes are a good idea, most especially to deal with chemical issues that you cannot or do not track by testing, or which cannot be solved in other ways. That said, many folks do not do them, either to save time, money, or for other reasons.

FWIW I show what water changes can and can't accomplish, and the relative merits of different ways of doing them here:

Water Changes in Reef Aquaria
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-10/rhf/index.php

scatty25 · #14 01/05/2008, 02:34 PM

i don't.

phenom5 · #15 01/05/2008, 02:46 PM

Oh sure Randy...go and ruin a perfectly good thread with that science stuff...

bbehring · #16 01/05/2008, 02:51 PM

Isn't dilution the solution to pollution? Seems like some are slowly creating a cesspool! Seems a bit cruel to the animals you are keeping IMO.

LPDK91 · #17 01/05/2008, 03:18 PM

I top off with r/o water 5 gallons every week. Once a month I top off with salt added to the r/o water. My tank is a 150 with a 20 gallon sump. I have all kinds of softies, fish and two anemones carpet and bta. I use a skimmer. I decided to do a 30 gallon water change about 9 months ago and killed off two big rocks full of live mushrooms. Not sure why it happened but thats the last time I will do a water change.

Randy Holmes-Farley · #18 01/05/2008, 03:19 PM

Oh sure Randy...go and ruin a perfectly good thread with that science stuff...

Happy reefing.

reptilemanmark · #19 01/05/2008, 03:52 PM

Since adding a coil denitrator I am able to do less water changes. I was doing 10% a week now doing 10% every couple of weeks. I do have to add salt water every couple of weeks via top off. My salanity drops to 1.0235 I start adding salt water everyother day till it comes back up to 1.025. Seems to work for me.

HornetMech242 · #20 01/05/2008, 04:36 PM

I put a bunch of those fuel line magnets on my plumbing and it helped out alot. And my pump also put out more flow.

But seriously, i have a 20 gallon (temp tank) split in two parts. One has about 30# of rock with mushrooms and a clam and the other part has a Euroreef Rs-80. I have not done a water change in six months now. It has some algea but its not out of control. When i get my new tank up and running i will be doing water changes.

Chris

drawman · #21 01/05/2008, 04:53 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by LPDK91
I top off with r/o water 5 gallons every week. Once a month I top off with salt added to the r/o water. My tank is a 150 with a 20 gallon sump. I have all kinds of softies, fish and two anemones carpet and bta. I use a skimmer. I decided to do a 30 gallon water change about 9 months ago and killed off two big rocks full of live mushrooms. Not sure why it happened but thats the last time I will do a water change.

What are you testing for in your tank? Many things could be "off" of their "normal" values. The new saltwater obviously shocked the animals. Also, how did you prepare the saltwater? Was it heated and aerated?

IMO not doing water changes will hurt your chances at long term success with many corals. Just my two cents. Too many things accumulate or get depleted in our closed systems that we don't keep track of....but I will stop preaching now.