Water changes, Skimmer and LR

Very complicated systems. I haven't done any partial water changes for a very long time. Should I do so periodically? What are the various opinions, fluid though they may be.

 

What instrument(s) would be required to measure the elements and amounts of elements in each algae harvest? Would a spectrometer of some sort be enough? Could analyze the water for these elements as well.

 

It's a good job I like Google
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-12/rs/feature/index.php

 

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-03/rs/feature/index.php

 

Yes, and skimming and scrubbing. Waterchanges to a lesser extent. I've changed my personal view through researching this. It looks like waterchanges are bad !?! Hmm, strange concept. Thing I don't understand is why I've seen posted that scrubbers create trace elements. Wierd after so many years, the basic concepts of scrubbing are truly not understood, apart from N & P is reduced.

 

Suposively amino acids and other vitamins.

Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2

 

Yes, and it's these Aminos etc that complex with the excessive trace elements and enable them to be skimmed out, adsorbed to carbon and even maybe precipitated onto algae surfaces. When I said skimmers could remove trace elements from rocks etc, I'm assuming that bacterial action in the rocks etc, lowers pH enough to release these elements into the water column, where they are almost immediately re complexed by skimmable dissolved organics. And even if this is not the case, as long as they are precipitated out of solution they cannot be harmful, unless ingested by animals in high enough quantities in the aquarium.

 

Had a bit of a frenzy, investigating rain (all will become clear). You can see that I may have stumbled on the fact that the sea does skim, and has from the dawn of time. I also accidentally reproduced this skimming effect in my Chinese LED (on waterfall with aeration).

http://www.chameleonforums.com/showthread.php?p=1044280#post1044280

 

http://www.biogeosciences-discuss.net/8/11767/2011/bgd-8-11767-2011.pdf

 

Because my waterfall is aerated, I get tiny bubbles popping on the surface. This replicates the ocean bubbles fairly well, because unlike a skimmer, the salt particles (and any dissolved organics on the bubble surface) go to atmosphere. A portion of this is then dragged through the UFO which directs these particles onto the warm aluminium heat sink. These particles dry pretty quickly, and "drop out". I'm not suggesting this as an alternative to skimming (already had a few wiring joints blow), just that its evidence that the ocean does in fact skim, to a certain extent at least.

 

Yeah maybe dust and salt and a bit of sea salt organics;

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/91JC00954/abstract

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2872374/