10 Minutes a day to keep your water perfect

[Asureef]

It's not bad, I'm usually tinkering or looking at my tank anyways so it's not really hard to swap out a few gallons while I'm looking at it. Don't get me wrong there are some days that I miss a day or two, but it's been a pretty habitual routine.

 

I usually buy the 5 gallon buckets of RC because I have the 24, 95, and 12 gallons and didn't feel like flushing $50 down the toilet.. If it was just a $10 bag of salt I probably would have. The RC's usually test around 10, but I got a bad batch. I just used it all and have a fresh batch that I don't need to buffer. That's pretty good that your LFS charges the same price for RC and IO. Must be really expensive IO or really cheap RC..haha The cheapest I could find it is $47.99 without tax..

 

Yeah, my LFS have the 50g bags for $12 for RC and IO, 200g box for $40!! So, I'm literally stocked on both IO and RC for a good while.

[reefer916]

Yeah, my LFS have the 50g bags for $12 for RC and IO, 200g box for $40!! So, I'm literally stocked on both IO and RC for a good while.

 

That's a really good deal on RC.. I could get 200 gallon cases of RC for 49.99, but they're harder to find. I usually get the buckets, but one of the new LFS's has a sale on the cases. Anyways, good prices on the RC...

[reefer916]

Hey Reefer, does your 5-10 min daily water changes include the cleaning up time? I do 5 gallons weekly water changes and it takes me a minimum of 30 mins which includes cleaning, rinsing buckets, hoses and putting everything away.

 

I wouldn't mind doing daily or every other day water changes if I could finish everything in 5 mins. I wondering since your doing daily changes, its not necessary to rinse and you just put everything to the side for the next day?

 

Since I'm constantly using the buckets and hoses I don't really need to rinse them out. I might rinse them out every few weeks. I do rinse out the tupperware container that I use to take the water out. I just drop the stuff in the bucket and set it aside for the next day.

 

Rem: I'm actually going to start trying to give this a go starting this weekend. I saw someone's Solana on here that had a smart setup to make this easier and I'm going to attempt it myself.

 

Basically, I'm going to drop in a 2.5g AGA in my stand with a powerhead and heater that is constantly mixing. For my daily water changes, I plan to just plumb a hose from the SW res to the main tank. Flip the connection and replace water, all I have to do outside the tank is syphon off the 2 gallons or so and dump it.

 

That's the theory at least...hoping that'll keep me in the 5 - 10 min daily range.

 

That'll definitely work and sounds like it'll make it easier:)

[reefer916]

I'll be the last one to argue against water changes. However, I'll be the first to argue we should have enough of our brains around this hobby to find a consistent way to reduce their need.

 

I'm not trying to be a tree hugger or anything, but the only reason we're able to resort to constant water changes is because fresh water is cheap for us and salt mixes cheap to ship. A lot of people can't get into this hobby because they can't find enough fresh water to grow crops, yet we dump ours down down the drain because it's not good enough for our reef tanks because it's 'stale'. Yet, we don't know why it's stale. (?)

 

Aggressive water changes accomplish a lot of things. They re-balance consumed nutrients and remove waste products for one. Yet the thing that annoys me is why a tank with zero phosphate and zero nitrate suddenly becomes a bloom of hair algae or bryopsis. A part of the remedy is massive water changes, but the question is 'why', and I really wish we could spend some more effort into solving some of these problems rather than just keeping the salt makers making profit.

 

I know a lot of guys who do 10% daily changes, and would file for divorce before changing their schedule. I know a lot of reefers who are lucky to do 10% a month, and have glorious SPS tanks. As a general mean statistic, the guys doing more frequent seem less likely to have a sudden out-break of 'whatever' or sudden RTN epidemic of their previously healthy tank. So, to be safe, do a lot of water changes.

 

The thing is, I don't want to. Salt costs money, and so does RO water. I don't want to throw dice with my tank - I want to know what I have to put into it to keep it healthy. Doing massive water changes without really knowing the reasons why it helps just bothers me in a hobby that is otherwise very technically orientated.

 

Sorry for the rant....just how I feel.

 

 

It's cool and everyone is entitled to their opinion. I agree that this is a very technically oriented hobby and I use a protein skimmer, fuge, phosphate reactor, etc. on my 95 gallon because it'll take way too much salt and water to do the daily water changes.

