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Did not change water in 3 years & look at his tank

M

MyPetReef

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Could be a variation of many things. First thing I noticed, the hobbyist is using a biological filtration method very similar to Zeovit or Prodibio, etc... He is manually adding nitrifying bacteria, a carbon source, and providing bioballs and ceramic rings to colonize the bacteria. This is your basic Zeovit theory (slightly variated).

He also is running bare bottom, which is probably the key thing that has kept his system from going haywire from invading growths and nuisances. Barebottom ensures maximum removal of detritus and you don't get a buildup of anaerobic bacteria and sulfur.

Finally, it would be a crazy anomally but the key trace elements that are essential for corals to thrive could be getting replaced by his use of natural well water. As long as he's providing Ca, Mg, Alk, the other elements could coincidentally be balanced because he's actually NOT using RO/DI. This could be based on his geographic region and the composition of his natural water.

I'm sure that 1000 tanks would crash for every 1 that survives like this which again could be the coincidence of his water composition. But overall, if you ran your system like a Zeovit system, you could get away with a 5% water change every 2 weeks or so to basically keep trace elements balanced.

Maybe someone would be willing to run an experiment? Run a system just like this but use RO/DI water. Then manually add a trace element product in the RO/DI Top Off and see how long the system can run without water changes.
 
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Dre

Dre

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Ariel110G said:
"


Now explain that to me!!!! What is he doing that his tank looks like that & no water changes?????
Click to expand...
Ask the owner, thats part of your answer. The rest, the owner will gladly fill you in. You're asking the wrong people the wrong question. Nice tank though, i thought he was using a calcium reactor.
 
TRIGGERMAN

TRIGGERMAN

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LOL People look at my tank and when I tell them I barely do water changes and I use tap water they can't believe it either. I have done this the whole time in the hobby except for when I got a rodi in the beginning I did like 2 or 3 water changes with it on my nano then got tired of wasting so much water and it taking forever and haven't used it since. I think it really depends on where you live. You couldn't do that in long island or at least most areas of it because the water is DISGUSTING. When I was in Glen Cove I tested the water and it was so high in phosphate my test kits couldn't even measure it! Even out of a brita pitcher it was bad.

As mentioned bare bottom is definitely the best way that's what I always did also. Currently there is a thin layer of crushed coral in my tank..well my brother's tank where all my stuff is and everything is still great. The only problems I have is that the corals grow too much and fall sometimes killing each other but other than that no issues.

When you use rodi you totally strip the water of everything so in my logic by using good tap you are leaving the important minerals in there. I know people will disagree like always but personally that is the way I look at it. I think the more you keep your hands out of the tank the better. Constantly moving stuff and fidgeting around only disturbs the ecosystem and stresses things out.

I recall Ming telling me he doesn't do water changes either and he has a gorgeous tank as well. So it's possible guys just gotta know what you're doing.
 
T

tosiek

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Oh look! Here's the other thread about water changes for this exact same tank! :biggrin:

http://www.manhattanreefs.com/forum/general-discussion/126693-reefkeeping-com-totm.html

You shouldn't be surprised or stunned when hearing about beautiful tanks run on zero water changes. There is a reason it works and is not meant for everyone otherwise people wouldn't be always saying that its a requirement for a great tank. Those tanks are few and far between. Please don't make this another water change thread, we have plenty of them here.

TRIGGERMAN said:
When you use rodi you totally strip the water of everything so in my logic by using good tap you are leaving the important minerals in there. I know people will disagree like always but personally that is the way I look at it. I think the more you keep your hands out of the tank the better. Constantly moving stuff and fidgeting around only disturbs the ecosystem and stresses things out.
Click to expand...

Just for some convo, By RO/DIing your tank your removing any bad metals/ect from the main water supply that could cause problems, sadly the good stuff too. Your adding whatever your tank needs in the salt mix + any supplements so in theory you should be adding everything good that your stripping out that your tank needs. Its a fresh canvas with the water change your doing minimizing problem solving later on. And your right its mainly where you are and the water quality you have but all thats needed to ruin that great water supply is a flood in your area which might mess with your water a little and cause problems.

I had a DI resin filter when I started, everything was fine until I ran some tap for about a month and I had a hair algae and cyano covered tank until I put an RO/DI on.
 
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TRIGGERMAN

TRIGGERMAN

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tosiek said:
Oh look! Here's the other thread about water changes for this exact same tank! :biggrin:

http://www.manhattanreefs.com/forum/general-discussion/126693-reefkeeping-com-totm.html

You shouldn't be surprised or stunned when hearing about beautiful tanks run on zero water changes. There is a reason it works and is not meant for everyone otherwise people wouldn't be always saying that its a requirement for a great tank. Those tanks are few and far between. Please don't make this another water change thread, we have plenty of them here.



