Just the facts....

[tmz]

1%per day plus maintenance related changes for a total of about 45% per month or more.

Mixed reef, sps dominant with many lps, sofities, zoanthids, some xenia ,gorgonians ,a few non photosynthetics( dendrophylia, rhizotrochus), 40 well fed fish.

It is all thriving.

I also do a number of other things for water management: granulated activated carbon, heavy skimming,chaeto refugia,carbon dosing( vodka vinegar),etc.

 

[cardiffgiant]

When you guys do your water changes, are you just taking water out of the column in your display, out of the sump, vacuuming the sand bed, etc?

Once a month I vacuum the sand bed during a water change, twice a month I do my water change from the fuge and clean that out, once is just from the display. Every time that I do a change, I wash my chaeto in the water that I'm removing. It's amazing how much detritus gets trapped in the fuge and chaeto.

 

[belgian_waffleman]

20% every 2 to 3 weeks
Mainly SPS
Decent success, good SPS growth, Coloration OK. LPS's are iffy

Waffleman

 

[lcs]

I wash my chaeto in the water that I'm removing.

That's a great idea. It's like cleaning out a mechanical filter.

Tank is only six months old.
10-15% every week to 10 days
Very few soft corals and polyps. OK success so far. Minimal growth on the zoas (due to other issues I think), but the rics and kenyan look good and are growing. The fish are doing great.

 

[mr86mister]

20% Change every 2 weeks.
Mostly Soft & LPS
Decent success so far. Great growth out of zoanthids and Acans. Slowly getting better with a few SPS.

 

[Gravesj1s]

I mix 50 gals at a time for consistency reasons,out of a 150 gal pal of salt.
My tank is about 9O gal including sump.

So currently changing 25 gal per week ,remaining 25 following week.(25% roughly)

To early to report any real success, I do have decent zoa and chalice growth , clam as well.less so with sps but improving.

 

[block head]

25 % weekly to bi weekissh. mixed reef heavy fish load. nitrate creeps when i slack

 

[EllieSuz]

I noticed today that it has been eight days since my last water change. This is the longest interval I've had since my upgrade. I've been changing slightly less than 10% weekly, but trying to work around a hectic work schedule made me a day late.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

There are lots of reasons for water changes. I wish I knew what you were after here, Mark.

FWIW: I've done large (15%) weekly water changes on fish only systems having no skimmer (or liverock- just a wet/dry) and the results were really bad (ie: horrible bacterial bloom clouds up the water.)
In such a case water changes aren't the solution to the problem.

I also have experience doing absolutely minimal water changes on a similar fish based system containing live rock and a skimmer and the results were excellent.

 

[Capt_Cully]

Primarily curiosity. I realize it's only ONE of a miriad of factors involved in reefkeeping. But, personally, I think a maintenance schedule, starts, with water changes. I just wanted to see what everyone has done to gain personal successes.

I'd like to think I know what I'm doing, BUT, that is with my reef. If someone asked me to look after their reef for a month or two, outcomes might be different, as there are so many ways of doing things.

I've tried a few different schedules, myself. The greatest successes have been attributed to larger, more frequent water changes in my system. It's a notion I got from Tom at TRS who takes it to a new level with HUGE water changes frequently. 30% weekly....at least.

The reason I thought of the question was I'm pondering the next aquarium. I've asked so many questions related to moving and doing a new tank, I'm sure most are sick of it, thinking......JUST DO IT ALREADY!!! Workin on it. Open house today, don't get me started.

 

[tmz]

There are many ways to do it. I tend toward the frequent small changes to avoid any shock to the system and for a continuous and small addition of trace and minor elements. I usually siphon out detritus from one or the other frag tank or refugium as part of the process.

 

[Jedistphn]

20% (at least) every 3 weeks. Always done this throughout my career in reefing.
Good success keeping several different types. My SPS tanks always thrive .
Change Carbon every 2 weeks, and CA reactor media every 6 -8 months.

 

[Henry Colf]

I do about 15 gallons a week, but I vacuum the substrate while doing this not just removing water. I change out carbon once a month.

 

[superkat]

i vacuum substrate every week. forgot to mention that. my sandstar gets a little traumatized...