How often do you perform water changes

R

ReeferItIs2

New member
I remember when I first started my coral tank, a couple lfs had told me oh you can do it every 2 or 3 weeks one store even told me once a month lolol now that I've had my tank almost a year I know that is complete bs...i do weekly water changes and sometimes even twice a week...

Many of you know I'm a freshwater cichlid breeder and perform water changes once a week religiously...fish give off hormones that are not detected by any test kits than need to be exported out of the water...does anyone know if the same goes for corals?
 
I do 5g weekly water changes on my 40b not only to keep my nitrates in check but also to keep all my parameters in check
 
Coming from a cichlid background, I feel like I'm slacking if I don't do weekly water changes. Was changing 5 gal a week on my 40. Probably do 10 gal a week/2 weeks on my 75
 
I do 2.5 gallons a week on a 20g...if I do it twice that's 5 gallons a week, I usually do that once a month or when my corals aren't looking the way I feel they should
 
I'm also glad to hear everyone does weekly maintenance...let's just say I'll never ask any of my lfs for advice ever again lol
 
ReeferItIs2 said:
I'm also glad to hear everyone does weekly maintenance...let's just say I'll never ask any of my lfs for advice ever again lol
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After the meeting I stoped by the LFS on "Piner" and after seeing their tanks the big'o pop eye on the huge emperor and the over all quality figured that more then likely I'll won't be buying anything from either of the two stores we have. Bought five cardinals from the other store within a month they were all dead, haven't last a fish in years, even after all the mishaps I've endure. That being said I don't trust their advice or the quality of their livestock.
 
INOKEA said:
After the meeting I stoped by the LFS on "Piner" and after seeing their tanks the big'o pop eye on the huge emperor and the over all quality figured that more then likely I'll won't be buying anything from either of the two stores we have. Bought five cardinals from the other store within a month they were all dead, haven't last a fish in years, even after all the mishaps I've endure. That being said I don't trust their advice or the quality of their livestock.
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I don't really blame any LFS for having fish with issues. So many fish go thru the store, there is no way they could keep disease out. I do like getting fish locally, supporting the LFS if at all possible.

I don't know if this would work for you but my method is to order a fish and request that it not be put into their system. The 'other' store gets fish on Tuesday so about noon I call them. If the fish is in, I get right over there and pick it up. It's still in the shipping bag! Once home it goes into QT. When it's eating well I treat with PraziPro and then Chloroquine phosphate. A new fish is usually in QT for at least a month.
 
I started out doing 20g water change every 2 weeks on my 65g. Then I moved to once a month. Then I moved to every 3 weeks. I find that while I was doing a water change every 4 weeks that I still need to change carbon/GFO every 2-3 weeks. It will get clogged in the reactor. And each time I replace media I need to flush with 2-3 gallons of water. So now I just do maintenance every 3 weeks. This way it doesn't seem like I'm always tinkering with the tank. BTW, those are my wife's words. I love tinkering...lol. But my wife gets annoyed, or jealous, I'm not sure as yet which is it.
 
I bought a reefiller pump and use a 35G brute of mixed salt water.... The timer changes about 1.3 gallons of water per day automatically.

The pump is a dual head design so one head removes tank water and puts it down the drain, the other takes fresh mixed salt water from the brute and puts it in the tank. I add the fresh water to the return pump area of the sump and take "used water from the refugium. This allows me to avoid pulling even the slightest amount of fresh mixed water during the change.

My tank is 210G with a 90G sump. Since I have been doing the automatic changing I no longer seem to need my BRS carbon/GFO reactor at all. The coral didn't like the water so clean. They are doing much better with just the water change.

I am getting a calcium reactor today so my maintenance will now be:

Filling a brute with 35G salt water once a month or so, and basic tank/equipment cleanings.After the third tank I have finally got it down.
 
FreshReefer said:
I bought a reefiller pump and use a 35G brute of mixed salt water.... The timer changes about 1.3 gallons of water per day automatically.

The pump is a dual head design so one head removes tank water and puts it down the drain, the other takes fresh mixed salt water from the brute and puts it in the tank. I add the fresh water to the return pump area of the sump and take "used water from the refugium. This allows me to avoid pulling even the slightest amount of fresh mixed water during the change.

My tank is 210G with a 90G sump. Since I have been doing the automatic changing I no longer seem to need my BRS carbon/GFO reactor at all. The coral didn't like the water so clean. They are doing much better with just the water change.

I am getting a calcium reactor today so my maintenance will now be:

Filling a brute with 35G salt water once a month or so, and basic tank/equipment cleanings.After the third tank I have finally got it down.
Click to expand...

Man, that sounds sweet! Did you have no drill through the walls or into the floors? Sounds like something I would like to do in the future with the bigger tank. Any pics of the unit and how its plumbed?
 
freshreefer Are you using a Masterflex dual head? Or is the brand reefiller? Sounds like exactly what I want to do. I have been scouting ebay daily to find a used brushless dull head peri pump to run from my garage. I don't want to spend over $300 so I'm holding out =).
 
I got a reefiller for 250 on eBay. It works great. I will host a meeting if you guys want to come hang out and see the setup. Just need to plan it out.
 
I just looked them up so it's a diaphragm pump right? Is it loud? I have a really expensive prominent diaphragm pump that I acquired (single pump) that is pretty loud on each stroke. I would be able to hear it from my garage for sure.

One other thing I read on the reeffiller is that it should be within 5' of the reservoir. That wouldn't be an issue for my fresh saltwater but What about the suction in the tank? Do you have your set up next to the tank? Mine will be about 20' away..

I'm going to try to sell my prominent pump on eBay as they are going for about $750 used so I should be able to get at least that since mine is new. That should cover the whole cost of this endeavor =) thanks for the sorta off topic Brainfart (my end) reminder that I have that lol..

Sorry for all the questions but I've been on this kick for a few months and haven't gotten anywhere other than I need to spend more than I want to ha ha.
 
Mine is about 3 feet from the reservoir... It is about 15 feet from the tank and 20 feet to the drain. It is a bit loud, but mine is in the garage so I don't hear it. Pm me for my number you can come see what I have going on.
 
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