Water changes to reduce and or replace

[spanko]

A lot of questions - answers on the effect of water changes to reduce nutrient - nitrate levels and to replace chemicals used in the system. I thought these two articles to be interesting as the author applied some sciencemathematics to the discussion. Thought I would share.
http://www.reefs.org/library/article/t_brightbill_wc.html/view?searchterm=Troy%20Brightbill
http://www.reefs.org/library/article/t_brightbill_wcdata.html/view?searchterm=Troy%20Brightbill

 

[slice]

Great stuff, Thanks for posting.
1.49kg demand of calcium per year for a typical 55g
kinda slaps one in the face.....

 

[mrdc]

Thanks for sharing.

 

[mrdc]

I also didn't know you could use epsom salt as a magnesium supplement. I knew epsom was magnesium which is why some folks use it for bowel conditions. Will epsom mess with the salnity any?

 

[spanko]

Quote:
Originally Posted by mrdc http:///forum/thread/383684/water-changes-to-reduce-and-or-replace#post_3357591
I also didn't know you could use epsom salt as a magnesium supplement. I knew epsom was magnesium which is why some folks use it for bowel conditions. Will epsom mess with the salnity any?
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-02/rhf/index.php

 

[desertdawg]

Great info, thanks for sharing it!

 

[beaslbob]

What water changes do is limit the changes not prevent the changes. So if you change say 10% of the water the tank changes between the water changes must be removed by that 10%. So the tank builds up to 10 times that change then goes down to 9 times and back up to 10 before the next change. 1/5 5 times to 4 back up to 5.
To my what you must do is limit or eliminate those changes to 0 or at least as low as possible. Nitrates/phosphate/carbon dioxide by various plant life like corraline and macro algaes. calcium/alk/magnesium through dosing what is used up.
Once you get there then water changes can only be detrimental.
Keeping the tank with water changes can be successful but if the tank is not balanced out they will not prevent old tank syndrom a few years down the road.
Which is why I ran my simple mixed reef for 8 years with no water changes.
my .02