 

Since I have 3 tanks I rarely only use the water once. After my daily water changes in my 24 gallon I use half of the water for a water change in my 12 gallon AP, which is a marine planted tank that I'm prepping for a small seahorse tank.

 

Another option for those who don't want to flush a gallon of water down the toilet is to give the water to new local reefers to add some established water to their new setups. You could store it in 5 gallon buckets and post it on the local forums for new reefers.

 

I'm really just here to help because it's helped me have very little issues with my tank.

[nano427]

First of all Reefer916 your tank looks amazing. I would like to make a few points though, first one is I think that everybody should do what works for them, and obviously this does work for you. But my other point is that mathematically 1 larger water change is more efficient at removing excess nutrients from the water than several smaller ones, so I dont think anybody should rely just on small daily wc's. I see you also do one larger wc at the end of the week so Im sure you're covered.

[reefer916]

First of all Reefer916 your tank looks amazing. I would like to make a few points though, first one is I think that everybody should do what works for them, and obviously this does work for you. But my other point is that mathematically 1 larger water change is more efficient at removing excess nutrients from the water than several smaller ones, so I dont think anybody should rely just on small daily wc's. I see you also do one larger wc at the end of the week so Im sure you're covered.

 

Thanks, I do one large 4-5 gallon water change weekly. The reason for the daily water changes is to change out a total water volume of about 50% without causing undue stress on the corals and livestock. The daily water changes is much less stressful than say one large 50% water change every week. Also, the daily water changes replenishes most of the trace elements consumed by the inhabitants throughout the week. However, I have noticed that depending on coral load it's still not enough to replace the Calcium and Magnesium, so reefers may need to dose still according to their tank consumption. There are definitely different ways to take care of reef systems. I use two different methods.. Daily and one large water change on my nano's since there aren't any protein skimmers or fancy filtration besides LR, LS, and stock filter pads. My 95 gallon gets a 30% water change every two weeks, but due to the bio-load I'm unable to maintain water quality well enough to see major growth in my SPS corals. When I did daily water changes in my 95 gallon after a move last August for the 95 gallon for a soft cycle my tank never looked better, but time and cost of the salt made it prohibitive to continue the process.

 

The daily water changes do work very well. For example, I usually keep my tank at 78-80 degrees and I had a heater malfunction where it stayed on for an entire day. From the time I left to work and got home it got up to 89 degrees. I unplugged the heater and let the tank cool naturally over about 8 hours. I was very fortunate to have not lost any corals during the ordeal. I also got a bad batch of Reef Crystals and never tested my mixed water until now, but the Alk was at 7 and I keep my tank at 10. I noticed that my alk was swinging from 10 down to 8 and got as low as 7.5. I still didn't lose any corals, which alk swings usually cause undue stress on SPS. I'm not sure what the scientific reasons behind the large swings and no loss of corals, but I believe that the daily water changes and maybe the Coral Aminos help in building the immune systems of the corals. All I know is that it works for me and I trust the process. I've spent quite a bit of money and a lot of time on my little 24 gallon and the daily water changes are my insurance policy:) Thanks for the compliments and I"m looking forward to posting some good results..

[nemmy]

Thanks, I do one large 4-5 gallon water change weekly. The reason for the daily water changes is to change out a total water volume of about 50% without causing undue stress on the corals and livestock. The daily water changes is much less stressful than say one large 50% water change every week.

 

Just for the sake of having a good example, lets say your tank has 100 nitrates. You do %5 reduction every day for 5 days.

Day1: 95 ppm

Day2: 90.25 ppm

Day3: 85.73 ppm

Day4: 81.44 ppm

Day5: 77.36 ppm

 

So 5 days of 5% water changes dont really equal even a 25% water change.

5x5 reduced 23, and a 25% would reduce 25. The farther you go with this the worse of a change it makes.

 

While what your doing does help keep your tank from gaining too many nutrients in the water, its not really a good way to remove them if they are already accumulated.

 

So people who are reading this with high levels of nitrate, do BIG water changes to get your tank down where you want it, and then do this to help you maintain those levels.

