I know this article is somewhat long, but please read through it. I know anyone wil benefit from doing so... http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-10/rhf/index.php#4
Jesse
Jesse
A must-read for all aquarists...
- Thread starter reefman23
- Start date
reefermike
New Member
very nice post reefman... it would be nice to have a discusion on this topic prior to reading it.
A
Anonymous
Guest
they are very good articles and obviously they did their best to apply a scientific method and math to their experiment, but neither is actually practical in terms of what really happens in a reef tank. the varibles are way to unrealistic to try to control. inputs - food, light, salt, water, rock, sand etc. and outputs - growth, bio processing, C, N, PO4 cycles, skimming, filtering, carbon and resins all vary so much in any system that that one "right" method of water changes doesn't exist.
a reef tank when set up properly, with a balance of input and output and not overloaded with consumers (fish and cleaners etc.) over producers (zooxanthellae and other algaes etc.) and decomposers (bacteria mainly)-which many newcomers do, will become stable given a proper amount of time. water changes can be done using any of those recomended methods and not match the needs of a system and therefor be uneffective. only experimentation with your system and testing will determine what method you need to employ. personally i find water changes to be easier and cheaper in the long run then testing and supplimenting in smaller systems. but as they point out - no amount of water changes will fix an algae bloom in an unbalanced system very quickly.
didn't help much did i???????? sorry
a reef tank when set up properly, with a balance of input and output and not overloaded with consumers (fish and cleaners etc.) over producers (zooxanthellae and other algaes etc.) and decomposers (bacteria mainly)-which many newcomers do, will become stable given a proper amount of time. water changes can be done using any of those recomended methods and not match the needs of a system and therefor be uneffective. only experimentation with your system and testing will determine what method you need to employ. personally i find water changes to be easier and cheaper in the long run then testing and supplimenting in smaller systems. but as they point out - no amount of water changes will fix an algae bloom in an unbalanced system very quickly.
didn't help much did i???????? sorry