2 Change or Not 2 Change

So I have a question.
If you test you water and all your parameters are good, do you still do a water change just because it has been a month or some amount of time ?

OK, so if you say no, params are good then no change. What about water elements ? Would those deplete ? Would an addative help restore ?

Any thoughts on this ?


Cheers

 

What do your gut instincts tell you?

Mine tell me to do a water change.

Did you end up doing a 20 gallon or 29 gallon for your sump?

im trying to do a 29 right now and trying to figure out the dimentions for the acrylic

 

It's my opinion that small water changes more often work for me. Now there are a few reefers on a local reef board in Michigan that have not done a water change for 6 months or more, other than to add some to make up for water removed by the skimmer. Unless you are testing for all the elements i would think a water change would be needed. Now I did have a 12 gallon Nano Cube in my daughters room that was a bout 2 years old and the last 6 months I didn't do any water changes. It didn't have any fish in it just Xenia and mushrooms.

 

If you have fish or other animals...they pee and poop ......you dont want them swimming in their own urine do you?

 

I agree, but my AM, N2, and N 4 are 0 , thus my question.

 

You could do other things perhaps like siphon the sand or take out some live rock put them in a bucket full of fresh salt water and blast them with a powerhead and get all that gunk off of it

If u siphon the sand you will be forced to do a water change hahah ;D

 

I went with a 20. The first time I did the sump, i think I ended up with 5 gallons in the intake side, 5 gallons on the return, and the sump ended up around 8. The 8 I dont want to touch. I did not find it easy to drain the sump. I tried the pump and tube method but need to siphone to get started and boy that tastes aweful.

It is easy to drop the pump in the main tank and drain into a bucket then reverse for changing.

For cleaning the sump I will likley power off the pumps, and rinse the foam blocks, wipe the glass, and clean the skimmer chambers.

So I'm not trying to get out of doing changes, I am just curious what we think about changing water wwhen the params are good.

 

ok let me see if i can give you some other reasons
(you're not gona talk your way outa this;D)

1. Fresh water you made smells better than the water you are taking out
2. Fresh water you made will have better clarity that the water in your tank.
3.Its good to be consistent.
4.If you are not huring your tank, then you can only be helping.
5.I will give you a peace of mind that you just did a water change
6.You will feel better when you wake up the next morning.
7.Better control algal growth or prevent a bloom
8.There are unwanted organic compounds and acids that do not have
test kits.

I can keep goin lol

 

They don't. The Uric acid will be mineralized very quickly and the solid waste will be attacked by heterotrophic bacteria, converted into Ammonia, and then Nitrification will occur. The process of Nitrification happens very quickly. If it didn't, we couldn't even have this hobby. De-Nitrification is a different story....it requires a specific Oxygen gradient for it to even happen.

I wouldn't do a water-change. I would test, Ca, Alk, and Mg and dose appropriately.

 

you don't have to do wc when u siphon sand. i put a filter sock in my sump, that way i can siphon without having to get rid of tank water. when i get done, i simply remove the filter sock ;D
but i would suggest a small wc every once in a while just to replace minute trace elements