Dosing = less water changes?

[Travis]

I went 3 weeks without a water change and my nitrates and phosphates where 0 but I know that the minerals needed to grow coral had been depleted. My tank is nearly a year and a half years old. Well established rock sand and refugium.

 

If the only reason I'm doing a water change is to replace elements, minerals, and vitamins, why not just dose them?

 

I'm going to try a regimen of the following.

 

Day 1 - Trace Elements (Seachem Reef Trace)

Day 2 - Amino Acids (Seachem Reef Plus)

Day 3 - Carbonate (Seachem Reef Builder)

Day 4 - Calcium (Seachem Reef Complete)

And repeat.

 

I'll dose the recommended dose sizes for a few weeks and then test and make adjustments accordingly (calcium and alkalinity).

 

With dosing such small amounts at a time it will be years before I run out of additives making this cheaper than salt mix in the long run. And of corse less water changes will need to be done. So my hypothesis is...not that cost is any kind of driving factor.

 

I'll monitore nitrates and phosphates to determine when/if a waterchange is required.

 

Open to advice.

[Benny314]

There are several water changeless regimes out there (google triton method for example).

 

Water changes help replenish trace elements and calcium, magnesium etc. But are mainly for nutrient export. If you have an efficient way of removing nitrate and phosphate build up (turf algae scrubber, mangroves etc) then the need for nutrient export is reduced. In larger and coral heavy systems with high demand on calcium etc, water changes alone are not effective ways of maintaining your trace elements so dosing is needed anyway.

 

So in answer, yes, you can reduce or even stop using water changes if you dose all the required elements for your tank. However this requires careful monitoring of your levels and regular testing.

 

It's been 2 weeks since my last water change in my 330 litre system and that was only 5% and only because I had some water made up for a quarantine I didn't end up needing, I have 5 mangroves that are rooting well and a nice clump of macro algae, not sure what it is off the top of my head, its a rooting type. Currently only have a light fish stocking due to a fishbola outbreak at the start of the year so my nitrate and phosphate are low and being maintained low by the algae and mangroves currently.

I'm just starting to look at a dosing regime to maintain my calcium and magnesium which are the 2 being used the most, I also have amino acids I add occasionally.

So far corals are showing great growth under my new lighting (just got the main system up and running fully, everything was living in the sump under a knock off par 38) and I am now seeing increased use of calcium.

[Travis]

There are several water changeless regimes out there (google triton method for example).

 

Water changes help replenish trace elements and calcium, magnesium etc. But are mainly for nutrient export. If you have an efficient way of removing nitrate and phosphate build up (turf algae scrubber, mangroves etc) then the need for nutrient export is reduced. In larger and coral heavy systems with high demand on calcium etc, water changes alone are not effective ways of maintaining your trace elements so dosing is needed anyway.

 

So in answer, yes, you can reduce or even stop using water changes if you dose all the required elements for your tank. However this requires careful monitoring of your levels and regular testing.

 

It's been 2 weeks since my last water change in my 330 litre system and that was only 5% and only because I had some water made up for a quarantine I didn't end up needing, I have 5 mangroves that are rooting well and a nice clump of macro algae, not sure what it is off the top of my head, its a rooting type. Currently only have a light fish stocking due to a fishbola outbreak at the start of the year so my nitrate and phosphate are low and being maintained low by the algae and mangroves currently.

I'm just starting to look at a dosing regime to maintain my calcium and magnesium which are the 2 being used the most, I also have amino acids I add occasionally.

So far corals are showing great growth under my new lighting (just got the main system up and running fully, everything was living in the sump under a knock off par 38) and I am now seeing increased use of calcium.

Cool deal, I'm not the only one who might be looked at as crazy! Ha!

[Benny314]

No plenty of people run very successful systems with out water changes, some don't even make much effort dosing.

It's basically about being aware of what your system needs and keeping it all in balance.

The hole point is we're trying to replicate the ocean, so clean water (by regularly replacing and refreshing it or using efficient natural and mechanical/chemical nutrient export) and stable trace chemical elements.

Once you have an understanding of the chemicals and elements in natural sea water and what they are used for and how best to replicate and maintain those levels, your able to control the environment your tank has and in theory keep and maintain all manner of creatures.

Sounds easy doesn't it, but you have to be very aware of what your tanks environment is doing and be able to quickly recognise and adjust things in order to maintain levels if they start going out of whack.

Start slow and keep researching, you'll find what works for you and as your knowledge and under standing grows you'll be able to streamline processes and be able to predict changes before they happen.

[seabass]

I'll dose the recommended dose sizes for a few weeks and then test and make adjustments accordingly (calcium and alkalinity).

Reverse that. Test to determine consumption rates, then develop a dosing regimen to replenish consumed elements. If dosing calcium and alkalinity, you'll also want to add magnesium tests.

 

You mention dosing trace elements, but not testing for them. This will work for a period of time until they build up to problematic levels. Be very cautious dosing anything that you aren't testing for. Amino acids aren't usually necessary unless you are organic carbon dosing for an ULN tank. General feeding will usually add enough trace elements and amino acids.

 

As mentioned, water changes don't just add elements back in, they export them and help to prevent buildup of elements that we don't test for. While dosing can lead to less water changes, it normally can't replace water changes. One of the nice things about nano tanks is that large percentage water changes are so much cheaper, easier, and more practical than on large systems. Figure out the time and costs of additional test kits when trying to determine how much less water you wish to change.