Have tried almost everything possible throughout the years and have to agree completely. The less I mess with my tank the better it does.

Why am I watching this? I don't even have an aquarium😂

I used to work at Tropic Seas on Colfax ave back in the day .I remember when Ron Myer was working out how to put the best Wet Dry together , glad to see the Hobby is alive and well in the Mile in the Mile High City. Fixing to upgrade my little 38 nano reef tank up to a 90 gallon reef ready tank, you've given me some excellent idea...Thanks!

I’m loving the video so far! Thanks for breaking it down seamlessly. I’m really enjoying reefing so far. 9 months in👶🏼😉

You know how hard it is to find some to break down the process the way you did thanks bro this will be my recommend vid on my channel keep up the good work luv your channel this helps soooo many reefers

New York steelo is a legend in my eyes. I wish he’d get his channel going again.

Tons and tons of great information and really gets the reef tank keepers into thinking outside the box. Thank you, awesome tank and unbelievable clam. Keep the personal videos coming.

Dude that tank is freaking beautiful!!!

I really like the way you've explained it Scott, thanks great job. Keep up the good work.

New york steelo is one of the original KZfaq reefer OG's i miss that dude

Excellent presentation , food for thought i must say !

I've watched a few of your videos, and I just want to say thank you for sharing your great knowledge with the world and with the detail that is often not found with other sources. You do a great job. And remember, 99.9% of people with negative comments or vocal critisms have no idea what they're talking about!

Oh the good'ol days of watching newyorkstello. One of the main channels that got me started in the hobby. Sure do miss his channel and he would be a great additon to the current reefing community

I have did an experiment years ago on my last reef tank (I have moved but will set one up again after I move) with my own natural method and ran it for 10 years successfully then the last before I moved I finally lost some fish and corals all but just before the 10 year was the blue hippo tang (I had like 15 originally of them) and the Red Sea purple tang with the yellow tail. I had all sorts of fish at any time 50-70 fish in a 125 gallon tank :) and corals a lot of them :) I didn't do water changes other than adding water to replace the water that would be evaporated :) The key is hundreds of pounds of show pieces of live rock and high volume flow from my two very high volume IWAKI pump, high light, and had a UV sterilizer on it too :) but no skimmer in the pump a miracle mud mixed with an off brand miracle mud with aragonite too and live rocks too on top of that in the sump

Thank you, yours is the most scientific explanation I’ve heard cycles. The information is very well laid out and described.

This is a great video. I have a 10 gallon nano and I noticed my corals and fish hate when I do water changes. My corals love dirty water. SO I only do a water change every 2 weeks or 3.

Awesome water change video, the focus on water changing to fix every issue is often misplaced and is not a sign that tanks are being neglected otherwise. We need to use all the tools available to "baby" our water and understand the chemistry going on. Great video!!

EXCELLENT ADVISE!!! Right on point for those who have large SW aquarium! I finally find someone who does exactly what I do!. Never do water changes (except to fill my quarantine tank), keep values, treat the water, dose it! I must ONLY ADD that once a month (I try) I clean the sand, stir it, suck the detritus w/water into an exterior container, let it sit for a while, and pump back the water over a strainer that has a filters and voila! ...DON"T DO WATER CHANGES!!!

I don’t think you’re crazy. I totally agree with you. My fish look amazing on my 135 gal reef fish only saltwater tank. I haven’t done a water changer in over five years. Big oversized sump protein Skimmer and top off. All I do is add supplements and fill the top off that’s it. Also it’s good to not over feed a lot of folks tend to do that. Thumbs up and Cheers from California!

This guy is the truth I been doing this for over 20 yrs an what he said works . It’s just the same thing I do . Keep it simple an don’t over do nothing . As natural as it can be 👍

Thank you for this video Scott, it really puts into perspective on how a water change actually benefits our tank (I thought it'd do more...). I watched your video and BRS' on the Triton method back-to-back and both of your videos really encourage me be lazy, lol!

Thanks for sharing In my experiment with a good ats I have removed my skimmer and any kind of mechanical filtration. Ats are so 👍

That's amazing. I am on the other extreme doing weekly water changes, but I don't have anywhere near the setup that you do.

