Water Change with 0 Trates

I got my tank up and running in October and was doing regular ~10% water changes in my 75gDT+29gsump.

Trates were going between 0 and 10 in between changes until my LFS finally got some cheato in. i added it about 3 weeks ago and it has gone from baseball size to football size+ in that short period of time.

Also my trates went to 0 within a couple of days of adding the cheato and i have not done a water change since.

Is the thinking that they should still be done to replace trace elements and i should stay on my same schedule and amount? Should i drop it down to a 5% every two weeks?

thought and feedback are appreciated!!!

 

Hi gamertag

there are varying schools of thought on this subject
I do believe that continuing to do water changes is beneficial to the system for the reason you state above, with trace elements , there is no efficient way of testing these, and whilst we cannot know which are used and in what amount or ratio, I prefer to continually refresh my tank on a weekly basis with a token amount of new saltwater () changing 5% weekly, with zero trates and PO4 according to test kits used

if your doing or have been doing 10% weekly, changing to 10% every other week could be a good 1st step, and see how your tank, livestock, parameters seem after doing that for a few weeks

if all seems well, you could look at further reduction whilst still monitoring the condition of your inhabitants, they should indicate if your regime is adequate or not
you can always increase amount/regularity, if corals start showing signs of discontent

Steve

 

great reply thank you!! You know you've gotta trust someone who uses "whilst". I will go ahead with another 10% as it's been nearly 3 weeks at this point. Inhabitants (corals specifically) have skyrocketed in growth in the past 2 weeks... good sign i guess. I hope the WC doesn't slow their growth.

 

I do agree with that part. Don't abruptly stop doing them, but slowly lengthen the interval so you can find a rhythm that works for you.

I do not agree that WC are needed weekly for trace elements. I find it exceedingly hard to believe trace elements are used up very quickly. There is no data I have been able to find indicating otherwise.

If you're not importing elements or exporting nutrients, WC serves no purpose.

I have been doing about 3-5 WC a year for the past few years. I dose the big 3 (have an autodoser) and my nitrates/phosphates stay at or near 0. No algae problems.

Trace elements will eventually deplete, but no ideas on how fast. Obviously coral load will play a part in that. It's why I do any WC at all really.

If you're going to be limiting WC, other considerations are to not over feed, not over stock, and have a large CuC to help deal with waste.

I have never had a sump or fuge. Just an HOB skimmer and a large CuC.

Another interesting point, for the first few years, I had crushed coral substrate and only recently moved to sand. So I also strongly disbelieve the myth that crushed coral substrate is a "nitrate factory".

So there's some extra work to make sure you don't put in too many nutrients and you have a crew that can keep things from piling up, but it's well worth it IME.