 

Keep up the hard work reefer, i stick with my 10%'s and that even annoys me

[nano427]

here we go... everything you ever wanted to know about water changes

 

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-10/rhf/index.php

[reefer916]

here we go... everything you ever wanted to know about water changes

 

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-10/rhf/index.php

 

That's a really nice article..

[reefer916]

Just for the sake of having a good example, lets say your tank has 100 nitrates. You do %5 reduction every day for 5 days.

Day1: 95 ppm

Day2: 90.25 ppm

Day3: 85.73 ppm

Day4: 81.44 ppm

Day5: 77.36 ppm

 

So 5 days of 5% water changes dont really equal even a 25% water change.

5x5 reduced 23, and a 25% would reduce 25. The farther you go with this the worse of a change it makes.

 

While what your doing does help keep your tank from gaining too many nutrients in the water, its not really a good way to remove them if they are already accumulated.

 

So people who are reading this with high levels of nitrate, do BIG water changes to get your tank down where you want it, and then do this to help you maintain those levels.

 

Keep up the hard work reefer, i stick with my 10%'s and that even annoys me

 

Thanks Nemmy for pointing that out. If you have really high nitrate, which I hope are considerably less than 100ppm. I understand why you used 100 because it keeps the math easy. 5% water changes will only add up to almost 25% water changes, hence the 5 gallon weekly water change. That consists of about 33% of my water volume, since the rock and sand displaces quite a bit. If your constantly dealing with extremely high nitrates it'll be better to find the source and use this to maintain your water quality. However, if your able to reduce your nitrates to managable levels and do the daily water changes and one larger weekly water change it'll help maintain your tank parameters.

 

This is really helpful for me because I'm able to feed my tank a lot more without increasing the nitrates. In addition, the water changes also pull out excess food and organics before they have a chance to degrade in the tank.

 

It's a fairly simple process, but I will be trying out a skimmer soon to test and compare water specs of the same amount of feeding using technology vs. the water changes. Of course I'll have my handy 30 Brute can ready for any water quality issues:)

 

Thanks guys for all of the input and feedback.. I'd love to do 10% weekly water changes one of these days, but I still haven't found a balance to do so.

[blasterman]

Again, I need to state I've experienced nuisance algae blooms of chronic levels in tanks running no detectable Nitrate or Phosphate. Although we can likely conclude that what little nitrate is produced is quickly gobbled up. I've had hair algae (not bryopsis) grow, although slowly in tanks with zero fish or iverts, and hence near zero nitrate production.

 

Also, water changes would seem to contradict the need for competiting macro algae. If we're using water changes to dilute out excessive nitrate, why bother with competiting macros?

 

My own theory on this is the reason large water changes reduce the issues with nuisance algaes is they produce either proteins or hormones which flip a switch causing rapid growth in an enclosed tank. Water changes dilute this, and slow down the chemical trigger. This is why some guy with 60ppm of nitrate has no problem with nuisance algae but why it suddenly smothers a tank at 0-5ppm. Nitrate is an aggravate, but not the trigger. For the record I now do 15% weekly changes on my tanks.

[reefer916]

Macro algaes don't fair very well in my 24 gallon due to exporting much of the excess nutrients through water changes. I'm also running into issues in my 12 gallon planted tank due to the lack of nutrients because I don't really have any livestock in there. I've only been doing 10% weekly water changes and an occassional water change with my water from my 24 gallon. I started adding phytofeast, just to get the nutrients up to feed my plants:)

 

I do agree that there are some tanks with huge amounts of hair algae that show low nitrates, but that's due to the algaes consumption of the nutrients. There are also a lot of tanks with very little algae with high nitrates. It's all about balance and finding out what your systems require.

 

The daily water change process may make it more difficult to keep macros and other algaes alive and flourishing.

[reefer916]

I haven't updated in a while, since I got back from my vacation. Unfortunately, my brother inlaw kept up with everything except the correct volume of daily water changes while I was gone. I guess I didn't show him how much 1-2 gallons was, but he did daily water changes just not enough water. Since he kept the same feeding schedule it caused a little algae to grow on my Spartan's Pride colony, which I have since done a 50/50 Hydrogen Peroxide/Tank water solution. It's recovering right now. I lost a 2 polyp Rasta frag that I got a few days before I left for vacation, which probably wasn't his fault. The water parameters were decent, but Alk was a little high at 11. I didn't test for anything else because I knew things were off, so I did a 50% water change the night I got back. Everything is now back to routine and everything else is back to normal and growing.