Just for some convo, By RO/DIing your tank your removing any bad metals/ect from the main water supply that could cause problems, sadly the good stuff too. Your adding whatever your tank needs in the salt mix + any supplements so in theory you should be adding everything good that your stripping out that your tank needs. Its a fresh canvas with the water change your doing minimizing problem solving later on. And your right its mainly where you are and the water quality you have but all thats needed to ruin that great water supply is a flood in your area which might mess with your water a little and cause problems.

I had a DI resin filter when I started, everything was fine until I ran some tap for about a month and I had a hair algae and cyano covered tank until I put an RO/DI on.
Click to expand...
I haven't had a problem in 3 years..never had any hair algae. Oddly enough when I started my 2nd tank WITH ro/di I had a cyano outbreak lol . I used red slime remover I think for 2 doses and it was gone and haven't had a hint of cyano since and no other algae problems. I get a tiny bit on the glass every now and then like everyone else and a few swipes of the magnet and it's gone. I must be doing something right.
 
JarviZ

JarviZ

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TRIGGERMAN said:
LOL People look at my tank and when I tell them I barely do water changes and I use tap water they can't believe it either. I have done this the whole time in the hobby except for when I got a rodi in the beginning I did like 2 or 3 water changes with it on my nano then got tired of wasting so much water and it taking forever and haven't used it since. I think it really depends on where you live. You couldn't do that in long island or at least most areas of it because the water is DISGUSTING. When I was in Glen Cove I tested the water and it was so high in phosphate my test kits couldn't even measure it! Even out of a brita pitcher it was bad.

As mentioned bare bottom is definitely the best way that's what I always did also. Currently there is a thin layer of crushed coral in my tank..well my brother's tank where all my stuff is and everything is still great. The only problems I have is that the corals grow too much and fall sometimes killing each other but other than that no issues.

When you use rodi you totally strip the water of everything so in my logic by using good tap you are leaving the important minerals in there. I know people will disagree like always but personally that is the way I look at it. I think the more you keep your hands out of the tank the better. Constantly moving stuff and fidgeting around only disturbs the ecosystem and stresses things out.

I recall Ming telling me he doesn't do water changes either and he has a gorgeous tank as well. So it's possible guys just gotta know what you're doing.
Click to expand...

You're using flushing tap water to top off? How are the phosphate and silicate levels of the water? No algae outbreaks?

I wanna experiment with using tap water. I've been using RODI with chaeto, purigen and CPE, and minimal feeding. I still have some GHA and some red bubble algae growth. makes no sense meng.
 
G

Geraud

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- Look at where this guy lives
- Ask yourself the question: can I get the same freshwater?
- If the answer is no... you should do water changes with a good salt.

While sure enough some people can replace water changes with additives to replenish the lost elements consumed by their animals, this is really a way to have newbies crash their tanks... and I don't think that should be advocated...

My 2 cents.
 
TRIGGERMAN

TRIGGERMAN

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I'm using Flushing tap water the whole time not just to top off. I use instant ocean salt. I also used tap in Bayside when I lived there. When I was in glen cove I had lots of algae and phosphate problems. I heard of a few other people who use tap also in Queens brooklyn and si some friends some people I just met once or twice our city water is pretty good. When I get my house I'm going to run 2 identical tanks 1 with rodi and 1 with tap and compare. I don't run a fuge either lol. Just lot's of live rock and a skimmer. AquaC Remora w/ mj1200 in my sump which I don't even have on all the time.
 
J

jamesonwhiskey

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Rockville Centre, NY
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TRIGGERMAN said:
I'm using Flushing tap water the whole time not just to top off. I use instant ocean salt. I also used tap in Bayside when I lived there. When I was in glen cove I had lots of algae and phosphate problems. I heard of a few other people who use tap also in Queens brooklyn and si some friends some people I just met once or twice our city water is pretty good. When I get my house I'm going to run 2 identical tanks 1 with rodi and 1 with tap and compare. I don't run a fuge either lol. Just lot's of live rock and a skimmer. AquaC Remora w/ mj1200 in my sump which I don't even have on all the time.
Click to expand...

Flushing, Bayside and the rest of the 5 boroughs all get their tap water from upstate and it's some of the best, if not THE best, in the country. However, as someone said, quality can still differ due to plumbing in certain neighborhoods or even differences within houses on the same block.

Long Island on the other hand uses mostly aquafier (well) water depending on where you live and is not at the same level as NYC water. There have also been suggestions that the high cancer rates in LI (especially breast cancer, and even in men!) are due to the water. I for one do not drink it unless filtered. I do use it for my tank after RO/DI filter and never had cyano or major algae outbreaks unless I forgot to measure my TDS to check if my filters/resin are too old.

I agree with your thought process though... if your tap is low in phosphates, nitrates and silicates then no reason to us RO/DI since it strips out all the good elements as well. Great stuff :)
 
rookie07

rookie07

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I grew up on long island (port washington) and had all 3 of my childhood pets die from cancer. They were all old when they died (15 or older), but what are the odds of 1 dog and 2 cats all getting cancer?!?!
It was either from water or some other chemical.
 
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