minchton Posted May 30, 2005 Report Share Posted May 30, 2005 On the weekend I looked at a marine tank. Nothing unusual about that! But wait theres more. The tank which was purchased two years ago is a standard three foot tank. They run a medium? queen type skimmer and a small powerhead. Lighting is by a 150 Metal Halide, it was 2 lights but they felt this created too much heat so took one away. The tank has not had a water change in the time they have had the tank (2 years), nor has the MH bulb been changed in this time. They started with 1 coral and 1 anenome. the coral has divided and there are now 4 nice sized pieces. The anenome has grown a number of arms and appears to have split at least twice. There are three nice sized fish: a blue tang(4in), I think a brown tang(3in) and a clown which I could not identify (3in) The clown is maroon with yellow stripes. They all looked happy and healthy and live on a mainly flake diet Water is topped up with fresh about every three weeks or when the level is getting a bit low for the anenome and the only additive is a few drop of "reef solution" once a month. Now if this doesn't throw all the right procedures out the window with the water what does it tell you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brianemone Posted May 30, 2005 Report Share Posted May 30, 2005 sorry but what did you see when you looked into the tank?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minchton Posted May 30, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 30, 2005 apart from the fact that the glass was due for a clean the actual water was as clean as any tank that I have seen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brianemone Posted May 30, 2005 Report Share Posted May 30, 2005 :-? there was a swedish (ithink) that was totm on RC that experimented with not doing water changes over a year i think. but when he did finally go back to water changes noticed markable improvements in tank quality Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
petplanet Posted May 30, 2005 Report Share Posted May 30, 2005 Would be interesting to run some water tests on the tank. Prehaps stress causes the anemone to divide? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jetskisteve Posted May 30, 2005 Report Share Posted May 30, 2005 poor bloody fish Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deeveus Posted May 30, 2005 Report Share Posted May 30, 2005 Wouldn't the water go stagnant? Poor fishies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AW Posted May 30, 2005 Report Share Posted May 30, 2005 I thought the fish were reported to be in good health? Did I miss something? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minchton Posted May 30, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 30, 2005 even I cant quite believe it but the fish are healthy and very friendly. Water test results because I brought some home to test PH 8 Phosphate .03 salinity 1.025 Magnesium 1500 calcium 500 Kh 14.4 Ammonia 1 Nitrite .25 Nitrate (ouch) 160 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cookie extreme Posted May 30, 2005 Report Share Posted May 30, 2005 i would like to belive the results. but mag 1500, cal 500 and kh 15.5 seems very unrealistic!! i used to go without a water change for 5-6 month but was never able to sustain such high parameters. if some body is able to please let me know how. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted May 30, 2005 Report Share Posted May 30, 2005 they add reef solution each month - perhaps more than just a "few drops". go figure on the nitrites, nitrates and ammonia. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minchton Posted May 30, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 30, 2005 are you suggesting the figures are not true or are you saying that Salifert test kits are a waste of money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jetskisteve Posted May 30, 2005 Report Share Posted May 30, 2005 Mich, I think what were saying is without a waterchange those parameters should drop eg CA KH Mg etc I know mine do without a Calc reactor or big waterchanges! they might have been adding something?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted May 30, 2005 Report Share Posted May 30, 2005 yeah, a 'few' drops of reef solution monthly - i'd gather somewhat more than that with those readings Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minchton Posted May 30, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 30, 2005 It is not my intention to start an argument over this tank. the information I am giving was just for a matter of interest The owners stated that apart from food every thing with the tank was as given to them when they bought it. From memory the reef solution was about half full. they still had the original bag of salt that came with the tank As I said at the start I cant explain it but I do wish all marine tanks were this easy to keep!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They didnt even have test kits and were quite surprised when I mentioned testing the water Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jetskisteve Posted May 30, 2005 Report Share Posted May 30, 2005 Apart from...Ammonia 1 Nitrite .25 Nitrate (ouch) 160 I'd like the other parameters! Does the KH make sense tho? its pretty high? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted May 30, 2005 Report Share Posted May 30, 2005 It is not my intention to start an argument over this tank. the information I am giving was just for a matter of interest i think you fail to see the difference between an argument and an open discussion. anything posted here is open for discussion. no one is saying your readings are wrong, we are saying that it is hard to believe as kH, calcium and magnesium are generally depleted/drops over time, not increased. so the only logical explanation is that they are being added back by the reef solution. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minchton Posted May 30, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 30, 2005 rechecked KH still comes out the same Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brianemone Posted May 30, 2005 Report Share Posted May 30, 2005 it doesnt sound like there is anything in the tank that would have a huge demand for calcium. I dont like the idea of ammonia or nitrites in my tank that has livestock Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pies Posted May 30, 2005 Report Share Posted May 30, 2005 Just to throw my own oar into the mix. I am with the majority on this, those number's are hard to belive. KH, CA & MG are all bound to each other, however I didn't think it was really possible to have such a high KH with such a low PH. Doesn't feel right. Test kits have a limited life span, perhapps they need replacing. Water changes. There was a tank on RC recently (mojoreef's) who's only water change was 30L a year (replacing skim-mate). However their is an update on the thread showing that he started doing 10% monthly water changes and noticed a major increase in growth and colour of corals and behavior of the fish, and made it clear that he would no longer advocate not doing water changes. Also note it was a big tank, over 500 gallons I think. Water changes 2. Richard Durso (of standpipe fame) had an awesome tank, with corals sexually reproducing etc. He also was an advocate of no water changes, having grown some stunning corals in his tank. He broke his tank down last year when he moved home. He has sited several times that the reason he doesn't do water changes is one of cost, he is tight with money you see. He has said that he feels the tank woudl beifit from more water changes but its not nessessary. Again this is a larger than normal tank (over 400 gallons *i think*). the water paramaters of the tank Mitch is talking about are appauling and if ever there was a reason to do a water change, 160 nitrate is it. Pies Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveA Posted May 30, 2005 Report Share Posted May 30, 2005 If the animals are happy and used to those conditions you certainly would not want to do any large water changes. Many animals, previously oblivious to the fact that they have been living in sub optimal conditions, have only discovered this fact as they died from a sudden change (improvement) in those conditions. Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gregb Posted May 30, 2005 Report Share Posted May 30, 2005 I would do a 5% water change each day for a week that would make it better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minchton Posted May 31, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 31, 2005 the test kits I am using are all less than one month old. I have been down today and done a 50% water change and within minutes the corals changed from a dull grey colour to lovely green and mauve Hope this sudden change is not now going to kill all the tank off. Did use water from my tank which I was doing a water change on so some of my parameters would not have been 1st class. This hopefully will be O.K. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveA Posted May 31, 2005 Report Share Posted May 31, 2005 This hopefully will be O.K. You'll know soon enough Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveA Posted May 31, 2005 Report Share Posted May 31, 2005 You would also probably need to expect the anemones to go into hiding for a bit. They may also indulge in some serious deflation as they seek to expel the old water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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