I admit, I have become a little lax in water changing, to the point where I was afraid that I'd be doing harm to the tank mates (corals and two fishes). 1 clown, 1 goby are the only fishes in my tank.
My question is whether you need to do water changes as frequently if you have zero trace of Nitrates. The question comes as I am doing a water change for the first time in months. I have been having to add about a gallon of fresh water (I buy gallons of Purified water from the Grocery store) and I supplement with Calcium and Buffer - mainly -however, I do add trace amounts of Iodine as well as Strontium & Molybdenum.
This replenishes the evaporated water.
So as I was doing a water change for the first time in a long time, I figured I'd look to see the Nitrates on the water and they were unreadable (ie: close to 0).
The corals that I have are seemingly happy. Acans, a 1.5 headed Dendro that has gone from 1.5 heads to 4.5 heads. Some candy cane, and others that I don't know the species.
My question is: what reason do you have to make water changes if your nitrates are very low- and if you are supplementing water- and providing for calcium and other nutrients that allow your water to be stable (ph 7.8-8.2) temp 78, No3 (0), NH3/NH4 (0), NO2 (0)... I know there is always going to be some 'good' that comes in the form of new water, but that's my question - what good?
I do have some plants growing, so I assume it is eating up some of that Nitrate, as well as a really good skimmer (good I qualify as one that skims junk, though I'm not pulling handfuls of junk up, I am pulling a small amount at a fair pace, so I assume all is well).
Now the bad news - I certainly have had snails and crabs (little tiny ones, and big turbo snails) die over the years.
At this point the tank has had no changes of life (die or anything added) for a long time (8 months?) where nothing has really grown or died, everything seems to be in a normal state. I have only done water changes every 8 weeks or so.
The one onset of negativity is that some bubble coral has somehow materialized out of nowhere. (Again let me point out, that I have not purchased a single creature nor added anything to this tank in over a year).
I'll add a few pictures here for fun, just before the water change.
PS I was getting discouraged about my becoming less and less dedicated and disciplined about water changes, and figured the tank was going to start to exhibit issues, but perhaps I'm close but not there yet.
This is a 28 Gallon Bow Front - with a 5 gallon fuge. I have carbon, and a bunch of live rock in the fuge. The DT is nice, but I don't like the overflow - wish it was drilled, which brings me to my final point.
I'm thinking of going in one of two directions. Sell the whole thing off and give them a home they can live and prosper in - or two: Buy a bigger tank. The fact is - the tank Fuge having to be in a seperate cabinet next to the DT stand - makes this a bulky (somewhat loud) object in my office. I actually do have the space now (having moved) to house a larger tank - and I am even fortunate enough that I have a large wall with a chamber behind it (sort of a 4 foot anti-room) where I could host the non-display equipment.
The thing I'm afraid of - and please tell me if you believe this is the case, is that I could be doing much better with more frequent water changes. That without them, I have caused the growth and health of the tank to be less than what it could have been.
The Tank
My question is whether you need to do water changes as frequently if you have zero trace of Nitrates. The question comes as I am doing a water change for the first time in months. I have been having to add about a gallon of fresh water (I buy gallons of Purified water from the Grocery store) and I supplement with Calcium and Buffer - mainly -however, I do add trace amounts of Iodine as well as Strontium & Molybdenum.
This replenishes the evaporated water.
So as I was doing a water change for the first time in a long time, I figured I'd look to see the Nitrates on the water and they were unreadable (ie: close to 0).
The corals that I have are seemingly happy. Acans, a 1.5 headed Dendro that has gone from 1.5 heads to 4.5 heads. Some candy cane, and others that I don't know the species.
My question is: what reason do you have to make water changes if your nitrates are very low- and if you are supplementing water- and providing for calcium and other nutrients that allow your water to be stable (ph 7.8-8.2) temp 78, No3 (0), NH3/NH4 (0), NO2 (0)... I know there is always going to be some 'good' that comes in the form of new water, but that's my question - what good?
I do have some plants growing, so I assume it is eating up some of that Nitrate, as well as a really good skimmer (good I qualify as one that skims junk, though I'm not pulling handfuls of junk up, I am pulling a small amount at a fair pace, so I assume all is well).
Now the bad news - I certainly have had snails and crabs (little tiny ones, and big turbo snails) die over the years.
At this point the tank has had no changes of life (die or anything added) for a long time (8 months?) where nothing has really grown or died, everything seems to be in a normal state. I have only done water changes every 8 weeks or so.
The one onset of negativity is that some bubble coral has somehow materialized out of nowhere. (Again let me point out, that I have not purchased a single creature nor added anything to this tank in over a year).
I'll add a few pictures here for fun, just before the water change.
PS I was getting discouraged about my becoming less and less dedicated and disciplined about water changes, and figured the tank was going to start to exhibit issues, but perhaps I'm close but not there yet.
This is a 28 Gallon Bow Front - with a 5 gallon fuge. I have carbon, and a bunch of live rock in the fuge. The DT is nice, but I don't like the overflow - wish it was drilled, which brings me to my final point.
I'm thinking of going in one of two directions. Sell the whole thing off and give them a home they can live and prosper in - or two: Buy a bigger tank. The fact is - the tank Fuge having to be in a seperate cabinet next to the DT stand - makes this a bulky (somewhat loud) object in my office. I actually do have the space now (having moved) to house a larger tank - and I am even fortunate enough that I have a large wall with a chamber behind it (sort of a 4 foot anti-room) where I could host the non-display equipment.
The thing I'm afraid of - and please tell me if you believe this is the case, is that I could be doing much better with more frequent water changes. That without them, I have caused the growth and health of the tank to be less than what it could have been.
The Tank
