GHill762 Posted July 7, 2012 Share Posted July 7, 2012 I change water religiously. 4 gallons on the weekend on my 15g, no sump, no skimmer. My test results are always ideal before the water change so I decided to skip a week of water change/cleanup. I tested this morning and still it's still good , however I am doing a water change none the less. I have a relatively small bio-load (2 fish, medium sized cuc, and some corals). How long have you gone without a water change, and still had good readings? Link to comment
jaysreefworld Posted July 7, 2012 Share Posted July 7, 2012 i have a buddy with a 300g that does one every 3 months. On my 90 I'm going at about a month right now. Link to comment
GHill762 Posted July 7, 2012 Author Share Posted July 7, 2012 i have a buddy with a 300g that does one every 3 months. On my 90 I'm going at about a month right now. those are large tanks though, a lot of water volume. I have heard around 90 plus gallons total water volume that you can get by on WCs every 5-6 months as long as you are dosing (hear-say, may not be true). What kind of equipment do you run? Also, I have been considering DIY'ing a ATS, thoughts? Link to comment
121a Posted July 7, 2012 Share Posted July 7, 2012 Well there are two parts to the water change. Remove excess nutrients (Nitrates) and replace trace elements (Ca, Mg, ect.). Either way on my 150g, December to the end of June. I don't feel like counting. Link to comment
GHill762 Posted July 7, 2012 Author Share Posted July 7, 2012 Well there are two parts to the water change. Remove excess nutrients (Nitrates) and replace trace elements (Ca, Mg, ect.). Either way on my 150g, December to the end of June. I don't feel like counting. I test NO3, PO4, Ca2, and KH, and all are at very good levels (NO3 ~0, PO4~0). I don't have one for Mg. Calcium at the end of the week is naturally around 430-450, since using Purple Up it tends to be around 500. Link to comment
patback Posted July 7, 2012 Share Posted July 7, 2012 My nitrates an phosphate levels haven't budged, but I haven't changed my 10 gallon in over 3 weeks. I normally do anywhere from 2-4 gallons per week to replenish elements since I don't dose. Needless to say my derasa is pissed the #### off right now. Link to comment
GHill762 Posted July 7, 2012 Author Share Posted July 7, 2012 My nitrates an phosphate levels haven't budged, but I haven't changed my 10 gallon in over 3 weeks. I normally do anywhere from 2-4 gallons per week to replenish elements since I don't dose. Needless to say my derasa is pissed the #### off right now. this is what i'm talking about! lol, people and their big tanks do you skim? sump? fuge? what's your bio-load? nevermind, I just clickied the linky.. cool, I have always like your tank on a shelf! Link to comment
Kmatt08 Posted July 7, 2012 Share Posted July 7, 2012 I think it depends on the tank inhabitants how long you can go for. My old Sps tank I changed every week, but in my current setup with just softies, I do it once every 2-3 months and they love it. I do anymore in between and they're pissed off for days lol Link to comment
patback Posted July 7, 2012 Share Posted July 7, 2012 For the longest time I ran nothing but two koralia 240's and about 18 lbs of live rock. Since April I've been running an ac70 with floss and some chaeto however. I recently added a little bit of a different textured chaeto, and random macros. I have no sump or other equipment. My bioload is a my cuc, brittle star, ywg and pistol, porcelain crab,and a secret fish I won't announce until I know for sure I have success with it. (not looking too good at this point)I also have a 7ish inch derasa and mixed corals. I feed actually quite heavily, pellets everyday for the goby, shrimp, and hermits. I feed a total of about 3 cubes of mysis a week,(not all of it goes in the tank usually) and a cube of cyclops a week. Link to comment
GHill762 Posted July 7, 2012 Author Share Posted July 7, 2012 I think it depends on the tank inhabitants how long you can go for. My old Sps tank I changed every week, but in my current setup with just softies, I do it once every 2-3 months and they love it. I do anymore in between and they're pissed off for days lol equipment? bio-load? I don't have any SPS, but I have a few LPS. the LPS and softies look happy/about the same without the WC. For the longest time I ran nothing but two koralia 240's and about 18 lbs of live rock. Since April I've been running an ac70 with floss and some chaeto however. I recently added a little bit of a different textured chaeto, and random macros. I have no sump or other equipment. My bioload is a my cuc, brittle star, ywg and pistol, porcelain crab,and a secret fish I won't announce until I know for sure I have success with it. (not looking too good at this point)I also have a 7ish inch derasa and mixed corals. I feed actually quite heavily, pellets everyday for the goby, shrimp, and hermits. I feed a total of about 3 cubes of mysis a week,(not all of it goes in the tank usually) and a cube of cyclops a week. well you are definitely feeding heavier than me. I'm starting to think that religious 4g/week wc's are a waste of time/money. maybe I'll cut back to smaller wc's, less often. Link to comment
patback Posted July 7, 2012 Share Posted July 7, 2012 equipment? bio-load? I don't have any SPS, but I have a few LPS. the LPS and softies look happy/about the same without the WC. well you are definitely feeding heavier than me. I'm starting to think that religious 4g/week wc's are a waste of time/money. maybe I'll cut back to smaller wc's, less often. If I didn't have the clam, I would probably switch to monthly changes for my tank. Link to comment
GHill762 Posted July 7, 2012 Author Share Posted July 7, 2012 If I didn't have the clam, I would probably switch to monthly changes for my tank. a month without WC's? that'd be awesome. I don't go more than 2 weeks on my FW!! Link to comment