I’m from the freshwater side of the hobby but I found this really informative and a well done video. Thanks!

great video - thanks - loads of practical info about water chemistry. And I think you are right - the goal is to get the water and ecosystem balanced and self-maintaining without water changes

I looooooove this video. It’s true with my experience as well. I almost never do water changes. I have the same, full bucket of salt now for about 2 years considering the fact that I have a 55 gallon tank. Compared to a few years ago when I did water changes weekly, using up my bucket in a year. Great video. ❤️❤️👍🏼

Everyone said my dad was neglecting me by not changing my diapers, but I came out fine.

Totally agree. I don’t do any water change on my 120g. Great video.

Your tank is so pretty pretty pretty pretty pretty yes it is pretty I love your tank thank you for sharing it with us keep up the good work my friend

Very good video! I have had several birdnest die offs while using bio pellets. I never associated the addition of new pellets with it, but looking back I feel that may be the answer :)

Awesome video, I carbon dose with big skimmer in a sumpless system with no water changes and it worked for the past 3 years for me.

Nutrient talk... my fav :) And yes... baby your water!

I'm running on 2 years with no water changes. Working great for me so far!

I’m doing something similar. 50 gallon tank. Live rock with sand bead . 30 gallon sump with refugium. With two blocks of Marin pure. 1 gallon of Marin pure balls. And dosing. So far I’m 2 months with no water changes and coral is doing better now than before. I think the point of you saying when water changes are done it does a quick change to the water that affect the coral is true. Thanks for video.

i carbon dose and i love it. gotta keep an eye on cal alk and mag though. I also really like using gfo.

20min vid! Watching while I eat dinner 👍🏽

I have a 90gal SW with a 40gal sump. And I do a 15gal water change about every two weeks. But what helps me with keeping everything stable is purchasing good salt and fresh water from my LFS. In addition, I have about 5 lbs of ceramic media bio balls in the sump along with a skimmer. I also converted a canister filter into a media reactor.

Great video Scott! Want to take the no water change plunge, but it's a bit scary. Keep up the awesome work.

I love my Natureef inspired Methanol Denitrator! Much less maintenance than Bio Pellets, and turf scrubbers. I have too many fish and feed 3x a day, and dialed in my Nitrates at 2.5. A very unknown method to many still. I have ran mine for 14 years. I went 6 years with 0 water changes, but now do 1 gal a day with my DOS AWC for the "unknowns", and my SPS are a little happier.

For my 90 gallon reef, I’m only using the Nynos 160 protein skimmer along with a Bio Pellet reactor, which my tank is super healthy. I only add daily top off water and that’s it.

i'm new salt water hobbyist i jumped in the game feb 2017 . learned a lot today i never new much about . I have tiny tank 75 gallon compared to your its tiny . learned alot in 10 months few bumps managed to only lose 2 fish 1 cyno out break and the fish i lost one decided it be awesome to swim upstream in my out put water flow .. i had the 75 gallon tank resting in my basement 15 years i had given up freshwater fish never got rid of the tank . any way I LIKE THE TURF Scrubber will research it more i waited 3 month to add my first fish now only have about 12 clown Gobi green ,citron ,tang variety of harptails and the elusive lawn mower goby any how hoping to start corals after the first of the year Tidal Gardens is local to me i could litterly throw rock at his place i'm that close . he seems to get rave reviews .Awesome video chalk full of tips loved it you rock

The best part of listening to this, How can u not believe it with that amazing tank right there.

I have never NEEDED to do a water change. About twice a year, I change the scenery around and that could qualify as a 50% water change. Never been a problem if you have a decent biofilter system

As usual great video Scott crammed with a lot of awesome information. I would love to send mine to Triton as well to get a complete water analysis. I missed your little guy doing his outro...lol

Very interesting I'm doing less and less water changes and my tank seems to be doing better and better

As allways, GREAT vid and tanks looking great. Cheers Scott !

This guy give a great talk, he's very real....talks well, and answers a lot of questions most want to know.

