water changes, or the lack thereof

reefkprz

reefkprz

Active Member
I have noticed a frightening trend, frightening to me anyway, lack of water changes. people trending on running overly long times without doing a simple water change, I am curious as to why? laziness? confidence in the thought they arent needed? lets hear your reasons if you go extended periods without water changes.
I have always been a proponent of water changes, frequent and ample. here is my logic,
1. we cant test for everything in our salt mixes, how do we know whats depleted. the only way to replenish it back to near original levels is through waterchanges. correct me if I am wrong
2. compound build up. such as terpenoids and shed nematocyst, that arent removed in another fashion. sure you can remove terpenoids with carbon IF you use it. nematocysts can be skimmed, I think, but I know they are removed through waterchanges.
3. mulm build up spot siphoning mulm that would normally be washed out to sea to sink as marine snow (the true marine snow not the junk in the bottles) this stuff builds up in the crevices in the rocks blowing them out can help remove all the stuff that leads to OLD tank syndrome. these are normally removed from the reef equation either through wild life or removal from the location through wave action and current so they dont actually stay and build up in the reef like they do in our tank.
4. major element replacement. IN my experience salt mix is still one of the cheapest ways to maintain calcium magnesium and alkalinity in most cases. sure there are exceptions like in an SPS dominted tank with extremely high consumption rates. this is where other equipment comes into play like calcium reactors.
5 water changes are natural, the reef type areas get the equivelant of 2 50% or more water changes every day, keeping the reefs fresh and thriving.
6. over the many years in this hobby I have noticed the growth rates of my corals are never as good as when I feed a lot and do a lot of water changes.
Again I would love to hear the logic behind going long times without water changes. Any actual research to back it up would be greatly appreciated as well. But simply putting your opinions and experiences with this would be great.
thanks for your time
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member
Okay....I'm super quilty of not doing regular water changes.
When I first got into the hobby, my SW guru was a fellow with his own store. He had a 225g tank that (At that time) had gone without a WC in 26 years. So from the beginning I knew a tank could survive without a constant regimen.
I did my water changes, I was not as brave as my guru who knew what he was doing. Then my world fell apart. My Husband who had been sober 18 years relapsed and I ended up going home to my mother to teach him a lesson.
The tank went without water changes. Dan managed to feed the fish. The corals were fine when I returned to the family home a month later. My father died, I left to stay with my mother and get her set up and moved in with us. That had been long planned because my father was sick a long time and we knew the end was near.
Again the fish tak continued to be on the back bunner. The corals were fine, the fish were happy and when I did a water test after 3 months...it was good too.

I kind of felt like the mom who discovered the world didn't fall off it's axis if the little one went to bed without his bath and had dirty feet...LOL However, it began a trend of not stressing about the fish tank. Oh and I had two canister filters that also went without a change for those months.
I did still do water changes and I did swap out the canister media, but not so regularly. Fast forward a few years, I started getting nitrate reagings like crazy high on the 80+ range, they were always in the 10 to 20 range and safe for all but SPS coral. Yet the corals looked fine, the cleaner shrimp seemed perfectly happy, and of course the fish could care less.
(skip the very long story) I ended up thanks to Acrylic having a new sump system...but the nitrates remained super high in the 80+ range...I attached an Aquaripure filter, I did daily water changes...I was told it was my API test kit, so I purchased a second new kit, and assumed and insisted to my SW cyber friends that the tests were accurate.
Becase of BTLDreef insisting the API tests could not be trusted, I purchased a SeaChem test kit, My nitrates were only a 1, then it went to 0 and stayed there. I did not keep SPS coral, originally that was the goal, but I discovered seahorses before I purchased any. LPS and softies were all I ever kept.
Now my health if failing, and I keep seahorses and lots of macros. I changed out and no longer had coral, so I could let the macros fill the tank instead. I have not been able to do a water change on the Kuda horse tank in almost 5 months. I have been concentrating on my Potbelly tank. I did my tests and all is well in pony land. The PH remains at 8.0 and I kind of would like it higher but...the horses don't seem to care.
I was in the hospital two weeks and the potbelly tank has some nasty algae in it. It still has as far as water tests go, pristine water, thanks to the maros. I have been preparing water for water changes on the pots tank, but the kuda tank still has not been changed. The plan was to do a WC on the pots tank, and then the Kuda, but fate had another plan. After being in the hospital, I had to return my attention to the pots tank and the Kuda tank is still on the back burner....the macros really need to be harvested in both tanks.
My last test results on both tanks
PH - 8.0
PO4 - 0
NO3 - 0
Ammonia - 0
Nitrites - 0
I am out of the alkalinity test and need another, nor have I done a calcium test.
Oh and at the moment the skimmer is down on both tanks, the Kuda has had no skimmer for 2 months and the Pots tank has had no skimmer for 3 weeks now. I do have an Aquaripure filter on both tanks and tons of macros covering everything. Both tanks have sumps and a small filter in them to keep sediment out since I can't get down to clean it. I also added a HOB whisper filter on the Pots tank besides the sump.
 