 

I have since moved a few rocks around to rescape a little and will post more pics later today. I've also noticed that I've been having to dose Ca and Mg in addition to the 2-parts and water changes. I guess I should stop buying or trading for so many SPS corals, but damn crack sticks are addicting..haha Anyways, look forward to hearing about anybody who's using this method.

[kamikaze_fish]

Reefer916 I haven't read beyond your first post yet so I'm going to post this then read through and edit if needed. I did the math really quick and it would be just under 3g per day for you to do this on your 95g. If you set up a quick and easy system I don't see why 3g per day would take more than a few minutes either.

[kamikaze_fish]

As I said, once reading I would edit if necessary and it looks like I need to. I understand now why you don't do it on your 95g and can't say that I blame you. I also have to agree with whoever said that to control the nutrient problem it's best to do a very large water change and then follow up with a daily schedule like this. Don't just start doing daily water changes without starting it with a large change first. Otherwise I think this is a good idea for people to consider doing. Reefer916 I would love to hear your water change setup because as someone mentioned, the time it takes a poor setup, could be as much as 30 minutes for even a 1g water change.

For my water changes I have a mj1200 pump that I drop into my sump, and have it plumbed to dump into a bucket next to the sump. I use that bucket only for water out and I never rinse it, I just take it outside, dump it, and put the mj1200 in it and set it back in the basement. Then I have a small pump that I put in my clean water that pumps it back into the sump. It's a bit too small so it takes about 10 minutes for that but all in all, it's about 20 minutes for me to change my water. I also don't rinse out the new water jug when it's empty, I just put the lid on it.

 

blasterman- I do see what you mean about "wasting" water and dumping so much out but that's up to each individual reefer. I know several locals that water their gardens or flowers with them and I even know one person that dumps theirs into their pond, claiming that the catfish they catch seem fat and taste great. I guess it's like people using gas, it could be considered a waste in a race car that burns 3 gallons per mile. It's just up to the individual to do their part.

[sptom]

Interesting discussion! I have a 7 gallon mixed nano and I do about a four cup water change each day. I have an ATO pump hooked up to a 5 gallon bucket of Reef Crystals, so I just dip two cups each evening and let the pump slowly refill the tank. This amounts to a little over 100% water change each month but literally takes less than a minute per day.

 

Nemmy is correct that frequent water changes are not as effective as weekly or monthly water changes (given the same change out percentage). However, they do give you more consistent parameters. And if you have a small enough tank, you can economically change out very large percentages of your water and get better overall water quality. For example, my routine will givem me about 75% better water quality than a 40% monthly water change and about 60% better water quality than a 10% weekly water change (30-day average at the end of one year assuming constant bioload).

 

I also don't like to test so this routine minimizes that need. I do occationally add some two part and some Mg but the need in minimal. One down side is that some soft corals do not grow quickly due to low nutrient levels (although they seem health and happy).

 

Tom

[reefer916]

As I said, once reading I would edit if necessary and it looks like I need to. I understand now why you don't do it on your 95g and can't say that I blame you. I also have to agree with whoever said that to control the nutrient problem it's best to do a very large water change and then follow up with a daily schedule like this. Don't just start doing daily water changes without starting it with a large change first. Otherwise I think this is a good idea for people to consider doing. Reefer916 I would love to hear your water change setup because as someone mentioned, the time it takes a poor setup, could be as much as 30 minutes for even a 1g water change.

For my water changes I have a mj1200 pump that I drop into my sump, and have it plumbed to dump into a bucket next to the sump. I use that bucket only for water out and I never rinse it, I just take it outside, dump it, and put the mj1200 in it and set it back in the basement. Then I have a small pump that I put in my clean water that pumps it back into the sump. It's a bit too small so it takes about 10 minutes for that but all in all, it's about 20 minutes for me to change my water. I also don't rinse out the new water jug when it's empty, I just put the lid on it.

