- Location
- Huntington
6 months
Longest you've gone without wc ....?
- Thread starter miserkris
- Start date
- Location
- Staten Island
Yea I'll say it's probably been at least 5 months, I don't do them often and my tank does great and yes I do have some sps in there as well. I've had some sps in there for about 3 months and they are all doing well, fully extended,growing and my other corals are growing like weeds.My coloration is also very good nothing looks brown and I have absolutely no idea what my parameters are because I don't test. Must be the tap water lol :scratchch:scratchch Honestly I think a big part of keeping a successful reef is keeping your hands out of it and letting nature take it's course. The more you F with the tank the harder it is to keep it stable. It stresses all your animals out and makes them release toxins which in turn brings down your water quality. Having a good skimmer is definitely a plus.
- Location
- Greenpoint Brooklyn, NY
Why do all the water change threads always start and are commented by people that don't have a good grasp as to why your doing a water change. Its not only to replenish calc/alk/mag.
If they understood fully well about why water changes should be done and why with what type of systems then they wouldn't be making these threads asking people.
I've gone a good 7+ months without a water change and my corals did start to deteriorate after that time. Other problems in the tank started popping up, ect. This holds true for everyones tank unless you have something special prolonging these problems like trigger and a few others that can go a year + without WC's. Either way the basic math on whats going on between water changes adds up in a small closed system no matter the amount of nutrient export, how great your tank is set up, ect and will eventually cause you problems. That said you can set up your tank to do what water changes are doing to your water without the actual water changes, and these tanks are the ones you see without water changes that look amazing on the tank of the year threads from RC and other sites.
If they understood fully well about why water changes should be done and why with what type of systems then they wouldn't be making these threads asking people.
I've gone a good 7+ months without a water change and my corals did start to deteriorate after that time. Other problems in the tank started popping up, ect. This holds true for everyones tank unless you have something special prolonging these problems like trigger and a few others that can go a year + without WC's. Either way the basic math on whats going on between water changes adds up in a small closed system no matter the amount of nutrient export, how great your tank is set up, ect and will eventually cause you problems. That said you can set up your tank to do what water changes are doing to your water without the actual water changes, and these tanks are the ones you see without water changes that look amazing on the tank of the year threads from RC and other sites.
- Location
- bayonne / nj
If you are paying attention when you go to stores to purchase fish corals ect.
They all have big skimmers and doing water changes ,no carbon,gfo ,bells and whistles , no refugiems .
There must be a good reason
They all have big skimmers and doing water changes ,no carbon,gfo ,bells and whistles , no refugiems .
There must be a good reason
- Location
- Wantagh, NY
I went two weeks once but after I did it I noticed a big difference in polyp extension and everything just looked much better. I don't run a protein skimmer that might have something to do with it.
- Location
- New Jersey
Haven't run a skimmer for the past 5 months now and everything is growing nice in my tank.
- Location
- Kings Park, NY
It's cheap, easy to maintain and there stock doesn't stay in the systems long enough usually for it to be impacted by it.
IME/IMO
I look at my tank as a sponge. Waste is not only in the water column, but stored in the rocks and sand. The more you store, the harder it is to maintain pristine water quality. If you let it go too far then you fight and uphill battle of leeching organics. I try not to go longer than 2 weeks without a water change.
The results will be somewhat subjective since you will have guys rocking hammers and zoos with "good" results. I suggest you look at tank pics and draw your own conclusion. I have never kept any type of coral that didn't benefit from pristine water quality....Even ones that need to be fed heavily.
Exactly!!!!!!!
I look at my tank as a sponge. Waste is not only in the water column, but stored in the rocks and sand. The more you store, the harder it is to maintain pristine water quality. If you let it go too far then you fight and uphill battle of leeching organics. I try not to go longer than 2 weeks without a water change.
The results will be somewhat subjective since you will have guys rocking hammers and zoos with "good" results. I suggest you look at tank pics and draw your own conclusion. I have never kept any type of coral that didn't benefit from pristine water quality....Even ones that need to be fed heavily.
Exactly!!!!!!!
