Trying to reduce water changes

[chemaholic]

I have been reading about people who have greatly reduced or eliminated water changes. I wanted to get some input on this because I am thinking I want to slowly reduce my water changes to maybe once a month or fewer if I can.

My water parameters are pretty stable. I might have to add a small amount of Fusion or eight.four once a week, but nothing significant. I dose KNO3 a few times a day with a doser and I add the same amount of trace elements once a week.

My biggest concern is accumulation of counter ions that do not get consumed at the rates that Ca, Mg, NO3, etc. get consumed. One specific example is I dose KNO3 to keep my NO3 level around 5-10ppm. I am adding potassium at the same time I am adding NO3 and I do not know if there is a sink for it or not. If nothing is using it or removing it from the tank then it is just accumulating. I am also a little concerned about the accumulation of biologicals.

In my mind if I have the right equipment and chemistry I should be able to keep things fairly stable without the need for tons of water changes. I had been doing small changes each day, but I am moving to a 10% change every other week to see how the tank reacts.

I would appreciate any feedback or knowledge anyone can share.

 

[ichthyoid]

You might use calcium nitrate instead. It’s water soluble and the calcium is consumed.

fwiw,
A growing number of reefers are using All For Reef by Tropic Marin. It’s a pretty well balanced all in one additive and produces great results.

 

[chemaholic]

You might use calcium nitrate instead. It’s water soluble and the calcium is consumed.

fwiw,
A growing number of reefers are using All For Reef by Tropic Marin. It’s a pretty well balanced all in one additive and produces great results.

The calcium nitrate is an excellent idea. I have seen the all for reef and I have been thinking about give it a go. I will definitely source some Ca(NO3)2 tomorrow though. That should have been obvious.

 

[Atalien2005]

I was doing the Reef Moonshiner method for about a year, without water changes and didn’t see any ill effects on my tank before shutting it down to move. Part of the process is to send an ICP test about once a month but can do less frequent as your tank matures. It does have a considerable start-up cost if you buy all of the elements at once. There is a Facebook group about the method where you’re able to see other peoples results and ask questions. I’ve never heard or read any negative feedback and definitely seen increased colors from my corals.

 

[civics14]

Here is my take and personal experience. I liked the idea of not doing water changes as well, so I tried it for a few months that went into a full year. I maintain my parameters with a calc reactor. ICP mass spec test showed everything was fine. Actually, the tank looked fine as well, nothing bad, but nothing great either. Then I decided to pick back up water changes because my sandbed was looking funky. Shortly after the water change, my torches extended even further, hammer was fuller, acro polyps out more, and on top of that my sandbed looking fresher.

There is nothing scientific about it because as I said, the ICP mass spec showed all parameters were in the green, only iodine was low, even though I was dosing lugol's iodine daily. I come from years of doing water changes either weekly or bi-weekly, to stop for a full year, and to come back. I feel that there is something else that can't be measured via ICP test that water changes help with. That is my take on the matter, but take it with a grain of salt.

 

[ecoreefguy]

This may sound bad, but I don’t remember when the last time i did regular water changes 50 G. Even when i had my 300G, especially when i had my 300, i never did many water changes annually after it matured. I would obvious do my weekly parameter test of nitrate and phosphates ( everything else is auto tested) and would only do a WC when those levels elevated to a number i was not comfortable with. When i do WC, I usually do a large percentage ( 50ish %) and i siphon my sand bed during this time. I only do an ICP once a year. Heck, last time i did one, I didn’t even look at the data for like 2 months. Anyone that’s knows me, I’m heavily reliant on automation tho, so this might one day be my downfall If i ever forget to calibrate and/or replace probes etc
With that said, I don’t recommend starting your reefing journey with this route. It’ll take some for the tank to mature and be stable, as well as for you to learn what your tank needs and what it can tolerate. I think every tank will be different, one set of numbers working for someone else, might not work well for you. I would definitely get your tank and equipment dialed in, than slowly extend the time between water changes. Than see if there’s any numerical and visual changes. I think the last time i did a WC was September and i most likely wont be doing a WC this month. Obviously if my PE decreases or theses any signed of stress I would remedy that with a WC. After a certain amount of time, we all know what our tanks should look like.

 

[chemaholic]

This may sound bad, but I don’t remember when the last time i did regular water changes 50 G. Even when i had my 300G, especially when i had my 300, i never did many water changes annually after it matured. I would obvious do my weekly parameter test of nitrate and phosphates ( everything else is auto tested) and would only do a WC when those levels elevated to a number i was not comfortable with. When i do WC, I usually do a large percentage ( 50ish %) and i siphon my sand bed during this time. I only do an ICP once a year. Heck, last time i did one, I didn’t even look at the data for like 2 months. Anyone that’s knows me, I’m heavily reliant on automation tho, so this might one day be my downfall If i ever forget to calibrate and/or replace probes etc
With that said, I don’t recommend starting your reefing journey with this route. It’ll take some for the tank to mature and be stable, as well as for you to learn what your tank needs and what it can tolerate. I think every tank will be different, one set of numbers working for someone else, might not work well for you. I would definitely get your tank and equipment dialed in, than slowly extend the time between water changes. Than see if there’s any numerical and visual changes. I think the last time i did a WC was September and i most likely wont be doing a WC this month. Obviously if my PE decreases or theses any signed of stress I would remedy that with a WC. After a certain amount of time, we all know what our tanks should look like.

This is very encouraging. I just started doing what you suggested and adding more time between water changes. I had been doing them weekly and now I am going to do them every other week. If that goes well I will do once a month. I will continue all the weekly testing of course and I need to do an ICP test soon just to see where I am. I have not done one yet.

 

[chemaholic]

@ecoreefguy one quick question. What are you using to do your automatic testing?

 

[ecoreefguy]

@ecoreefguy one quick question. What are you using to do your automatic testing?

Hanna for Phophate and Nitrates ( weekly manual test)
Everything else Apex with Trident. Salinity I measure with Hanna when mixing. I use the salinity probe mainly to measure changes, never solely reliant on it. Everything calibrated 6 months. Temp and PH probe replace annually along with other equipement that can fail spectacular like heaters. I sell the old items to subsidize purchase of new stuff, Most items if you have every purchased from me are in pristine conditions. But I’m not often home so i rather pay than stress.

 

[chemaholic]

Hanna for Phophate and Nitrates ( weekly manual test)
Everything else Apex with Trident. Salinity I measure with Hanna when mixing. I use the salinity probe mainly to measure changes, never solely reliant on it. Everything calibrated 6 months. Temp and PH probe replace annually along with other equipement that can fail spectacular like heaters. I sell the old items to subsidize purchase of new stuff, Most items if you have every purchased from me are in pristine conditions. But I’m not often home so i rather pay than stress.

This is great information. Thank you!