water changes

I do tend to be lazy, but if my water parms. are perfect, and ive double checked with my lfs, do I really need to change it? I used to change weekly but with this larger tank, the ro water really adds up $$. I bought a used r.o. unit but have to wait for the filters and hubby to install it.:-/

 

What is in your tank, and what are you testing for? The reason I ask is that if you have any stony corals or clams, you may be using up your calcium/magnesium/other trace elements that you are not measuring for, which get replenished by water changes. Also, if you have zoas or other toxin-producing corals, these may be building up in your water without you knowing, so a water change would dilute them.

If all you have is fish and your parameters check out, no need to rush to change the water.

 

I would say yes for the fact that a water change adds vital trace elements such as iodine, strontium, boron, potassium and molybdenum. These elements are required in trace amount to ensure proper growth, color and overall health of inverts, corals and fish. Now, some people do not do water changes, but they do dose trace elements to replenish those lost.

 

Eh, since about mid March, I have not done one water change. My nutrients get replenished with top-offs. The tank is coming along fantastically.

Some people swear by them, some people swear against them, some people do it just to do it.

 

+1....unless you have test kits like crazy for trace elements that the salt replenishes as well as buffers and liquid additives that are in the salt mix, YES you should continue doing water changes. If your nitrates stay low and your calcium stays up, you can prolong the intervals of water changes. But it is still very beneficial to do weekly/biweekly changes because it will keep your trace elements consistent. Instead of dropping after awhile then spiking when you perform a water change.

 

Maybe I'm just one of those people that does it just to do it.....

Whats in RODI water that replenishes trace elements like iodine, mag, cal, stront?

I thought RODI has a TDS of <5. Which means there is almost nothing in the water except plain old H20. I too push off my water changes to once a month, but I buffer strontium, iodine, mag, and cal. Could my system make it without any water changes/buffers and just top-offs? Yes it probably could but I feel like I'm robbing my corals a little.

 

I tried the "no water change" thing, and got about 4 months out of it. Now I have GHA and my parameters are way off, possibly a result of this prior experiment several months ago. So, I'm a fan of water changes!

 

I was always a 10% water change per week guy

I did this simply because when I 1st started thats what I was advised to do
since learning more, researching more, I have been made aware of the school of thought that goes

as long as you are replenishing what the corals etc are utilising, then there is no need to do water changes to replenish the things that are lost - and that artificial sea water contains much higher levels of trace elements than are found in nature anyway
and as long as you have good water quality parameters , there is no need to change water to reduce nutrients ( the other reason water changes are done)

Im still doing 10% weekly , not because I think its the right way
just simply that its still the right way for me.

Steve

 

I want to thank all of you. that is alot to think about. I do test for calcium, but i've never really thought about trace elements. I dont belive in useing artifical anything unless their is no other choice. I have acans, leathers, suncoral, xeina, mushrooms, and zoas. I think I'll opt for bi monthly changes, as I top off on a regular basis with well water that my lfs uses. The rest of the time i'm forced to buy ro (lfs to far away). So my thanks to all of you agin.

 

I tried to go without water changes and made it maybe 6-8 weeks. Nitrates were really low -0 the whole time. All the normal params were good. I use epsom salt or magnesium chloride for mag, calcium chloride for calcium and kent marine dkH buffer for alk. I haven't seen a chloride or sulfate test kit and I think they got way out of wack. Hard to tell since I can't test for it but my corals went down hill and a couple SPS even died. Most things looked normal. Personally I think it's just too hard to try and supplement and test for all the essential trace elements. There's almost 60 elements found in natural sea salt including gold, copper, and mercury.