Water Changes = Blood Letting

[FlyPenFly]

Water changes, while I do them, remind me a lot of blood letting.

Blood letting was medical practice #1 and everyone was Convinced it was the best thing to do for the vast majority of ailments for 2000 years. People just didn't understand what was going on with the body yet humongous volumes of medical literature was written about it's benefits and how it purifies the body.

Today, we do it for a very limited number of diseases and it's considered horribly counterproductive. We understand much better how the human body functions and we've grown past it. When for the most of human history, blood letting was considered an Of Course treatment, nowadays people are disgusted that humanity as a whole could have been so stupid.

I think reef keeping today, we're still in the blood letting stage of development. We don't really know what's going on, how different corals interact, how other symbiotic organisms work in a closed aquarium. So we don't really know any better so we're just going to remove everything by taking a arbitrary percentage of the water out at arbitrary intervals.

It's horribly unscientific yet we just don't really know any better. Examples of thriving reefs that don't do water changes are simply dismissed because nobody really knows what's going on and can't explain it easily. This is how just about everyone has been perpetuating this hobby.

Sorry, just ranting. I still do water changes myself.

 

[SanmanReefer]

Lol, good one man. I remember one of my large tanks years ago going almost a year without water changes and it was incredible. I had an incredibly large refugium with lots of macros though. I still do weekly water changes, one of my friends that makes a living doing tank maintenance, installing, etc.. says I'm crazy for doing so many water changes. He recommends at least once per month and a small amount only. Who knows man!

 

[bertyboy69]

I generally do once a month water changes on my 90 gallon tank has a 40 gallon sump/fuge and never have any problem approx a 25 gallon water change , would love to do bi yearly water changes or even yearly would be nice ! Someone needs to do more research !!!!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Reefs

 

[Aquadicted]

I completely agree on where we are in the hobby as far its infancy goes. And the thing with this hobby too is that all these animals have evolved to do different things in the wild. They have different needs and niches. So this makes aquariums that much harder and complicated.

 

[marrone]

There has been plenty of research done, not to mention there is plenty of people experiences over many many years to fed off of.

It's pretty easy, all you need to ask yourself is why are you doing water changes for in the first place? If it's to help reduce nitrates or phosphates then there are things that you can use to help reduce them without doing water changes. The same with adding Cal, Alk or nutrients, there are plenty of other methods that you can use to accomplish these things outside of doing a water change. You'll find may people who have their tank, equipment, supplements and maintenance setup in such a way where do don't have to do any, or very few, water changes. Then you have others that don't fully understand what they're doing, and have to do water changes just to keep their systems inline.

 

[edd]

so blood letting was a transfusion?

 

[FlyPenFly]

I use 3 part dosing, run an algae scrubber, phosguard, a large skimmer, do Caron dosing, dose and test for iodine and strontium and also dose reef trace occasionally. I still do water changes weekly but I often question myself why I'm doing it.

 

[Arati]

you you start donating blood.


http://www.4hourlife.com/2011/04/24...-iron-hemochromatosis-and-the-bubonic-plague/

There is ample evidence that iron reduction through phlebotomy (donating blood) can not only improve insulin sensitivity, but also reduce cancer specific and all cause deaths. High iron stores have been correlated to an increased number of heart attacks in otherwise symptom free males, and blood donation has conversely been correlated to a decrease in ?cardiovascular incidents?

 

[marrone]

I still do water changes weekly but I often question myself why I'm doing it.

Well, that is a good question. I'm sure you know why you use phosguard or dosing 2 part but what are you trying accomplish by doing the water change?

 

[FlyPenFly]

Accepted best practice for diluting unmeasurable pollutants.

 

[beerfish]

Accepted best practice for diluting unmeasurable pollutants.

In a freshwater tank, that may be the case, but in a saltwater tank, you're also replacing trace elements used in your tank.

The reason there are different salt mixes, and some are regarded as better than others is that each has their own trace element composition. When you do a water change, you're diluting pollutants, but you're also replacing the nutrients lost in your tank.

 

[FlyPenFly]

In a freshwater tank, that may be the case, but in a saltwater tank, you're also replacing trace elements used in your tank.

The reason there are different salt mixes, and some are regarded as better than others is that each has their own trace element composition. When you do a water change, you're diluting pollutants, but you're also replacing the nutrients lost in your tank.

Which trace elements?

The same can essentially be accomplished with wide spectrum supplements. Everything in synthetic salt can be delivered by other means.

 

[oh207]

Good point. But I'm still going along with the majority and follow what is currently known as best practice and perform regular water changes.
Although I was doing 20g water changes every 2 weeks when I fist setup my tank. Now I do the same 20g, but only once a month.
And since I've not been in the hobby long enough to learn from experience or have any empirical data, I have no choice but to do what is considered the best practice. If not for my sanity, then at least for the livestocks.
Besides, doing a water change makes me feel all nice inside.

 

[B.BASH]

Consider it not as blood letting but as a transfusion replenishing the blood with necesary elements the body (enclosed enviroment) is not repleneshing for whatever reason

 

[basiab]

Accepted best practice for diluting unmeasurable pollutants.

Agree. Because we don't see what chemicals corals put in the water to get rid
of the other corals in the tank.
It also helps reduce nitrates for those of us that don't have anything else to reduce it like a DSB. I have a small tank and don't dose anything so a water change replenishes the minerals that get used up by inhabitants.

 

[under10minutes]

I'll be a test monkey. No more water changes for me, starting....1, 2, 3..... Now!

Was getting tired of lugging water jugs anyways

 

[lnevo]

So i would say this...if your livestock looks happy after a water change then keep doing them. If they don't notice or care then you can stop. If its doing nothing and your changing like for like then theoretically you should see no change between changes. Personally water changes make everything seem refreshed. Plus The way I do them rinses my gfo and carbon so if i want to change those out it goes hand in hand...

 

[vio]

Which trace elements?

The same can essentially be accomplished with wide spectrum supplements. Everything in synthetic salt can be delivered by other means.

That the All point " Which trace elements?" if u now , then no need ,water change, try to increase the Alkalinity by using Baking soda or calcium reactor up to 10 or 11 dKh , then u see the dif. when increase w/salt , i refer in special to LPS.

 

[SteveZ15]

In all reality in natural reef water changes are done 2x a day with the tides bringing new nutrients and different water,the ocean is like a staged filter different things happen to the water depending on where the currents take it and the animals and bacteria and whatever else is down there are all different as the water moves to different places.So really things are added and taken from the water as it passes different places.

 

[MikeC]

IMOP Water changes are the single most effective /least expensive additive thing you can do for your tank.