Is it safe to change water oftenly?

[NanoCube-boy]

I'm currently doing two gallon water change for my twelve gallon cube once, weekly, but now I'm deciding to change more often. Right now I'm thinking of changing a gallon of water every four days, but I'm not sure if it's safe, and will the small water change effective enough to keep clean water quality.

 

[Fishfirst]

water changes won't hurt anything unless you mix it to the wrong salinity.

 

[NanoCube-boy]

i see, thanks.

 

[Sea Ninja]

If done to often you will remove all of the good bacteria as well as the bad. A water change every other week is best but sometimes you need to do them more often. Depends on the situation.

 

[Billybeau1]

Water changes do not remove good bacteria as they are attached to rocks and sand and are not free floating. Small water changes more often is always better than big changes as it is less stressful on the tank inhabitants. The less you disturb your water parameters the better for the fish. Changing 9% weekly is fine IMO. A half gallon every three or four days is even better.

 

[NanoCube-boy]

One gallon ever 4 day shouldn't hurt though right?

 

[Billybeau1]

I dont know, 18% a week seems like overkill to me. You could mix up a gallon a week and just replace 1/2 gallon every three or four days. It'll hold that long. Thats just my thought.

I just think you would be waisting salt with no benefit.

 

[NanoCube-boy]

yea, 18% is a lot, but i intend to overfeed though. I just want to make sure my sun corals eat enough. So iono... confused...

 

[Billybeau1]

Just keep an eye on your nitrates. If they are elevated because of overfeeding, then change more. But if your nitrates are low to none, then why waste the salt.

 

[NanoCube-boy]

yup...

 

[wds21921]

I can't remember the exact source (it was here on ReefCentral) they actually recommended large water changes as opposed to small ones.
The information showed that overall there was more bad material removed and more good (and useful) elements going into the tank on larger volume changes.
I do 50% every 2 weeks and the times I've done small water changes, the inverts especially, don't look nearly as good.

The easiest way to find out would be to keep a log for yourself of exactly where and what your numbers are doing, also overall appearence of your animals health. Try both ways, two months one way and then two months another way. This should tell you and show you (hopefully not premature on timing) what's best.

If I remember correctly what I saw showed that small water changes at times were almost insignificant of any benefits compared to larger volumes where the benefits where much more apparent and measurable.

 

[wds21921]

By small I mean 5-10-15 gallons about once a week.

 

[NanoCube-boy]

I trried doing 50 percent water change and tank doesn't loo good. My corals turn pale and barely open now. I usually do couple of gallon per week, but 18 is alot though. So I'm iono. Thanks for the tips though.

 

[Billybeau1]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7732217#post7732217 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by wds21921
I can't remember the exact source (it was here on ReefCentral) they actually recommended large water changes as opposed to small ones.

I've never seen any expert recommend that. I'll see if I can find Tom (Waterkeeper) see if he has a comment. He is the Bogus Information Expert.

 

[WaterKeeper]

:lol:

And that he is. Water changes of 20-25% each are often done in fish only and nano tanks. They are beneficial and don't hurt a thing. I do somewhat smaller changes in reef tanks. Usually 10-15% weekly.

 

[WaterKeeper]

I had to meet with someone at 11 AM so I cut the above reply short. Here is a good article by Randy Holmes-Farley on Water Changes. His conclusions were that in a Nano tank 30-50% daily would be perhaps beneficial. Too me that is somewhat much and Randy's use of the large changes on small tanks where mainly to maintain calcium and alkalinity levels rather than toxin removal.

I rather favor keeping water change in the 10-15% weekly range for larger reef tanks in that money becomes an issue with large tank water changes and they may remove some of the planktonic material that forms in the water column. While not affecting water quality, they may provide some food for coral species although the jury remains out on that point. With an FO tanks, before LR and skimmers came into vogue, I always did larger amounts, usually 25% weekly, and had healthy, thriving fish.

I think the preponderance of of responsible reefers would agree that water changes are beneficial to any tank.

 

[NanoCube-boy]

hmmm... thanks for the link.

 

[Sea Ninja]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7722480#post7722480 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Billybeau1
Water changes do not remove good bacteria as they are attached to rocks and sand and are not free floating. Small water changes more often is always better than big changes as it is less stressful on the tank inhabitants. The less you disturb your water parameters the better for the fish. Changing 9% weekly is fine IMO. A half gallon every three or four days is even better.

I am going to have to disagree with you on this one Billy. It's not about what is better for the fish, for me at least, it is about what is best for the corals. When doing to small water changes you are removing what certain corals filter feed off of and if you do water changes often then there really isn't to much they can filter. Fish are like the parsley on the steak, the steak is what your corals are.

 

[WaterKeeper]

I think Bill is referring to the bacteria that enhance water quality, such as nitrifiers. They are mainly attached, benthic organisms binding to the substrate. Few reside in the water column so a water change is not going to do something like create an ammonia spike. Even a substantial water change on an established tank has no measurable effect on the nitrogen cycle.

I would agree that there are probably prey type organisms in the water column but one only removes a small portion with a water change. Skimming, running polishing filters and devises like an ozone generator probably remove far more than you would with most water change unless they were in the range of 75-100% daily. If you do 10-15% weekly water changes, as I propose, then there is little chance of limiting coral growth or worsening health from the small numbers removed.

 

[NanoCube-boy]

Waterkeeper,

You mean, if I do 10-15% percent of water change once, weekly, I'm stunning the growth of Corals?

What about if I overfeed the tank and the Nitrate rised up? How will I make sure that my Sun coral have enough food to eat? And the more food I put, the more it get's polluted right?

Right now, I'm only feeding 6 flakes of Formula one and one cube of mysis every other day and my Nitrate always rise to 5ppm. Most poeple preffered at 2ppm or below and I agree with them. Right now, I'm trying find the best way to change water, how many, and maintain my nitrate below 2ppm and not giving stress for me tank. The last time I did a 4gallon water change once, 2 weeks, the corals show bad sign.