Do I have to do weekly water changes

[jlantz1982]

I have a 90g tank with a 30g sump. The tank was originally my husbands but he has recently passed away. He liked to do 20g a week water changes. When he got into this hobby he told me eventually we'd only have to do monthly change but I don't want to push my luck by waiting that long. I only have 4 fish but like 60 pieces of coral. Lots of LPS & a few SPS.

 

[shesacharmer]

I'm so sorry for your loss! It's nice to hear that you want to keep his tank. How long has the tank been running? That's going to be a factor in whether you should back down on the changes yet or not. You want to maintain as much stability as you can but I understand your concern in wanting to ramp down the maintenance. I'd suggest trying bi-weekly water changes for a few months and see if you can notice any difference. If all looks good then switch to once a month. Again watching carefully for changes. I'm sure others will have opinions as well. The most important thing is to continue your water testing so you can keep the parameters stable. Many people do not do weekly water changes and they make out just fine.

 

[Remmers]

Sorry for your Loss. I cant answer your question as I am new myself, but love the fact that you want to keep it up and going


Good Luck to you and again Sorry for the Loss

 

[jlantz1982]

We've had this tank going for about a year now. Thanks for your suggestions

Being that there are so many corals....do my levels have to be higher than what is usually recommended?

 

[Hollifields]

My condolences for your loss. May a part of his happiness live in you through this tank.

What "levels" are your referring to? Most all "ideal" prams are recommended for 1 or 100 corals. If your talking about calc, alk, stro, ... needing to be higher because of so many corals the answer is no.
Depending on the amount of SPS coral, you may need to supplement, especially if you cut down in water changes. SPS deplete Calc quicker than other corals.
Many salts can keep a mixed reef tank stable with proper water changes.

It sounds like you have tested your water? What test kits are you using and which levels were you concerned about?

 

[the guy]

We've had this tank going for about a year now. Thanks for your suggestions

Being that there are so many corals....do my levels have to be higher than what is usually recommended?

I have a 90 gallon DT with a fifty gallon sump and do 25 gallon water change every 2 weeks and it seems to work well for me, I have LPS, softies and a few SPS pieces along with 11 fish. I dose both alk @ 8 & cal @ 430 give or take.
My mag. I tune up at water change time manually and keep it around 1350ish.
Sorry for your loss, glad to hear your keeping your tank going. :thumbsup:

 

[shesacharmer]

The recommended parameters are sufficient regardless of how many corals you have or how large the corals get to be. If the corals use up something you will dose, or set up a dosing system, to keep the level the same. This is why it's so important to test. You never ever want to dose for anything you don't test for. After running the tank for a year I'd say it would be safe to try bi-weekly water changes for a while and see how that goes.

 

[the guy]

We've had this tank going for about a year now. Thanks for your suggestions

Are you using doser's or doing manual doses ?

 

[jlantz1982]

I use salifert testing kits for CAL, Mg and PH. I use a hanna tester for the ALK. But yeah I was just wondering about the ALK, Cal and Mg levels.

My husband had two dosers set up, one was labeled calcium and unfortunately the other one wasn't labeled at all. So as of right now I've just been manually dosing until I figure out how to go about this.

 

[DSMpunk]

I imagine the second doser was/is setup for Alk.

Weekly water changes are a good idea until you get into the swing of it all. I would also log alk/ca/mg every day for a week or two to see how much they are all dropping. Keep a log

Once you get that figured out you can work out the dosing schedule.

 

[E46Twist]

Technically, no. However I would image all of the equipment and activities needed would cancel out or surpass time and money of a WC. If you have a very low bio load like say a clown pair and a goby in a 75 with just enough inverts, you could get a way with just skimming and a fuge. You would obviously need to replenish depleted minerals.

A water change may sound like a hassle, but they can be very easy and make your life easier in the long run. You could also do every two weeks to a month.

 

[Paul B]

There is no need at all to change that much water. Once a month is fine. I change much less than that and my tank is decades old. But for your tank, once a month is plenty. Sorry for your loss.