It?s been about 4-5 months since I?ve done a water change in my tank and everything from zoas to SPS are doing great. WCs are by far my least favorite part of the hobby so this has been huge for me. Whenever I tell people that I stopped doing water changes, they are always a bit skeptical so I wanted to share some tips that helped me.
It?s a 75 G display tank (120 G system volume), with 13 fish in it. It?s been running for almost 2 yrs now. I try to feed 2-4 times a day and I never rinse my frozen food. I also don?t use GFO/phosphate reactor. I?ve been working on the nutrient balance in my tank in an effort to minimize maintenance while keeping my fish and corals healthy and have found the balance I was looking for. I played around a lot with my aquascape, flow, lighting, sump layout, dosing, feeding until I found what works. I?m planning on doing a water change at some point this winter but will keep it to 3-4 water changes for the year I think. These are some of the changes I made which I think really helped. It may not help your system at all since each system has a unique nutrient balance BUT, it couldn?t hurt to look into them if you?re not a fan of water changes either
Aquascape: Opened up my rockwork more to reduce dead spots for detritus to settle
Flow: Using wavemakers with high enough flow that I can?t keep many LPS: scoly, acan, plate. My torches, hammer, bubble coral had to be moved around a few times to find the right spot otherwise the flow would bother them. The increase in flow and the change in aquascape meant my 2 filter socks were getting dirtier much quicker but I?m also able to remove detritus faster. Not being able to keep certain low flow corals is a trade off I?m ok with.
Feeding: I feed mysis, clams, bloodworms, reef frenzy, pellets, cyclopeeze and reef chili to my tank. The more I feed, the better my fish and corals look. The extra nutrients give the corals more color and better growth. My fish are all looking healthy as well. Wanting to feed my tank more is why I wanted to look for ways to make my tank more efficient in nutrient export. I recommend reading what Paul B has to say on feeding your tank; I?ve incorporated a lot of it in my approach.
Dosing: Randy?s DIY for Ca, Alk and Mg. I also dose Acropower, Reef Trace, MicroBlend, Lugol?s iodine, NoPX. The schedule and dose amounts have varied throughout the process as I had to adjust to how the tank was reacting.
Sump: Oversized skimmer, 2 filter socks (1 from DT, 1 from frag tank), refugium with live rock/macro. Every 3-4 wks, I?ll vacuum the detritus that has made it past the filter socks. I?ll then add 1-2 gallons of SW mix to replenish the salt
I?m always keeping an eye on things to see if I have to adjust anything in my routine and I?ll likely have to change something this year. I?m sure I?m missing out on some things by not doing water changes but my tank isn?t complaining. Doing 20-30 gallon water changes can get exhausting. Before adjusting all the things above, I used to have to rely on water changes to keep my tank in check. Now I get to save countless hours and $250 or so of Red Sea Coral Pro salt I used a year. Hope some of this may help
It?s a 75 G display tank (120 G system volume), with 13 fish in it. It?s been running for almost 2 yrs now. I try to feed 2-4 times a day and I never rinse my frozen food. I also don?t use GFO/phosphate reactor. I?ve been working on the nutrient balance in my tank in an effort to minimize maintenance while keeping my fish and corals healthy and have found the balance I was looking for. I played around a lot with my aquascape, flow, lighting, sump layout, dosing, feeding until I found what works. I?m planning on doing a water change at some point this winter but will keep it to 3-4 water changes for the year I think. These are some of the changes I made which I think really helped. It may not help your system at all since each system has a unique nutrient balance BUT, it couldn?t hurt to look into them if you?re not a fan of water changes either
Aquascape: Opened up my rockwork more to reduce dead spots for detritus to settle
Flow: Using wavemakers with high enough flow that I can?t keep many LPS: scoly, acan, plate. My torches, hammer, bubble coral had to be moved around a few times to find the right spot otherwise the flow would bother them. The increase in flow and the change in aquascape meant my 2 filter socks were getting dirtier much quicker but I?m also able to remove detritus faster. Not being able to keep certain low flow corals is a trade off I?m ok with.
Feeding: I feed mysis, clams, bloodworms, reef frenzy, pellets, cyclopeeze and reef chili to my tank. The more I feed, the better my fish and corals look. The extra nutrients give the corals more color and better growth. My fish are all looking healthy as well. Wanting to feed my tank more is why I wanted to look for ways to make my tank more efficient in nutrient export. I recommend reading what Paul B has to say on feeding your tank; I?ve incorporated a lot of it in my approach.
Dosing: Randy?s DIY for Ca, Alk and Mg. I also dose Acropower, Reef Trace, MicroBlend, Lugol?s iodine, NoPX. The schedule and dose amounts have varied throughout the process as I had to adjust to how the tank was reacting.
Sump: Oversized skimmer, 2 filter socks (1 from DT, 1 from frag tank), refugium with live rock/macro. Every 3-4 wks, I?ll vacuum the detritus that has made it past the filter socks. I?ll then add 1-2 gallons of SW mix to replenish the salt
I?m always keeping an eye on things to see if I have to adjust anything in my routine and I?ll likely have to change something this year. I?m sure I?m missing out on some things by not doing water changes but my tank isn?t complaining. Doing 20-30 gallon water changes can get exhausting. Before adjusting all the things above, I used to have to rely on water changes to keep my tank in check. Now I get to save countless hours and $250 or so of Red Sea Coral Pro salt I used a year. Hope some of this may help
