The water change myth

The article left out alot of factors on nitrate control. Algae and corals all consume some amount of nitrate. Our nitrates dropped by 5 ppm just because of an algae bloom, and that was with the fish still producing waste.

And yes, I did read the article. Personally I thought it was too vague.

EDIT: I guess for a total new guy, the article would help explain a concept of nitrate control. But to anyone else, it didn't help much.

 

ok.it just seemed like it was encouraging us not to change the water.maybe i took it wrong.

 

+1 on that

I know a lot of people who dont change water, myself included. Emergency's only. So not everything you said is true at all. Saying corals will die if you don't change water is completely false. Saying you can never get your params right while dosing is false. Once again, myself and others have accomplished this. My tank is 11 months old so in my eyes it's still a baby but I haven't had to watch it all die after 10 wks of no changes. I have changed maybe 15 gallons out, and that was during the first couple months, none since.

I am not trying to start the "water change vs. no water change" argument, we all know that one never ends;D! But I guess my point is that I don't want people to be misinformed. Sorry that you couldn't keep your params. in line with no water changes, but some of us can. Never say never. Different strokes for diff. folks.

 

a water change schedule that works for a while, is no reason to completely blow off checking your tanks parameter. you can make even the most brillant and full proof concepts not work if you try hard enough.

from the article:

your corals can live quite along time before they would die from lack of trace element. so if don't dose everything that gets depleted eventually the corals will die or atleast stop growing. this is like how you put fertilizer on plants after the soil becomes depleted.

and yes ive gone a whole year before with out water changes at the end of the year i noticed there growth rate was cut in half, i did no dosing except for some strontium and my calc reactor. so i did a couple water changes and sure enough the corals grew at normal speed. anyway unless you replace your elements by dosing or water changes your corals will die or stop growing.

even the article recongizes the need for water changes, but i disagree with the main point in that WCs are a effective way for controlling nitrates as long as you actually understand how %'s work, there not the most effective but they do work

 

You must have misunderstood because I have never said that there is a reason to blow off testing params. Testing is essential IMO.

 

that part was a general response to the article it wasn't suppose to be under your quote;D

 

It's all good8)!

Well put. Glad to see you showed up to prove I'm not the only one!

 

The point the article made was that water changes are not a solution to nitrate problems, they will help to delay the build up but not solve the problem. So you do agree with the article?
My problem with the article that was mentioned was that it ignored extraneous variables, such as creatures that consume nitrates. I do believe however that it serves its purpose of informing people who don't realize it that water changes, while having their benefits, are not a solution to parameter problems.

 

This thread is starting to repeat like a broken record I guess we know what the right info is from the 3reefers compared to the article now.