Your video’s are so helpful! Thank you 🙏

current research shows a waterfall style algal mat scrubber does not need to be nearly as big as everyone thinks it needs to be. The old rule of thumb was 2 square inches of mat for every gallon of tank water. Now, its rated with the amount of food you feed into the tank. I have been using them for over 6 years on 2 120 gallon tanks with zero ppm nitrates...each mat is 1 sq. foot, lit on both sides, and was made out of 1" pvc pipe coming directly from the overflows...down into the sump, and then returned. i use carbon to clear the water, and i harvest the algae once a week. NO algae in the actual tank...ever!!!

I would have liked to watch 20 mins of your marine tank without your comentary!!

I used an AquariPure denitrator (vodka dosing). Worked awesome. Almost undetectable levels of nitrates, and that 60g tank was LOADED with fish and corals. Never did a water change in 2 years then I moved and had to sell the whole lot.

Great video - I have a comment. I have been using bio pellets for about 2 years now. My nitrates and phosphates are undetectable - I don't do water changes either, why should I? Here's my comment: (and a little about my system so my comment makes sense) I have a 180 gallon tank with a 50 gallon sump and my protein skimmer (reef octopus 200) is rated for 400 gallons (200 if you are over stocked which I am). My protein skimmer hardly skims anything out of my water though. I could turn it off but I like the fact that it oxygenates the water. (Don't need it is what I am saying - read on) I have 100 micron filter socks for each corner flow ( 2 of them) they each have their own sock. I change the filter socks every day. I also use a waste away bacteria weekly (keeps my water crystal clear and breaks down waste). No nitrates or phosphates (undetectable) and I'm over stocked and I over feed - because it's fun lol! My point is I don't think a protein skimmer is necessary.....WHAT?....Everyone says you have to have a protein skimmer to carbon dose and remove nitrates, but my giant protein skimmer has nothing to do. The bacteria I use and the 100 micron filter socks do all the work. My protein skimmer I'd argue is only oxygenating my water. I should add that I have 100lbs of live rock, and a sand bed (it's not deep tho I tried that and wasn't thrilled) and I use bio pellets (lots of them tho - my reactor is filled to the top and I have a large reactor. I put an entire jar of bio pellets in there and I buy the large jar) So, we are different in that aspect. I believe my filter socks solve my slough off issue from the pellets. My pellet reactor return goes to one one of my filter socks stopping the gunk from going into my tank. All I am saying is that I have a system that a protein skimmer isn't necessary and I have a skimmer that runs 24/7 and doesn't do anything to prove it. My nitrate and phosphate levels speak for themselves and I think I am about to turn the tables on the protein skimmer belief. Live rock, bacteria to dissolve waste, bio pellets (carbon dosing), filter socks changed daily - NO PROTEIN SKIMMER NECESSARY. Could this be? Am I about to be told it isn't possible? Lol - it is. Trust me I am doing it. No water changes for over a year and a protein skimmer that doesn't have anything to do. I don't want to encourage people that cant afford a protein skimmer (a good one) to get into this hobby because if you don't have an extra 1k lying around this isn't a hobby for you, but I am saying it is possible to have a system where a protein skimmer (using bio pellets) isn't necessary. I've had my aquarium for 12 years now (time to upgrade) and it wasn't until the last 2 years that I advanced to "advanced" from intermediate. I will never consider myself an expert - I am always learning. I learned something that nobody else has brought up though. I learned it by "it" happening. Have you considered putting your bio pellet return into a filter sock and using a higher dose? Changing your socks every day is important if you do this because they can clog and over flow quickly - hence me changing them daily. Do you use a waste away bacteria? If you start you might see your protein skimmer go on vacation - mine has yet to return lol. My socks are dirty every day too....dirty. I would write a book about it but I just did lol!

Hi Mike subbed to your channel...great info...and yes like you i was one of the reefer who watched newyorksteelo's videos all the time...hope he comes back to the hobby again..

