Water Changes????Help Please

[frankiej]

Hi everyone, first I will tell you all I have been keeping freshwater fish of one kind or another most of my life since I was 12, though not 100% of the time, but id say at least 60% to 70% of the last 20 years anyway, and have had one saltwater fish only tank for 1 year in that time.

Well now I have jumped into a reef/communtiy tank and have corals fish and etc., I have never done any "water changes" and have never killed a fish yet as result of that, and plants and corals now are doing fine and growing, but most people I talk to say they do water changes of one kind or another on a weekly or biweekly, and some monthly basis...Though a couple who I may say do have very nice and healthy looking aquariums as well do not do water changes and merely as myself topoff with ro, check water with some regularity as to ammonia,nitrites and trates, and etc., basically all that would be of needing to know type stuff.

Well now comes my problem, I have had my setup in question going good now for roughly six months and I have a sudden outburst of this funky brown algae on sandbed mostly which will lift and come off sand taking smaller particulate matter along for the ride and it is really getting on my nerves as I am having to clean my prefilter sponges about once a day or so to maintain a good flowrate..As stated I have checked all water variables except for phosphate and calcium is 450,alkalinity/hardness is 10,no ammonia,nitrites, or nitrates and ph is 8.2.

I did add 43 pounds of rock which was fully cured but had been sitting in plain ro for three days and though it did cause a ph dip down to 7.8 or so, everything else remained fine and the algae was present before the rock had been added, so I dont think it caused it but it sure cant be helping it, or can it???I am just not a fan of adding chemicals and as for water changes, if I did one it would be the once a month variety, and the way I figure it, in the summer I go through about 2 to 3 gallons a day in evaporation and its topped off with fresh RO and in the winter even go through at least a gallon a day, so thats 60-80 gallons a month added of fresh water in summer and about half that in winter.

My thoughts/theory being that im adding as much fresh RO as if I did a water change, im not disturbing the balance of chemistry in water not to mention the stuff we cant see that other things in there can eat though, and basically not messing with what is seemingly doing fine, im a novice as far as im concerned as I have no formal education on this hobby but I know our oceans dont get a monthly water change and the water coming from other places is likely not as clean as RO, and our oceans are doing pretty good despite mans/womans attempt to muck it up so far.

Anyway I would just like some educated input to this as I am a nightly gaming junky with a wife and three boys who are more than enough to handle already and this brown algae has been taking alot of my attention to try and keep up with it, whats funny to is that it got worse when I did a 25 gallon water change at a local propagators recommendation, anyhow I thank you all for your time took to read this and would greatly apprecciate any and all help or ideas to remedy this...:mixed:

[staticfishmonger]

yeah you know just like anything else in this hobby some will swear by one thing and just as many others will swear by another. there have been alot of successful tanks run without waterchanges, most contained heavy poulations of macro algaes and adequate skimming to remove unwanted organics. also some suplimintaion may be needed to keep adequate levels. with my tank i do monthy refugium cleaning/waterchange. i close off the valves to and from the refugium, i then stirr up the sand and kick a power head on and spray the rocks this kicks alot of detritus into the water i then empty the refugium of its water and replace it with new saltwater, then the valves are opened and the refugium is back in buisness. i have never really had detectable nitrates and i would probily be fine not doing changes as far as that is concerned. i do them because along with nutrient export they add vital trace elementd back into the water, also it keeps from too much crap/gunk from setteling into my refugium which uses a slow flow rate to increase contact time with the macro.
it is really up to you, most people i think do use a method of waterchanges to some degree, some every week some every other month and others only occasionally. in my experience there a good idea, and a safe choice. i have to much money invested in my tank and animals not to keep it looking good and the expensive livestock alive.. good luck with your tank, and happy reefing...

[sjvl51]

I prefer to do monthly water changes to remove a possible build up of the toxins the corals release (chemical warfare) as well as adding any trace elements that have been used up. I usually blow off the rocks with a baster (to get the debris into the water column) and then syphon out the water. This removes some of the debris as well as the water.

Here is an excellent article on water changes - http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/april2004/short.htm Most of us (myself included) seem to do a 10% water change. After reading that article, I now do 30% water changes.

Vickie

[frankiej]

Kool, thanks guys for your replies and ideas on this subject, I do apprecciate any and all input as I am learning new things every day.