Are water changes realy necessary?

[auqua man]

I have been told by some that they do not change their water regulary.
is there any truth to that??

 

[Herefishyfishy]

If fish only and maybe some softys, can get away with less pristine water quality. With coral tanks, you can see the difference, keep water fresh.

 

[ronj]

you could get away with it, but i'm sure it will catch up at some point...nitrates will get awful..the tank will look bad, algea could take over..if you have corals or fish, that is not good for them...if you are going to keep living things in the tank, at least give them good living conditions...regular water changes are a must!!!!. also, it depends on what your definition of "regular" is..i go 2-3 weeks on my big tank, and more often than that on my smaller ones

 

[auqua man]

thanks thats good to know. I would hate to make poor living conditions in my tank for my coral and fish. I will keep up with my 25 gal every two weeks water change for 110 gal tank.

 

[artman230]

yeah when I had my 90 gal reef tank I never changed the water....and it was fine, but since I have had my 20 gal nano....I usually change the water every week, and it helps a lot ( however I had a potein skimmer on my 90 and I dont have one yet for my 20). I think the skimmers really help either way.

 

[mark peacock]

So reading through what you have said about water changes and skimmers do you need a skimmer in a 100g reef tank if i was doing water changes twice a week 25g at a time (thats with siponing the substraight as well)

 

[burning2nd]

i had, a kinda aquaintance, that i use 2 know that said


"i dont do water changes, its fine" (i said ya, right now)

" i dont test water" "dont need to" (i said, youll see)

"my tank is fine"

first couple of things i noticed, when i first saw his tank, it was dirty,
looked bad, over stocked with fish. and a home made skimmer.

needless 2 say, it was only about 3or 4 months b4 his hole tank crashed,

he saved a few things by puting them at the lfs, but

water changes= cleaner water= better looking tank= happyer fish/coral/ (anything thats alive) = less head ache

 

[shallowreef]

I've always questioned the whole water change thing myself. Because if we have all this equipment to keep our water clean than why the WC? Well later that week i had a horrible case of cyano break out in my 210 and said to myself thats why.

 

[Krish]

One of the main reasons to change water is to remove all the waste that your filters missed (like settling detritus etc) but also to replenish your water with the trace elements found in the salt mix that corals etc use up. I guess it is a personal preference, but I think the vast majority do water changes for the simple fact that if they dont, then they'd be in trouble

 

[returnofsid]

Another good reason for water changes is the fact that the trace elements introduced to the water by our synthetic salts degrades over time and needs to be replenished. In the ocean, this happens naturally. If you don't do regular water changes, your water will end up void of all kinds of trace elements that are highly needed by both your fish and corals.

 

[shallowreef]

I think the main reason is the smell. Old water smells bad. Especially if its dirty. Then its like low tide.

 

[LakeEd]

So reading through what you have said about water changes and skimmers do you need a skimmer in a 100g reef tank if i was doing water changes twice a week 25g at a time (thats with siponing the substraight as well)

Mark,

To answer your question:

No, you don't "need" to have a good skimmer... on any size tank. However, skimmers remove disolved solids, hopefully before they have the oppertunity to break down further in our tanks. The "baby-diaper" smell and look of what a skimmer pulls out of our tank, now doesn't have the oppertunity to fully decompose in our tanks... keeping things cleaner for us.

That being said... good tank maintenance, along with healthy water changes as you stated above, would probably do every bit as much as a skimmer would.

An added benifit of doing twice weekly water changes is as people stated above... you are replenishing trace elements that the animals in your tank are using... which has to be a good thang!

My problem is... mass maintenance on my tank is WORK... and being a little on the lazy side (okay, perhaps MORE than a little), I find cleaning my skimmer once a week is sooo much easier than crawling up on a ladder twice a week to get into my tank and clean. I do still have to do the ladder thang, but I'm only doing that about every other week, instead of twice weekly.

 

[wrightme43]

Here is another thing I have noticed. As water gets older in the tank it gets yellower. Take a highlighter and mark a large yellow line on white printer paper. Tape it to one end of your tank and go to the other. Look thru the water. The highlighter mark will disappear or be hard to see. Do a water change, Look thru the tank, the highlighter will be obvious. That yellowing blocks light from the corals. It means energy and heat are being created for no benifit to you.
Another reason. Surface tension. Have you noticed that after a water change the food floats easily on the top, and before a water change the food sinks easily thru?
Another reason. It allows you a very good look at your tank. You know it better.
Another reason. The fish seem to like the excitement. LOL

 

[The Apprentice]

Water Changes= a good thing!

Hi Auqua Man I just wanted to pass on to you some other positive aspects with water changes. I have 2 tanks one is a 150 gallon reef with a few to many fish it mainly has LPS and a few softies in it. And i have a 75 gallon SPS tank that is lightly stocked with a few fish I do weekly or about every 9-10 day do 20 gallon water changes to both tanks I have found it keeps the Nitrates down in the big tank and at 9 days I start to see my calcium levels start to drop In my little SPS tank with doing 20 gallon water changes in this tank for the past 2 years I have been very lucky of having a very full tank of SPS that i never dose,add or even worry about calcium or alkalinity levels all my corals are getting what they need through water changes. Its work but i sure am happy with the results . I Like the KISS method.

thanks thats good to know. I would hate to make poor living conditions in my tank for my coral and fish. I will keep up with my 25 gal every two weeks water change for 110 gal tank.

 

[tamarindthai]

i do the water change every 10 days,,watch your skimmer before and after water change you will know.

 

[DonW]

i do the water change every 10 days,,watch your skimmer before and after water change you will know.

I agree, you can actually see your skimmate go from light to almost black over a short period of time. Its a good indicator of when you need to change water.

Don

 

[mark peacock]

Cheers ED with me doing water changes twice a week i am taking less out of my skimmer thats the reason why i asked the less water changes i do more the skimmer takes out,
i know its a bit more work but the results are better than doing one a week.
thanks guys once again learn something new everyday lol.

 

[Skimmy]

Are water changes realy necessary?

yes they are

 

[SueT]

A good friend of mine has in his sig line, the solution to pollution is dilution, water changes are a must for healthy fish and corals.

We do 10g weekly.

 

[Dr. Dee]

Ok guys don't get mad at me but,I havn't done a water change in my tank over a year and six months,no skimmer but i do have a refugium and i do top off once a week and here is my tank.