Hi Scott...the Triton method is a system designed around the no water change needed concept...not just ICP testing...it is a complete and effective system...give it a complete look ...love your tank as always..

agree on your points. im starting on a carbon dosing routine myself. water changes are to pricey for me as well its only a 180 plus the sump/fuge. thinking small w/c weekly maybe 2% (about 5 gallons). kicking my fuge up a bit with a better light. and carbon dose. of course ive got the skimmer going. and will be dosing a small amount of kalk in form of a dripper. just got to get those nitrates down. maybe down the road put a small turf scrubber on it if needed. keep up the great videos

Love your work Scott! Great Vid!!!!!

Dang you just blew my mind!!! 😱😱😱

I also gave up doing water changes 6 months ago and my sps and soft corals are doing well in my 100g. I don't do RODI just filtrate the water with a carbon filter during 2h before i do my 6g water change every 2 months. I run a phos reactor and full of live rocks in my sump

Info was great. I want to start a 125 gallon because of all the colors I seen in coral.

The only time I do water changes in any of my tanks is the once a year I typically redo the inside of the tank to whatever theme I think will look good. It’s mostly just top offs

I don’t have a calcium reactor so I have to also dose micro and macro elements from time to time and have my water professionally tested to see what is excessive and what is lacking.

Fantastic video scott love all the information 👍🏻👍🏻(my copperband is still doing great eating every type of frozen food i offer it )

great video Scott lots of info. Love your channel!

I feel the same way! although i have a planted fresh water tank. but now i am going to start a saltwater tank

Great video. just wanted to add that a refugium will be a huge positive effect for zooplantkon which will be awesome food for Fish and corals. I personally will go with a refugium and alcohol for my next tank. But there won't be that many fish in it anyway.

i have a 32g biocube mixed reef. i haven't done a water change in that tank yet at all. its been up for about 16 months. i have a 16 gallon sump, small small skimmer, a gfo reactor, 25 lbs of sand, 35 lbs of rock, a handfull of bioballs, a small fuge with cheato and pods, dose calcium and alk, an auto top off and a clean up crew. now, its been doing great. but, recently, i hadnt removed some bubble algae that i saw in a small colony, instead, i decided id add 2 emerald crabs. well, a week later when i returned home, i had an infestation of bubble algae. so needless to say, ill probably just save up a bit and buy a new reefer 250 delux and transfer the coral and fish over without the rocks. or sand. kind of a start over. the 32g was cool. but im out of room for anything to grow out. and now this bubble algae bloom.....

I have a 330 gallon that have done water changes 1x per week x 15 years no issues. I hire a guy to to do it so its not difficult. He just drains out 10 percent into the floor drain and then pumps in the water and leaves. Keeps the nitrates down fish like it. In a FOWLER tank I think water changes can't be avoided. They use to try to replicate the earths inviroment in a bubble house and it always failed after a few months. People would have leave or die. Same thing with aquariums, you can cheat the system for so long and something will give and you get floating fish.

Amazing breakdown, I'm becoming a big fan lol.

Great video Scott, I’m in the process of doing up a video on my tank. I’m doing fine with alkalinity calcium and magnesium but struggle with nitrates lol

Very clean, how often do you clean that glass? Cant you add a dosing pump as well as the carbon reactor.? Also what are you dosing for the micro nutrients? Thanks for break down very informative.

Could you please expand on turf scrubbers as I can't understand what I should buy lol any recommendations?

I think the biggest key is to have a very deep substrate most cut themselves short on the substrate and put in more rock which is silly I always say atleast 4-6 inches of substrate then rock you’ll have an amazingly strong biological filter I have had my tank setup for I believe like 6 months now and have yet to do a single water change yes I do run a lot of skimming filtration which certainly helps keep nutrient levels down I run two skimmers one in sump and one octo hang on back skimmer 3 canisters system is super stable only ever have a few ppm of nitrate it’s perfect I do like the idea of water changes but my argument is it doesn’t perform for the cost like doing changes on a 125+ gallon system can get costly with salt I’m not trying to spend 100$ a month on salt for water changes lol not that I’m a cheapskate I just don’t think the cost measures out for what I get out of it doesn’t do enough I’d rather put it that 100 into another skimmer lol

this video was very informative, thanks scott!!

