Ok I got a question for all the pros!

Ok I have this 10 gallon tank. It's got that little barracuda in there. It's got about 3 inches of sand and allot of live rock. I've got quite a few zoantids in there and a sun coral. I've never cycled this tank. Every couple of days I do a 100% water change. Because this is more like an open system I find I can keep anything in there.

My question is this. Not that I actually want to, but will this tank every cycle? Or find a balance? Every time I do a 100% water change I'm figuring that I starve off the denitrifying bacteria. Is this likely?

 

The bacteria has to establish its self to the proper Colony size to handle a particular Bio demand.. And by changing the water 100% every day or so you are just putting off the inevitable.. But what you are doing will work and is done in many Commercial public Aquariums But you may want make sure the new water is clean and disease free.

 

I believe you are doing the ultimate water maintenance. Because you are using NSW you are importing everything the tank needs and you are flushing all the waste the next time you do a water change.

the only draw back I see is if you stop doing the water changes you will have a tank crash due to the lack of the necessary bacteria

J

 

Cool thanks

 

The problem that you may encounter with continuously performing a 100% water change is a constant spike in water parameters with the water in the tank and that of the natural salt water. For instance, you may have a pH, alkalinity or nitrate level that is different than that of the natural water-thus possibly stressing out the livestock in your tank.

 

100% water change? Damn, you'll never establish the tank that way. It's up to you to balance it as well. The ammonia/nitrite will balance out, but it's your responsibily to monitor pH and other levels. As long as you have fish in your tank, ammonia will always feed the bacteria. That's one of the primary roles of fish in the sea enviornment.