What if you never did a water change... ever.

[sk_josh]

Hi,

I have a bizarre question.

I picked up a used reef ready tank the other day and found out something interesting from the owner that I simply couldn't believe. He had never done a water change, he had merely added some water from time to time. He was obviously clueless.... but had a nice setup including sump, skimmer, lighting, etc. FYI his tank has been running for 3+ years.

I took his fish which are obviously in not the best of health, and they are now in my quarantine tank where I will hopefully nurse them back to health.

One is some kind of angelfish that is all blue (can't find anything like it online), another is (i think) a arch eyed hawk fish, and another which I am still trying to figure out what it is. He thought it was a tomato clown, which I couldn't help but laugh about. Definitely not. I'll post some pictures of these fish later tonight.

So my question is, how are these fish still alive?

Thanks

 

[jayman10134]

they slowly adjusted to the bad water conditions. if he had added a new fish it would have definately died unless it came out of a tank with equally bad water quality.

 

[JohnK]

FWIW in his reccent presentation at BRASS Eric Borneman stated that he does not do water changes at all.

It is possible

 

[jayman10134]

do you have to run a nitrate absorber or anything or does he just run it as a normal setup?

 

[jbishop]

I ran my tank for a year and only did 2 maybe 3 waterchanges.

I think it could quite easily be done.

 

[jayman10134]

I ran my tank for a year and only did 2 maybe 3 waterchanges.

I think it could quite easily be done.

I hate doing water changes. What was your setup like? What did you dose the water with?

 

[jbishop]

I hate doing water changes. What was your setup like? What did you dose the water with?

two part when i got around to it, to be fair the tank did look like crap.

I have been doing weekly water changes now for about 2 months and the tank has never looked better.

 

[jayman10134]

lol. ok, if it looked amazing with no water changes i would definately go that route. i guess i don't get to stop doing water changes yet...

 

[Joel A]

I agree, a tank can be run without doing many or any water changes for that matter.... the tank might not be a pristine amazing looking tank, but it's not a stretch that the stuff in the tank would still be fairly healthy.

I've slacked off on water changes before.. but we're talking a few months max.. not years..

The best way to make sure you do water changes is to make them as simple as possible.. when i had freshwater discus fish, i had it almost all automated, i'd open a valve in the bottom of the sump plumbing, and water would drain out... i'd close the valve, then turn on a pump in a barrel that would fill that tank.. BOOM! water change done in about 2 minutes.. probably about 25 gallons worth each time too.

With my reef tank though, it's not set up that easily, so i find myself not doing quite as many water changes as i should... mainly because it involves old fashioned siphoning and buckets =/.

 

[jayman10134]

yeah, i have discus that don't get water changes for weeks usually. i agree that siphons and buckets is what makes it hard to actually get the motivation to do them.

 

[sk_josh]

thanks guys, the blue fish's skin looks a little "burnt" for lack of a better term. Sorta washed out. I'll be posting pics late with the hopes to identify these guys.

Its interesting to hear its possible. I'm assuming equipment is key in this type of setup.

 

[jbishop]

thanks guys, the blue fish's skin looks a little "burnt" for lack of a better term. Sorta washed out. I'll be posting pics late with the hopes to identify these guys.

Its interesting to hear its possible. I'm assuming equipment is key in this type of setup.

I just had a pump and a sump. No skimmer on the system.

 

[stingythingy45]

I heard no mention of coral so I assume this is a fish only......with live rock?
A FO tank can plug along just fine with high nitrates and phosphates.But,a reef tank would look pretty sick(bad way) after 3 yrs.

 

[jbishop]

I heard no mention of coral so I assume this is a fish only......with live rock?
A FO tank can plug along just fine with high nitrates and phosphates.But,a reef tank would look pretty sick(bad way) after 3 yrs.

there was coral and inverts. Even a clam

 

[sk_josh]

Yes there was coral, just little mushroom (i think) corals everywhere. they don't look very healthy. All their others corals had died (go figure)

 

[jayman10134]

there was coral and inverts. Even a clam

you must not have done a 8.5 hour dip on it... sorry i just couldn't resist

 

[jbishop]

you must not have done a 8.5 hour dip on it... sorry i just couldn't resist

That was before my dipping days. When I transferred to my current setup everything got dipped and rock got bleached.

 

[stingythingy45]

Yes there was coral, just little mushroom (i think) corals everywhere. they don't look very healthy. All their others corals had died (go figure)

Yeah,go figure.

Did this come with rock?
Just be careful cause sometimes the rock will hold nasty stuff in it.Locked up phosphates and nitrates.It will leach it back out and cause a recurring algae bloom that will be pretty near impossible to get rid of.

 

[sk_josh]

yeah, I gave it a freshwater bath and its in my tank. I'm watching for any spikes, and doing extra water changes.

What else would you recommend that I do?

 

[stingythingy45]

I probably would have soaked it in ro/di for a few day,then changed the water and did this a couple times.Test for phosphate and nitrates.
You're going to recycle the rock so you'll start with ammonia if there was/is any decomposing material in/on the rocks.
Are you aware of the cycle?
Ammonia>nitrite>nitrate?