No water changes!!! How is that possible!?!?! I'm planning to convert my 125 Gallon freshwater aquarium into a soft/lps coral reef tank, and I'm looking at trying this method. Great video and love your reef tank 👍♥️

Thank you for the advice. Doing water changes every week is difficult to do consistently for my schedule. would a turf scrubber be reasonable for a 55gallon tank?

great info. glad I'm subscribed to your channel. its very entertaining as well as informative. thanks

I'm a freshwater guy but I suppose you also have to deal with dissolved organics. How do you solve that problem? I'm interested in solving the water wasting problem. We live in an apartment and don't have enough space to keep as many plants that could use all the drained water from the aquariums. Thanks!

Turf scrubbers are efficient, but requires maintenance so you might as well just do water changes. A decent size sump with chaeto is basically maintenance free.

I prefer sand beds to gravel beds

I run a deep sandbed (Thanks to nysteelo's videos for convincing me) and have

Outstanding video!

3:07 you can also just have lots of coral consume that nitrate and have fragging and selling off coral be your nitrogen export.

Legit and comprehensible info as always Scott! I'm happy to see that you confirm most of the conclusions I've reached myself through your vids. Btw I am using Red sea's NOPOX as carbon dosing instead of bio pellets. It does work but the downside is if u don't dose for a couple of days nitrates and phosphates rise instantly. So I'm wondering if I'm stuck w that product for the rest of my reefing days... My question is: If u didn't have to fill up the QT, would u never do WCs assuming that your water parameters were ok? Or u consider a 10% WC biweekly or at least monthly a necessity? Keep up the good work, u inspire and educate all of us.

Small water changes should still be done to remove detritus, otherwise I agree to all your points.

So the ps2 skimmer for my fluval evo...is worth putting it in .... Will it help

I'm about to start my first reef tank. It's the new fluval sea flex 32.5 gallon tank and I was wondering how I'd connect a turf scrubber to it? Would I have to pump water out and then back into it?

Interesting to see that almost all the KZfaqrs that about 12-18 months ago were going no water change are now having algar or other issues and moving back to doing them.

Everyone runs their tank differently. I never do water changes. I would not recommend my method to anyone else but it works for me. I also dont do corals so I have lots of room for error. I have a 150 gallon that runs on an FX4 canister with carbon, phosguard and purigen. No sump. No RODI, just tap run through a whole house filter. HOB protein skimmer. Vodka/vinegar dosing with plans for biopellets.

Quick question: in my 55 gallon system with little to no corals and 1 fish, that is currently running on 1.3 mls of vodka per day and sitting at 20ish nitrates which has been lower since the start of the dosing. Should I do massive water changes to get my nitrates down? Would that be something considered sensible?

That’s a beautiful aquarium. What’s the size?

Top Notch video Scott, great job!

I wouldnt think you would need to explain the folly of water changes, but the old school methodology is supported by manufacturers ,and long time proponents. ( Frankly, I don't think NEAR as many experienced reefers actually Do the water changes they claim to. ) Nice tank and video.

Loved the vid. But my question is what about salinity? My tanks evaporate so fast by the time a week comes around I’ve added at least a quarter to half the tank of RO. So my salinity drops. Any ideas or answers would be useful. I’m still trying to figure the whole saltwater elements and stuff out. How to keep them in check and also the best ways to keep my tank stable and what filtration to exactly use.

My new idea is to do the same hopefully I can build a section inside the tank instead of sump ideally but either way use a Ca reactor with probes and a controller basically and an auto optically controlled water changes pump system. Thoughts?

I never did water changes on my 200 gallon system it’s just easier to dose or use a calcium reactor and more cost effective. I also dozed a trace elements supplement because I was only using 2 part and not a calcium reactor

My project right now is fusing metallic green to red and chocolate montipora . So far the red and green have fused , and the chocolate is thinking about as only a coral will lol .

How do you deal with the rising TDS? Or have you found it does no harm? I know it's just a number... but a reading of 1000 means there's 1000 of something in there. 3 months without water changes, my tank went from 140 to 300. Just curious. I would love to do no water changes. My shrimp almost die every time I do one.

Dang thst is an awsome tank im gonna put togethere a 10 gallon nano reef tank

Wondered how he was doing it .... he explained in almost every episode 😂

Great Video. Thank you !