Water change suggestions please

[LennyD4]

I am starting up a 65 gallon SW FOWLR tank. When should I do my water changes? every 2 weeks, every month? what percent?

I've heard of so many different thing, but keep in my it is a FOWLR and not a reef tank with corals. Thanks!

 

[b0bab0ey]

Are you going to have a sump or go sumpless? How about a protein skimmer? Are you going to run carbon and/or GFO? Ideally, you should do a 20% WC every 2 weeks. Especially if you're going sumpless. But IMO/IME you can stretch it out to once a month if you have a sump, protein skimmer, run carbon, etc. Also, a lot has to do with your bioload. Light bioload = less frequent WCs required, but as time goes on and your bioload increases, you'll have to do more frequent WCs.

 

[LennyD4]

Thanks for the reply and sorry for the lack of information. Currently I am going sumpless, I have a canister filter with a couple layers of bio pellets and two bags of ChemiPure in it. I do have a protein skimmer installed. My plan has been to do a 10-20% water change every 2 weeks, so thats another vote towards that.

 

[sporto0]

There is no absolute correct answer, some people do weekly, bi weekly, monthly & none. You need to establish a maintenance routine that suits you. I would do 10g water changes a week on that size tank, maybe more depending on how many fish I had.

 

[b0bab0ey]

Thanks for the reply and sorry for the lack of information. Currently I am going sumpless, I have a canister filter with a couple layers of bio pellets and two bags of ChemiPure in it. I do have a protein skimmer installed. My plan has been to do a 10-20% water change every 2 weeks, so thats another vote towards that.

I have a similar setup (58g reef, sumpless, protein skimmer, HOB power filter w/chemi-pure) and I do a 20% WC every two weeks. Haven't had any problems yet. You might need to go to a weekly 20% WC if you have a lot of fish in your tank down the road.

 

[Gangous]

Fowlr I'd do every 3 or 4 weeks 10 gal

 

[LennyD4]

Alright thanks for the replies!!!!