theories of water changes.

[MitchellDD]

Another thing to consider. . . Reef Tanks are turbulent, yet consistant. There are tons of changes always taking place, yet there are fundamental cycles that (should) Happen normally. I have found water changes to be a cycle that should happen normally. I manage servicing tanks at my lfs, and (like mentioned earlier here) every system, whether 2 gallons or 20,000, is different in many ways. It is an ecosystem that you control, no matter if you are low or high tech. . . Every different system must achieve some sort of balance, even though you cant control nature, you can do your best to mimic the natural environment of these creatures.

Example 1
10 gallon reef. Low stock. WELL LIT. fed appropriately. Normal water changes due to all factors. Happy. Healthy. (water changes every 9 weeks)

Example 2.
210 reef. Heavy stock. EXTREMELY WELL LIT. Fed Well. Normal water changes due to all factors. Happy. Healthy. (weekly water changes)

Example 3.(ffrankie)
siphon detritus into sump without changing water(getting ready to stock, but we'll see how often the actual changes go due to his stocking levels and soforth) He siphons out the bad stuff Through a micron filter into the sump.
Can we say clean tank? Yes. It is purdy. Anyways, this is a great method to remove junk, while not giving up perfect water.
His top offs are done via an autofill floatvalve attatched directly to an R/O unit.

Its getting late, im getting sleepy.
Will post soon

[Frankie]

Thanks for telling everyone my secrets Mitch! lol I do monthy water changes also to replenish the tank with trace elements. The sock thing is for a weekly cleaning of debris gathering up on the bottom of my "purdy" BB set up. I also syphon the rocks off instead of just blowing it into the water colum which imo has no value. Its all still going to end up in the filter pads and not solve anything. My way, by syphoning it into a sock in the sump, i can actually remove it from the tank with out clouding up my water a turkey bastor.