novahobbies

novahobbies

Well-Known Member
I've been slightly bad on my horse tank as well. It's been 2 months since my last water change, and I have nobody to blame but myself....I've put it off due to a combination of house projects, new tank furniture builds, company on the weekends, etc. It feels like every evening has been taken up with SOMEthing....but again, these are just excuses and I know it.
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
At first I was really good....I did waterchanges every 2 weeks......LATELY tho....I have gotten a little lazier......only excuse....
The longest I went is probably 6 weeks....at most......trying to get a little more regular.....just having a hard time wanting too :(
 
novahobbies

novahobbies

Well-Known Member
Maybe it's a summertime thing. I've noticed this type of thread pops up....and the confessions along with it....every year or so around this time.
 
sweatervest13

sweatervest13

Active Member
I am with Reefkprz. I do a WC every week (give or take a day or two). I don't do a big one, maybe 12-15 gallons (on a 125g). But I kinda like the routine. I know it is not exact, but four 15 gallon WC's for a month is 60 gallons. That is 50% of water changed each month. I do not dose (much, I am playing with some Salinity Calc supplement) hardly at all, so I think that a good WC routine will replace the depleted elements.
Now, is each WC I do done perfectly... Prob not. Its like mowing the lawn for me. When doing the lawn I usually like to get the string trimmer out and weed whack, then mow the lawn rotating the direction of the cut each week... Then I get the blower out and blow the driveway and sidewalk, and blow the lawn where some grass clippings clump up (I call this fluffing the lawn
). When I am in a hurry I sometimes skip weed whacking, or skip blowing..
For WC's I sometimes just suck out water and put back water. I know that I should blow off the rocks and try to siphon out as much junk as I can get in the DT and the sump. I would say that I do one really good water change then the next is just a quicky. LOL.
 
lion_crazz

lion_crazz

Active Member
I don't know, I am with reefkprz on this one. I do a 10% water change on all of my tanks once a week and I am very pleased with the health and growth of my livestock.
 
novahobbies

novahobbies

Well-Known Member
.....And I should. Esp. on the horse tank. It never looked better than when I had my hand in it every week, doing 5g water changes every Saturday like clockwork. This schedule started faltering a few weeks before the Hawaii trip, and since then I've completely "fallen off the wagon." Since I got back I've been racing full gear towards things like the guest room, the patio, the big tank's stand, etc....and the horse tank has been on back burner in maintenance mode. Which is, of course, entirely my fault.
I have 10g of saltwater sitting at the house right now. I've been shamed.
Water change will be either tonight or tomorrow morning...but I made a promise to myself that I'll take care of the WC before I start playing with the big tank again this weekend.
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by novahobbies http:///t/392423/water-changes-or-the-lack-thereof#post_3484415
I've been slightly bad on my horse tank as well. It's been 2 months since my last water change, and I have nobody to blame but myself....I've put it off due to a combination of house projects, new tank furniture builds, company on the weekends, etc. It feels like every evening has been taken up with SOMEthing....but again, these are just excuses and I know it.
I know you also have corals in your horse tank, I would like to know what your parameters are. Even though I haven't done water changes, because I have macros my test results show everything is in good shape. So I'm a little curious how a reef holds up, horses being so messy and all.
 