 

blasterman- I do see what you mean about "wasting" water and dumping so much out but that's up to each individual reefer. I know several locals that water their gardens or flowers with them and I even know one person that dumps theirs into their pond, claiming that the catfish they catch seem fat and taste great. I guess it's like people using gas, it could be considered a waste in a race car that burns 3 gallons per mile. It's just up to the individual to do their part.

 

Hey Kamakazi,

 

I'll try to take some pics of my setup. All I really use is a 30 gallon Brute Trash bin, two powerheads, and a 50 watt heater. I mix salt once a week by adding my RC and RO/DI water and it just constantly mixes. There is a downside and that a 30 gallon grey trash bin is sitting a few feet from my tank in the kitchen. When we have company I just toss a table cloth over it and put something decorative fixtures on it:) If we're going to have a big get together, I'll just make sure I do my 95 gallon's water change and empty out the bin then refill it after everyone leaves. Having the water constantly available saves a lot of time rather than having to take down and reset up every day. In addition, the water is always at the correct temp, salinity, and fully aerated. I don't have to worry about stagnant water or worrying about mixing water during an emergency. Having that water available has saved me a few times. For example, when my 95 gallon sprung a leak because the Phosban reactor's line came loose and drained about 15 gallons onto my floor. What a way to wake up in the morning and hearing your pumps out of the water and about 20% of my water was gone. Luckily I had the water already mixed and ready.

 

I just use a 5 gallon RC bucket and scoop out 1-2 gallons and replace it from the water bin. The process is pretty much habitual now and I don't test my water besides SG and Alk every week. I'll test Ca and Mg probably once a month and I've already calculated the tanks consumption. Although it's constantly changing as the corals grow and I keep adding more and more corals. Testing my Ca and Mg once a month seems to suffice and I'll adjust accordingly on my dosing.

 

I'll try to get you pics of my equipment and updated pics of my tank..

[brandon429]

I really like this thread. its my estimate that my changes are more rediculous than anyones and this place seems welcoming to outsiders

 

100% changes twice per week, sometimes weekly, as high as 3x per week when I was fattening corals for photo macros, its only a gallon so its takes like you said 3 minutes. at its worst it was far less work than my friends 180 gallon reef measured by time and effort to get the SAME coral growth.

 

I just siphon drain it into my sink (reef sits on kitchen counter ready to drain) and pull out a gallon from below the sink and dump it in. I don't even take time to correct temp in the summer and 72 degree additions is usual. its nice to be among people who don't decry water changes, either as multiple smalls or this junk, with inaccurate statements such as 'you'll kill the bacteria' or 'you will stress the corals'. When I ask them to explain the health of the corals, i get accused of photoshopping, this thread is like home...

 

if someone wants to change their water all the time and gain those benefits let them, don't knock it without actually doing it to your tank for a year.

 

when asked how a UV sterilizer doesn't cause the production of ammonia then, they soon recognize bacteria are stuck to the rocks and sand, and that water changes are the laymans protein skimmer, dosing agent, chemical and mechanical and biological filter, anti-ich treatment, denitrator, longevity provider, redox supporter, and oxygen pump all from a little gallon jug out of the way under the sink. quote me on that~my way is not the only way its just the only way I'll do.

 

ocd is great, for pico reefing

B

[reefer916]

I really like this thread. its my estimate that my changes are more rediculous than anyones and this place seems like respot

 

100% changes twice per week, sometimes weekly, as high as 3x per week when I was fattening corals for photo macros, its only a gallon so its takes like you said 3 minutes. at its worst it was far less work than my friends 180 gallon reef measured by time and effort to get the SAME coral growth.

 

I just siphon drain it into my sink (reef sits on kitchen counter ready to drain) and pull out a gallon from below the sink and dump it in. I don't even take time to correct temp in the summer and 72 degree additions is usual. its nice to be among people who don't decry water changes, either as multiple smalls or this junk, with inaccurate statements such as 'you'll kill the bacteria' or 'you will stress the corals'. When I ask them to explain the health of the corals, i get accused of photoshopping, this thread is like home...

 

if someone wants to change their water all the time and gain those benefits let them, don't knock it without actually doing it to your tank for a year.

 

when asked how a UV sterilizer doesn't cause the production of ammonia then, they soon recognize bacteria are stuck to the rocks and sand, and that water changes are the laymans protein skimmer, dosing agent, chemical and mechanical and biological filter, anti-ich treatment, denitrator, longevity provider, redox supporter, and oxygen pump all from a little gallon jug out of the way under the sink. quote me on that~my way is not the only way its just the only way I'll do.

