Doesnt Believe in Water Changes PHOTOS!!

Annick, Glad you posted on this thread. Glad I caught it in my Facebook. I kept a VERY successful 75 gallon reef tank that for the last 4 years, NEVER had a water change that I can remember. I didnt Dose, I didnt test and I didnt change the water. for the last 2 years, it went without a skimmer cause I was too lazy to clean it. I am a FIRM believer that it can be done and still do my best to practice this today. for the last 3 years of my tank, I had a purple tang, Powder brown Tang, Tomini tang, Mated pair of GSM clowns and a royal gramma. I had 440 watt VHO and that was it. I didnt run traditiional carbon (ran Purigen). I did have a home made Denitrator coil. I did Occasionally toss a Sealab #28 cube in there...

this tank was broken down and sold in 2010 when we moved. I SO MISS THIS TANK. it was 10 years old. Here are a few photos of mine. My fish were fat, healthy and were in Perfect health when I sold them. My SPS were Colorful, Super fast growing and Healthy. I also Kept a football sized Frogspawn, Hammer, Massive Mumps Leather and many other corals.

My answer: YES IT CAN BE DONE, but you must do it right and it must be an old established tank that was set out that way. I am working on these methods today. while I am having some issues currently, i am starting to feel they are due to the new ways of doing things.

 

That's not necessarily true. Algae does take up compounds, GAC certainly takes out hydrophilic contaminants. Some just get sequestered in rock or other means. If you are putting in clean RO/DI water you should not be getting strange contaminates... skimming, GAC, and biological processes take up the only real thing you do put in... food.

I also want to say I'm not a proponent of no water changes ever... but they are much much less needed than some think... IF you have a good filtration system running... lots of LR, excellent water movement, good skimmer, algae scrubbing, DSBs, carbon dosing....

The big thing is that we cjust cange water cause we think it's a good thing to do... but those hydrophilic contaminants you speak of... you don't test for them, you have no idea what their concentrations are, you have no idea what the proper dilution rate is, and you have no idea what you are left with. So how are we to come up with a proper change rate for that?

 

So where did your calcium and alk come from after it was all taken up?

 

Powerman, I never tested it. Could not tell you what the levels were. that said, when I did empty the tank out, there was significantly less sand than when I started.

 

That I could believe. Sand will get go buy buy. but if you make a lot of stony skeletons, it has to come from somewhere. If ca and alk are in flux, then it has to be disolved for the animal to take it up... so you trade sand or rock for skeleton.

I think some heads would blow up if you tried to say that dosing is unneeded at all.

 

Basically all brown...just look at it when it comes into captivity.

 

This thread will be quite heated. BUT

***DISCLAIMER***

This method is not for everyone nor am I to push it on anyone. it worked for me with my tank. it was a VERY stable tank. it didnt look that good 6 months out of the store. only on the last 4 years did it look like that.

 

I agree with you. Water changes probably cant be avoided for 5 years straight. But they are NOT needed like alot of people will stress to you. If you have macro and other things to consume nitrate build up, and you dose supplements to replace what corals are using, then there's no need to do weekly water changes. I would bet money that 99% of the people doing water changes NEVER match the pH, salinity, and temp of the new saltwater perfectly to the water in their tank. So all you are doing is throwing things out of balance. My tank is 2 months old, NEVER seen a water change, and I'm getting coraline growth already on ALL my DIY rock. Why would I change the water?

This guys tank may have a few things to nit-pick about his coral, but why is everyone assuming its directly related to not changing the water? It could be poor filtration, poor flow, poor lighting. If you have poor filtration and never replace the filter media, then you are going to have poor water quality.

 

Algae will not take up all compounds. It will take up some, to varying degrees.

Only if they have hydrophobic components to them.

In some cases, in which, over time dissolution occurs and the rock or sand acts as a sink. I guess you can change out the rock and sand though...

Putting your hands in the tank, dust in the air. Over a short time, this is likely inconsequential, but over the course of months or years, can add up.

Mostly agree, but think the helpfulness should not be understated. For things we do not "test for" then, "you have no idea what their concentrations are" (quoting powerman see below ;D ). Waterchanges bring them back towards the mean of fresh saltwater.

See above quotations. For things you don't know and can't test for, averaging them back to the mean value of the salt has a higher probability of providing a reasonable value. This is because a quality salt should be reasonably consistent and have values, that have been tested and are not generally detrimental to livestock.

 

I've seen photos of green,pinketc sps,lps, and softs, so not true.