theories of water changes.

[Yarr]

In reality it isny a lot of effort to do a water change.. everyone just hates doing it..if i on the other hand did less frequent water changes id have ot find other reasons to mess with my tank every week

[Witfull]

you need a reason?...i got one,,,because its there~

[mps9506]

Well. the real reason for doing water changes is either to dilute something that is already in your tank (eg. ammonia, nitrates, etc.), or add something to your tank that is constantly going down (eg. Ca. Alk, trace elements).
Technically if you didn't have to dilute anything and you were able to constantly maintain other parameters in your tank, then no water changes are not necessary.
Since most of do not test for everything on a regular basis it would be safe to say frequent water changes would be a safe bet in keeping corals. It is quite easy to dial in your Ca reactor and maintain you alk and Ca and Mg. But do you feel like testing for all the other stuff?

[ldrhawke]

Corals are often loaded with highly toxic chemicals that have been evolved over billions of years that you can't even test for and most have not even been catagoried by science. As corals fight for territory and/or survial they release them into the water.

I think I'll continue with my water changes to just be safe

[cheeks69]

IMO/E regular water changes are fundamental to maintaining a healthy thriving tank. I've got plenty of nutrient export/recyling with my DSB, Xenia, LR and skimmer but dosing trace elements is very difficult to do especially since there are no accurate test kits for it, so W/C's are a must for me.

[Woodstock]

Originally Posted by ldrhawke

Corals are often loaded with highly toxic chemicals that have been evolved over billions of years that you can't even test for and most have not even been catagoried by science. As corals fight for territory they release them into the water.

I think I'll continue with my water changes

[bourganaes]

There is alot of good info here- in my expierience A WELL SEASONED TANK doesn't need as frequent water changes as a newby as your bacteria cultures should be able to handle your waste load in a balanced system(depending of course on your setup)- BUT as for me I consider it a labour of love and not a chore to take care of my "babies". It seems to me that (especially if you are new to reefing) you should do the frequent changes and gradually over time stretch them out observing your tank and it's inhabatants for signs of stress.

[Yarr]

I read about a fella in Germany that does 10% water changes... 1 per year... Now, he had a very large system.. soemthing like 12,000 L and all the gucci equipment that goes with it.

As has been stated many times before this post it is completely up to the individual requirements of the tank aswell as the habbits of the tank owner.

[Witfull]

with the talk of not doing waterchanges....can this be a good thing? possibly. those with DSB's, alot of things get locked into sand. trace elements for example, many of these are heavy metals. copper, magnesium, nickel, iron etc...now sand adsorbs them, and are bound in the matrix of bacteria. as the depth of the sand increases, the pH of this water also decreases, this disolves the sand and releases whatever is bound within/around it.

could it be said that waterchanges, continuously adding trace elements and a DSB actually can cause and overload ove these?

[Woodstock]

Maybe, maybe not. Before answering that question, we must first define the variables of the salt used, the filtration and what they actually do. Are you using a salt that is high in heavy metals, has an overabundance of major/minor trace elements? Do you have a tank full of corals that are absorbing most of these? Do you use a refugium and regularly trim/remove macro algae? Are you using a skimmer? Replacing carbon often? Using a media that adsorbs metals (such as a polyfilter)? Do the above really remove unwanted elements and to what degree?

IMO, If the amount of importation of elements is greater than the exportation, then, yes, an overload will eventually occur.

[Witfull]

ahh,,but even minor trace elements can build up over time....can you spell OTS?

[cheeks69]

I don't believe in OTS, IMHO I believe it's a neglected tank. As the tank becomes well established over the years you tend to become laxed in your husbandry skills in time that will cause problems.

I went thru a period of about 5 months with only one water change and even though everything looked good, I decided I wasn't going to chance it because it was becoming difficult to measure accurately the trace elements, so I decided to start doing them again maybe on a biweekly schedule.

[Witfull]

i believe there is OTS, but its not any one factor that causes it. it is true that waterchanges are one of the best things we can do for our tanks, but water is only one element of the whole.

[meandean45]

Great article on water changes. A gallon a day delivering the same results as 30 gallons once a month seems reasonable,and the smooth and steady change seems like it would be benificial for reef stability. I'll have to look into this!
Dean

[lcstorc]

That would depend on what you are trying to accomplish.
If you are exporting "bad" stuff. trates etc, then larger change of volume makes a big difference.
If you are trying to add trace elements or whatever, then I would think it would not matter.
Can't find the link right now but saw somewhere (on RS) where they did the math for the reduction of trates bases on many small wc vs fewer large wc. I'll keep looking and post it if I can find it.
Peace
Lynn