Water change vs supplement

With cost and effort in mine, what are your opinions on water change compare with adding cal/alk supplement?

This is assuming there are no ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. Water change for only to keep parameters up for coral growth.

 

Depends on the size of the tank, and what corals are in there.

 

There are a lot more elements that salt replaces outside of ca and alk. I do not believe we need to do as many water changes as we once thought but I still believe we need to do them.

 

With larger tanks that are heavily stocked with stoney corals, it's definitely easier and more cost effective to invest in good filtration and dosing rather than doing large, frequent water changes.

 

Regular water changes are about the best thing you can do. There is a fine line around 15% weekly changes that make a whole lot of difference in a tank. At this rate you can change out almost 90% of any undesirable water in just over 2 months.

 

+1 on doing regular water changes. If you keep up with water changes with a good quality salt like Tropic Marin, generally your calcium and trace elements should be replenished as long as you don't keep too many corals that require and utilize higher concentrations of trace elements.

Once you stock your tank with more corals you will want to keep on top of your water chemistry and test it regularly to see if you have to dose to replenish Calcium and trace elements. Don't forget to test for everything that you dose in your tank.

 

Also agree on the water changes...I do about 10% (30 gallons for my tank) every 2-3 weeks and my tank seems happy for it. If you get into a routine and have a system in place, it is not too bad to keep up with.

 

Main thing you get from the water change that you do not get from the dosing is nutrient export...I clean my sand when I do my water changes...etc.

 

Some things are cumulative and not removed by filtration so get more and more concentrated with time. Water changes keep the levels in check as well as replinishing the things consumed by the tank inhabitants.

 

The issue for me isn't that I will do one or the other.

I have a 90 gal tank that I plan on doing both.

I was thinking 10% water change a month with regular weekly dosing.

Is that too long between water changes?