question on water change

[leonard2k]

i had been lps for 5 years.

i very often see people advice do 20% Water change every week, but as for me it had been 6 month no water change liao, or can say change water every 6 mth. normally just top up. just dose seachem  iodine traceelement for fish, mg, ca, kh, GeoTech ABCM, 5 in 1 coral food, i have algae scrubber at sump, but only clear off once every 2-3 mth

i do no3,ca,mg,kh, sanitity test every mth. so far ok, normally just need to add some mg

i have certain coral that is very good and certain coral i cant keep.

so far i have plate coral and they reproducing. but the main is dead.

anmomey keep splitting, already 7 times

mush room keep spreading,

elangence still ok.

sps monti type, quite successful.

sps bird nest type normally fail as my no3 cant be zero plus flame angel nip at times.

cant keep prata and brain and clam more then 3 mth, i also saw flame angel nip. but then i also wonder if i no change water.

 

i wonder how many people like me do not change water and every thing is good?

 

 

 

[JMW]

Wah! how you do it? Save alot of money from needing to buy water & salt!

Your scrubber is very efficient in removing nitrates & phosphates? Some more you only clear it once every 2-3mths! Usually what I have read is a weekly pruning.

Btw, what's your nitrates & phosphate levels?

[Killerwhale]

i have not changed water for the past 10n months. only changed the filter wool, top up water and add trace elements....everything is surviving....

[leejwa]

i had similar experience as you with my old 4ft tank. Lazy to change water for about 6 month i think and LPS like hammer and touch corals is still  doing very well and growing. Except for brain and SPS corals which i having problem maintaining it. I guess some of the corals is more tolerance of water parameter whereas some are not. 

But the most obvious thing that i notice after a small water change is the coral color seem to be brighten up after the WC.

 

[JMW]

i have not changed water for the past 10n months. only changed the filter wool, top up water and add trace elements....everything is surviving....

wow, how you all control your nitrates/phosphate levels?

[Killerwhale]

for nitrate - I used biosphere and chaeto. 

for phosphate - i used rowophos reactor and media changed 6 mthly.

However, if you got the time, change water weekly the best

[JMW]

Alright thanks, will be KIVing these tried & tested methods! Frequent WC also not entirely sustainable in the long run

[kenyee]

Imho, different setup got different way to sustain a successful tank..the most ideal way of coz its no WC but all livestock healthy n growing well..my tank of many tangs make me hard to not WC as they really eat n poo a lot..I dun test my water parameters but my eyes tell me that they swim more actively after WC..cheers n good luck to all

[leonard2k]

i keep as below
1 yellow tang 4",1 purple tang 4",1 Blue tang   5",1 dont know what indonesia tang 5"
1 salfin tang 3" ,1 flamg angel 3" selective coral unsafe
1 wassel,3 true clown

5 Ratb, but thank a bro buy 2 from me. so left 3. 2 years ago is just 1 small RATB, split to 6 in 2 year
1 green carpet anomeny
1 plate coral, it spread 1 additional, but then give away 1 
1 hammer 6 head die 4 head
1 green elglance

brown sps monti
Bright Green sps monti

blue and red and green mush room

i got tried brain and prata, but i think eaten by flame angel.
never have clam, bird nest for surviving more then 3 month

i did a 2 pail water change last week end. asi just buy RO/DI unit of 4 compartment
clear algae scrubber, well seem horrible, the refrigem of the algae scrubber, 20% of 1ft by 0.5ft by 1ft. 
is covered with sea weed from algae scrubber fell off.

u used to have cheato same compartment with algae scrubber but they are all gone, i guess dead liao.

NO3 i measure 1 per 2 week always around 25, some times but rarely is 50 due to skimmer full
Ca normally 500, mg 1350, kh 10. normally i use 3 in 1 powder form to mix, but then normally kh and mg i still need to add more after dosing 3 in 1
just raise kh and mg

by the way when changing water i saw 3 piece of bettles in the sump dead for long time liao, it did not decompose at all and it is hard.
i rememeber i saw them flying few mth ago

 

hi JMW,  NO3 25, PO4 also not high , and is not 0, normally is first 2 colour of the chart.

hi Killerwhale,
nice to see some 1 like me, u can keep sps like bird nest? clam?
bird nest is the coral i always fail, i also dont know if my flame angel eat it not coz it nip selective coral.
but i live flame more then those coral

hi leejwa
nice, lazy people can do magic at times. well lps i think works ok, still thinking should i put in the effort to go for sps

 

finally i is there any 1 that seldom change water able to keep a lot of SPS???

[leonard2k]

i want to show plate coral re- produce

[leonard2k]

after un-notice this few mth anemone suddenly become 5, and they are able to go 5-7 inch each,