novahobbies

novahobbies

Well-Known Member
Easy - I'll post my params tonight or tomorrow both pre and post WC on my horse thread.
Most of the corals have been perfectly fine. Zoas, ricordeas, pagoda, GSP, leather toadstool, Kenya, and photsynthetic gorgs have all been growing and thriving.
Acans, however, are not doing well. You'll remember from my thread that I've had a bacteria problem on them that I have not treated, and there is severe tissue recession on the red acan. The green acan is smaller, but the polyps that survived the disease have been extended and healthy looking. I do not have high hopes for the red acan. Ironically the red acan frag that polyped off the mother colony some months ago has been perfectly fine - it's higher up in the water column, and a decent space away from the sick colony.
 
snakeblitz33

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
I do a really good water change once or twice a year. The reasons are;
Cost
Time
Energy
Which are all in short supply.
I absolutely agree with proper water changes when they are done - using a powerhead to deep clean the rocks and siphoning out all the muck in the sump. Wax on, wax off.
If you dont do water changes often, you probably wont see as much growth as you do with frequeny proper water changes or unless you have that calcium reactor you were talking about.
Now, does a calcium reactor replace water changes? I still dont think so. Muck still has to be gotten out of thr rocks, sandbed and those knooks and crannies.
 
reefkprz

reefkprz

Active Member
the calc ractor as I mentioned is only doing part of the job repleneshing major elements. I dont believe any single piece of equipment can replace water changes, or even any combination thereof at this point.
 
snakeblitz33

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by reefkprZ http:///t/392423/water-changes-or-the-lack-thereof#post_3484702
the calc ractor as I mentioned is only doing part of the job repleneshing major elements. I dont believe any single piece of equipment can replace water changes, or even any combination thereof at this point.
Well, I've seen a lot of very beautiful tanks out there that don't have very many water changes at all... Some of them are even SPS dominated reef tanks. I'm not saying that either way is right - Frequent WC or lack thereof - but somewhere in a happy medium.
I still don't think that an algae scrubber would replace water changes either. I think one of the problems that people run into with excessive nutrients in their tank is how they do their water changes - not necessarily the frequency and percentage of total volume of them.
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by SnakeBlitz33 http:///t/392423/water-changes-or-the-lack-thereof#post_3484707
Well, I've seen a lot of very beautiful tanks out there that don't have very many water changes at all... Some of them are even SPS dominated reef tanks. I'm not saying that either way is right - Frequent WC or lack thereof - but somewhere in a happy medium.
I still don't think that an algae scrubber would replace water changes either. I think one of the problems that people run into with excessive nutrients in their tank is how they do their water changes - not necessarily the frequency and percentage of total volume of them.
LOL..the recap so far...whatever works is what is right...according to snake and I agree with you.
If your tank looks bad, the corals or fish look stressed. Then the first thing I do is a test then a water change (me). Some folks don't want to take a chance and does one on a regular bases, and keeps track of everything that even might be going on and tests even the mix (reepkprz) , others are in a routine and as long as you don't break stride they continue, and then have to get back into it if something comes up to change it (Novahobbies). Others have so many tanks that they need to do a water change..LOL, now she is just tired. (Meowzer)
Then there is sweatervest....who feels obligated and does them, but cheats in certain areas when the desire isn't there. Out of all of us, I think your method is the reponsible, reasonable method. I would think most do as you do.
 
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