I have an 18 gallon reef tank with one maroon clown, one purple dottiback, various mushrooms, one colt coral, couple different pom pom corals, and crabs/snails. Anyway I haven't done a water change in this tank for at least 6 months. All test indicate everything is fine, corals look great, fish are very healthy. All I do is add Reef Solutions from Ecosytems and a little bit of Seachem Calcium. I'm wondering if something bad is going to happen down the road. Should I do a water change soon anyway or continue this method for awhile. I was thinking of doing this with my 100 gallon tank as well. Maybe I'm way off here. I'm sure there are people out there that have waited longer to do water changes. I would really appreciate your input.
No water changes in over 6 months
- Thread starter Roach
- Start date
I have been there, done that. But I get peace of mind now with regular water changes. It's a 150G and I change 20G every month spread over 2 intervals.
With your setup, 18G and 100G, water change is a pretty straight forward thing, why not do it and be sleep better in the night?
With your setup, 18G and 100G, water change is a pretty straight forward thing, why not do it and be sleep better in the night?
It' not that I don't want to do it, but it's kinda like if t ain't broke don't fix. I run a fluval on it for filtration with only one pad in it that I rinse weekly. I also run some carbon it it every couple of weeks. The skimmer on it is a prism that pulls out some gunk but not that much. I also feed the two fish in there a ton of food but I get 0 nitrates and ) nitrites. I'm really just kinda of experimeting here.
Roach, I've been trying the no water change method in my 40 reef. Its been up for 9 mo's and has never had a WC. Everthing tests fine and the fish, corals and anenomes are looking great. I don't have an RO system and would rather have aged saltwater in my tank than fresh tap water anyday. So far so good and I may try it on my other tanks soon. I always get a cloudy bacteria bloom in my other tanks right after doing even the smallest WC. Is this common/normal?
I have always been wondering nitrate reducing capabilities of Xenia. Is it really that great?
There are many more chemicals that are present in old tankwater that we don't normally test for, or there aren't any commercialized test kits sold over the counter. I personally wouldn't bet on it that 0 water change is necessarily a good thing.
I'd say get more algae to soak up compounds in the old tank water as your primary export.
There are many more chemicals that are present in old tankwater that we don't normally test for, or there aren't any commercialized test kits sold over the counter. I personally wouldn't bet on it that 0 water change is necessarily a good thing.
I'd say get more algae to soak up compounds in the old tank water as your primary export.
No water changes=lazy IMO
The idea behind water changes isnt in the fact that a tank cant look great with out them. The idea is to balance your system. With regular water changes you can create a better balanced system, and as stated above not all chemicals are tested for. On a natural reef the water is very stable, one of the most stable enviroments in the world. With out water changes levels in your system will slip. for instance you claim to feed alot, some foods contain excess iodine which with out changes will biuld up to high over time.
So sure it can be done but your eyes cant always tell you whats healthy.
HTH
The idea behind water changes isnt in the fact that a tank cant look great with out them. The idea is to balance your system. With regular water changes you can create a better balanced system, and as stated above not all chemicals are tested for. On a natural reef the water is very stable, one of the most stable enviroments in the world. With out water changes levels in your system will slip. for instance you claim to feed alot, some foods contain excess iodine which with out changes will biuld up to high over time.
So sure it can be done but your eyes cant always tell you whats healthy.
HTH
I once believed that it was possible to not need to change water. I went more than two years without a change for a 50g reef.
Eventually I started to get problems. All testable parameters were fine. The corals were just not themselves. Upon doing a major water change everything returned to normal.
I assume my problem was something that I was not able to test for. Perhaps a toxic build-up or the lack of some nutrient.
Eventually I started to get problems. All testable parameters were fine. The corals were just not themselves. Upon doing a major water change everything returned to normal.
I assume my problem was something that I was not able to test for. Perhaps a toxic build-up or the lack of some nutrient.
Ok, I broke down and did a WC in my 18 gallon and now everything looks like crap. My corals are all withdrawn, my mushrooms are shriveled, and there's a nice layer of algae on the glass. Is it possible my corals adapted to the conditions in the tank over the last 6 months and that the water change kinda of shocked them or something?
Ok, I broke down and did a WC in my 18 gallon and now everything looks like crap. My corals are all withdrawn, my mushrooms are shriveled, and there's a nice layer of algae on the glass. Is it possible my corals adapted to the conditions in the tank over the last 6 months and that the water change kinda of shocked them or something?
<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by cheapreefer:
<strong>Roach, I've been trying the no water change method in my 40 reef. Its been up for 9 mo's and has never had a WC.... I don't have an RO system and would rather have aged saltwater in my tank than fresh tap water anyday. </strong><hr></blockquote>
Do you use the tap water for evaporation top-off? If so all the garbage that's in your tap water is getting more concentrated in your tank each time you top-off the tank. In this case it would actually be good to do w/c's, just to dilute any of the nasties that are present.
Roach: How much water did you take out??? Sounds like you did a large change w/ water that was at a different salinity, etc. How's everythign look today?
<strong>Roach, I've been trying the no water change method in my 40 reef. Its been up for 9 mo's and has never had a WC.... I don't have an RO system and would rather have aged saltwater in my tank than fresh tap water anyday. </strong><hr></blockquote>
Do you use the tap water for evaporation top-off? If so all the garbage that's in your tap water is getting more concentrated in your tank each time you top-off the tank. In this case it would actually be good to do w/c's, just to dilute any of the nasties that are present.
Roach: How much water did you take out??? Sounds like you did a large change w/ water that was at a different salinity, etc. How's everythign look today?
I have been keeping reef tanks of and on for almost 15 yrs. IMO not doing wc will eventually lead to problems.When I first started I did not do wc chages either and learned the hard way that they can only help you.Now I do wc on a regular basis,and investing in a good ro/di unit is worthit, it made a world of difference IMO.It seems like a chore at first but after awhile it becomes habit.
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