 

ocd is great, for pico reefing

B

 

 

Hey Brandon,

 

I remember watching your Pico video last year and it's a pretty killer setup. I guess we're just the blacksheep right now because a lot of people think the world is still flat. I'm pretty sure that if I keep sailing in the direction we're going, we won't fall off the side of the earth:) My view is that reefing is still in it's infancy stages because we're dealing with delicate animals that have evolved over millions of years. Keeping corals alive within our homes hasn't really come to light, until the last few decades. I'm sure the reefers who helped get the hobby to this level have gotten some resistance along the way. Is this a revolutionary idea? To be honest, I don't think so and it really comes down to how many people have tried it. I don't think a lot of reefers have tried it because they're used to being told to throw in rotting shrimp to jump start their cycle. Never mind that we now have access to fully cured liverock. You also see newbie's posting why haven't I had a ammonia spike. Should I throw in a dead shrimp or piss in my tank? Also, there's live bacteria in their water columns and the water changes will dilute their populations and cause problems. Our hobby is constantly evolving and old theories are being found to be incorrect and others are coming to light.

 

I've had corals in 4 out of the 5 tanks that I've setup from day one. Most of them were established systems that I bought on CL and transferred over the livestock. In essence, it's like buying fully cured LR and LS from a LFS and throwing corals and fish in on day one. All of the tanks went through a cycling process, but I've never had ammonia, phosphate, nitrate problems or lost any corals or fish during the cycling process because of the frequent water changes. Obviously, my 95 gallon is no longer getting it's daily water changes and only getting it's water change every 2 weeks, but I've moved it twice and haven't lost a coral, fish, or invert yet. This was because after the move I did daily and weekly water changes for 3 months before slowly backing off of them. Would I recommend all newbie's to do this.. Probably not because there is a pretty steep learning curve, but if they're willing to take direction and keep up with the maintainence then I don't see a problem with that.

 

Obviously, there are some basic fundamentals we need to keep healthy reef systems, but why not try and test current theories and develop our own. Maybe even improve some of the older methods. I just like learning the fundamentals of things and then trying them on my own and seeing if there are ways to improve them. Regurgitating other peoples findings is relatively useless and I'm really only interested in other reefers findings who have tried it. I want to know the pros and cons, along with any successes and problems they've run into. Glad you like this thread and hope you post more of your results.

 

I'm still waiting for someone to chime in that have done the daily water changes and how it caused problems. Someday it'll happen, but I'm also interested in why..

 

Chris

[brandon429]

good calls man. I think there's a nice balance with those larger tanks who have dilution in their favor, in which case as many smaller changes as can be done will only help, and never ever hurt as you've seen too. the most frustration I get is with the crews that think it hurts the animals inside as a reason to avoid it. since I don't keep fish I always say to be very careful in tanks that do, but Id bet every cent of reefwork ive done that even the fish won't mind and people don't have to dance around with 16 parameters to match, as any water we are replacing is better than what they are swimming in...I only match temp and s.g,

 

I know of a specific thread from rc where a young man did indeed piss in his tank and I really thanked him for that post it was a true side splitter~omg

[reefer916]

I have fish and I've never seen any problems, especially with the salt mix's we have these days. My fish are all happy and I've never had a fish disease in any of my tanks. When I first got my Blue Hippo and Yellow tang after getting them with my second tank. The yellow tang was bony and malnourished and my Blue Hippo would get ick all of the time. After the water changes and feeding them a balanced diet all of their health problems went away. They're all nice and plump because I could feed them every day and not worry about over feeding:) If corals could thrive in the environment the fish will only do better.

 

I can't believe a newbie actually pissed in his tank...lol It's like when we tell new divers to piss in their wetsuites to keep warm..haha

 

Hopefully some reefers will try this method out minus the ####### in their tanks:) It sounds like a lot of work, but it's really not when you take into account how much time you'd spend dealing with an algae outbreak or a tank crash. I also believe that whether it's more work or not, we're responsible for taking these awesome animals out of their natural environments and we need to make sure that we do everything we can to keep them healthy.