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- Location
- north jersey
had gone 6-7 weeks without a water change because of the kidney stone. the tank survived just fine but the sticks weren't as vibrant. it took another 2 months of weekly water changes to get back to where it was.
a little off topic...but back in 1988, i bought a 1981 rx7 rust bucket with 100+k hard miles on it. it had an oil change the first day i got it but then never had another for over a year. the wankel rotary engine was known for oil consumption. i think it burned through a quart of oil a month....i just kept adding new oil. sold the car to a buddy and he drove it for another 2-3 yrs before the body just totally rusted out....the engine still didn't quit even with over 200k miles.
a little off topic...but back in 1988, i bought a 1981 rx7 rust bucket with 100+k hard miles on it. it had an oil change the first day i got it but then never had another for over a year. the wankel rotary engine was known for oil consumption. i think it burned through a quart of oil a month....i just kept adding new oil. sold the car to a buddy and he drove it for another 2-3 yrs before the body just totally rusted out....the engine still didn't quit even with over 200k miles.
- Location
- Staten Island
But who says the water needs to be pristine? The way I look at it is the water in the ocean comes out of the SKY. Last I checked there was no RO system on CLOUDS. The ocean water is far from pristine considering chemicals,oil spills, billions of animals using it as a toilet,boats going through it, the list goes on. I am actually planning on running some experiments w/ water quality effecting coral coloration and growth in the future.
IME your live rock is the most important part..that is the main stability to your ecosystem. If you have good rock loaded w/ bacteria your system will be able to sustain itself. If you have rock that has been wet for a few months you're going to have problems,plus who knows what leaches out of certain types of rock or from various people's systems. There is a lot of factors to it it's not just the water but the tap in queens is probably the best in NY state.
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- Location
- Rockaway Park
pics please...
- Location
- Long Island
I am at 6 months with no WC and had seen no I'll effects until about 4 weeks ago.
The corals aren't fully inflating/extending. They aren't receeding either however.
All parameters are in range, ammonia 0, nitrates 0, alk 9.0, calc 485, mag 1450.
I had been using B-ionic 2 part. When I ran out of part 2, the calcium component, i switched to a different brand that only contained calcium.
What I have surmised is that over time, by not dosing the ESV part 2 is that the trace elements were depleted. I added trace elements last week and got better extension/inflation immediately.
Question is this, the product states to add 2 capfulls a week to "maintain" trace levels. Other than watching the corals, the toadstool is still not happy, but 2 out of 3 hammers are inflating better and duncans and GSP are out, how do I know how much to add to bring the levels back up? Any other ideas on what I could be missing?
The corals aren't fully inflating/extending. They aren't receeding either however.
All parameters are in range, ammonia 0, nitrates 0, alk 9.0, calc 485, mag 1450.
I had been using B-ionic 2 part. When I ran out of part 2, the calcium component, i switched to a different brand that only contained calcium.
What I have surmised is that over time, by not dosing the ESV part 2 is that the trace elements were depleted. I added trace elements last week and got better extension/inflation immediately.
Question is this, the product states to add 2 capfulls a week to "maintain" trace levels. Other than watching the corals, the toadstool is still not happy, but 2 out of 3 hammers are inflating better and duncans and GSP are out, how do I know how much to add to bring the levels back up? Any other ideas on what I could be missing?
- Location
- Dingmans ferry PA
test kits
- Location
- Long Island
Who makes them for the trace elements? What are the proper levels?
No one in the hobby knows. You will not find an answer to this question. Most of us still fumble with calcium and alkalinity levels
There are MANY elements in salts. You would need over 100 testkits to test for all . The best trace element additive is SALT!- Location
- Long Island
Jackson,
Was just curious as I had never seen any kits for trace elements.
I'm still experimenting to see if I can bring them back up without WC's. But I will relinquish at some point. I'm also going back to ESV as the part 2 contains the trace elements necessary.
Thanks.
Was just curious as I had never seen any kits for trace elements.
I'm still experimenting to see if I can bring them back up without WC's. But I will relinquish at some point. I'm also going back to ESV as the part 2 contains the trace elements necessary.
Thanks.
- Location
- Huntington
When I didn't change my water for 6 months last year, I tested for everything, the only thing that wasn't perfect was the phosphates... But even that wasn't bad. Calcium was at 375 and all I had then, was softies. Thriving btw...
- Location
- Huntington
I do water changes now.... Just for peace of mind.
- Location
- Dingmans ferry PA
im sorry i read your post wrong i thought you were just looking for alk,cal,mag not the trace elements. thats why water changes are so important to replenish the trace elements at a safe limit. you know exactly what in your salt water mix if you look up whats in it and its usually enough till the next water change. the only other thing i test for other then cal,mag,alk,po4 and no3 is potassium.
- Location
- Deer Park,Long Island,11729
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