Kfmmartin19 Posted July 7, 2012 Share Posted July 7, 2012 For the longest time I ran nothing but two koralia 240's and about 18 lbs of live rock. Since April I've been running an ac70 with floss and some chaeto however. I recently added a little bit of a different textured chaeto, and random macros. I have no sump or other equipment. My bioload is a my cuc, brittle star, ywg and pistol, porcelain crab,and a secret fish I won't announce until I know for sure I have success with it. (not looking too good at this point)I also have a 7ish inch derasa and mixed corals. I feed actually quite heavily, pellets everyday for the goby, shrimp, and hermits. I feed a total of about 3 cubes of mysis a week,(not all of it goes in the tank usually) and a cube of cyclops a week. Haha secret fish. Must be something controversial to have in a small tank . What is it? A dragonet? Tang? Pufferfish? Blue whale? Link to comment
baldbean Posted July 8, 2012 Share Posted July 8, 2012 I have a 24 gallon cube and went 3 weeks with out a change as of yesterday. I usually change 5 gallons every two weeks (soon to be 3 per week), but wanted to run a quick experiment and track calcium and magnesium during this time. Like you I have a small bio load (tail spot blenny and several softies and LPS) and no sump or skimmer, just a fuge with chaeto. Link to comment
damage31 Posted July 10, 2012 Share Posted July 10, 2012 in my 29 I went 13weeks from early April to end of June - I am running a skimmer and have a light bio-load (3 fish) , and just a few easy corals. I only changed water because I felt bad and finally had time...the water params were still A-Ok. I've never had nitrate issues on the 29 either, possibly because i also run a chiller and have long hoses that may help... not sure. Normally i do 5 gallons weekly, and am finally back on track. Link to comment
GHill762 Posted July 10, 2012 Author Share Posted July 10, 2012 interesting.. well, I'm giving every other week a try.. have been religiously changing once a week.. worked skipping a week the first time.. we will see how it goes.. I have battled GHA before, and don't want it back.. Link to comment
apgfeb14 Posted July 10, 2012 Share Posted July 10, 2012 not my own reef, but my father, he changes his once a year 50 % - his param are not perfect but nothing to write home about in terms of anything, just low numbers on everything, dunno how he does it... Link to comment
Monsieur Kam Posted July 10, 2012 Share Posted July 10, 2012 When I set my 75 gallon back up, I am going to try no water changes and just run an algae scrubber. Will let you know how that goes. And to answer the question, probably about 3 weeks when I was working 60 hours a week I just wasn't in the mood to mix saltwater. Nothing went too wrong as I recall. Link to comment
patback Posted July 10, 2012 Share Posted July 10, 2012 Haha secret fish. Must be something controversial to have in a small tank . What is it? A dragonet? Tang? Pufferfish? Blue whale? Whale shark. Jk, it was a mandarin. I outlined his Demise in my thread if you are interested. He would only eat mysis if chopped extremely, extremely fine, and that took awhile to accomplish. He was losing weight, but once he started eating more started to plump up. I released him to the tank and my filter sucked him up :/. Anyways, just wanted to put it out there, I started water changes again to get back in the groove. I fragged a few zoas and palys, an Lps, added some more carbon (since I *gasp* sliced the Matt's in the tank), and did a 2.5 gallon change. I went camping all day yesterday and last night, came back this morning and did another 2.5. So within a 3 day period, 5 gallons has been changed out of my 10 gallon tank and all inhabitants are responding well. (I'm figuring with water displacement of rocks, and the mixing of old and new water before the second change, it was a ~40% change. I'll lay low tomorrow and the next day do another 2.5, and repeat the cycle one more time. All calcium levels and trace elements should be back to par. Link to comment
steviejitsu Posted July 10, 2012 Share Posted July 10, 2012 3 months or so on my 51 gallon. probably 1 month on my 20 gallon. I know 2 people who've gone years without a WC, they both have ATSs. Link to comment
StevieT Posted July 10, 2012 Share Posted July 10, 2012 4 months now.... i may get around to one soon, who knows Link to comment
loyalhero90 Posted July 10, 2012 Share Posted July 10, 2012 About 9 months since last WC, my tank is 10 months old and is a 5 gallon. It is about 90% macroalgae/mangrove and 10% coral no SPS just softies and one LPS. One clownfish and one peppermint shrimp. Never have nitrates/phosphate problems. Every once in a while I dose Instant Ocean- Reef Accelerator or Iron/Manganese. I have magnesium and calcium on hand but never had to use those like I thought I would... Link to comment
lizardfish Posted July 10, 2012 Share Posted July 10, 2012 14g Biocube w/refugium mod 6 months with out wc 0 nitrates. Both side walls where covered in Xenia and back wall covered in gsp, fue zoas in the middle. 15# of lr 6line clown yellow watchman Dosed 2part I DON'T recommend this I got lucky it was a experiment "dirty water" tank Link to comment
louy99 Posted July 13, 2012 Share Posted July 13, 2012 I change 4 gallons every 3 weeks on my 29g BC with sump and skimmer Link to comment
matt frizz Posted July 13, 2012 Share Posted July 13, 2012 Havn't water changed my 50 Breeder in like 6 months or so. It's very stable and I don't even have to feed my fish if i don't want to because they eat pods and algae (tang/blenny/mandarin). Just bought a mystery wrasse though so I may start doing them again since I'll be feeding my tank. I keep SPS and they grow like crazy. Tank is 3 years old though. Link to comment
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