 

good calls man. I think there's a nice balance with those larger tanks who have dilution in their favor, in which case as many smaller changes as can be done will only help, and never ever hurt as you've seen too. the most frustration I get is with the crews that think it hurts the animals inside as a reason to avoid it. since I don't keep fish I always say to be very careful in tanks that do, but Id bet every cent of reefwork ive done that even the fish won't mind and people don't have to dance around with 16 parameters to match, as any water we are replacing is better than what they are swimming in...I only match temp and s.g,

 

I know of a specific thread from rc where a young man did indeed piss in his tank and I really thanked him for that post it was a true side splitter~omg

[reefer916]

Time for an update with pics. Still doing the daily water changes and 5 gallon weekly water changes. However, a side note would be to test your source of RO/DI water's TDS readings. My LFS's tested at 33, so I've been using pretty much tap water for my top off and water changes for the last few months. One of my buddies offered to supply me with RO/DI water with a TDS reading of 0, until I get my own setup. I've only switched over for a few days and I already notice the difference. Anyways, here are some pics. I need a better camera:)

 

[reefer916]

It's been a long time since I updated this thread. I decided to try and go with less water changes to see the impact it had on my tank. I kept all things the same, but switched to two 3-4 gallon water changes a week instead of my 1-2 gallons a day and a larger one on the weekend. I also stopped dosing Iodine and some of my other trace elements. I stuck with just 2-parts, additional Ca, and Mg, since the end of June. Another change I did last month was add a phosban reactor with Chemi-pure Elite.

 

Still don't have a skimmer though.

 

I did see a reduction in water quality and green hair algae beginning to grow in a few little areas. It's weird because for the most part my SPS and LPS are doing great with excellent polyp extension and decent color. They did lose some color though and I'm not sure if it was water quality or the Aquamaxx bulb I was using. The biggest loss was over 100 polyps of Aztec Sundials(all of them), CAR's, Rasta's, some Tubbs Blues, Eagle Eyes, and a few other zoas. It's weird because I thought the zoas and palys would be the least affected by water quality. Anyways, I decided to now switch back to my little daily water changes and to stop listening to everyone elses opinions. I'll stick to what's worked for me the last few years.

[MariTheNube]

I am new to the hobby but wanted to chime in. I have been doing 32oz daily water changes in my 29 gal since it's second week. I have noticed no issues at all. My corals have had great growth so far and my fish are healthy. My tank is in it's 3rd month and I still test everything daily or every other day and have had steady spot on water parameters from the second week on.

[reefer916]

I am new to the hobby but wanted to chime in. I have been doing 32oz daily water changes in my 29 gal since it's second week. I have noticed no issues at all. My corals have had great growth so far and my fish are healthy. My tank is in it's 3rd month and I still test everything daily or every other day and have had steady spot on water parameters from the second week on.

 

Thanks for chiming in.. I actually did an experiment on a little 12 AP several months ago by putting coral frags and fish in from day one. I did 1/2 gallon-1 gallon water changes every day for the first few months and didn't have a noticable cycle. The corals were candy canes, frogspawn, and some zoas, which are all relatively hardy corals. I was able to keep the corals thriving and didn't have any ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, or phosphate issues. I also added a clownfish in there that was sitting in my refugium in my 95 gallon and a Strawberry dottyback. All of the corals and fish didn't show any signs of stress. I believe the key was that I took the LR and LS from my established 95 gallon and 50% of the water was from a water change from my 24 gallon. Using this method it is possible to keep corals and fish from day one.

 

However, I believe understanding the fundamentals of keeping a reef is key before trying this method. The benefit of cycling a tank for several weeks is that it teaches us when we're new the correct water parameters and the correlation between each of the readings that we test for. In my nano tanks the daily water changing method is easy, but I'm still too lazy to do the daily water changes in my 95 gallon. I also experimented with my 95 gallon for a few months by doing 5 gallon daily water changes and a 15 gallon water change on the weekend. I never saw my corals and fish grow so fast and didn't have any issues. The downside was that by changing 45 gallons a week I went through $50 of salt a month. It really wasn't cost effective, so I went with a more traditional method of water changes every 2-3 weeks, dosing, and using mechanical and biological filtration.

 

Thanks for the info and sharing your experience.