We have been using tap water since we moved (i know, not good) and just bought our RO unit. Do we drain all the water in the 125 tank and 55 sump, or just do large water changes over the next few days? I want the process to be as smooth as possible for the fish, luckily all of the corals have been at a friends since the move. Thanks for the help!
Water Change
- Thread starter Steph1643
- Start date
KnoxvilleIa
New member
water change
water change
Tap water is not good, even verry bad.
if it was me I would do fairly large water changes. I think large water changes are stressful to the fish but not as bad as tap water.
problem with small changes if you do the math is it takes a very long time to remove a harmfull substance and many many gallons.
next time buy baby water from the store 1.00 a gallon
just my opinion.
water change
Tap water is not good, even verry bad.
if it was me I would do fairly large water changes. I think large water changes are stressful to the fish but not as bad as tap water.
problem with small changes if you do the math is it takes a very long time to remove a harmfull substance and many many gallons.
next time buy baby water from the store 1.00 a gallon
just my opinion.
phishcrazee
Member
Re: water change
Re: water change
Baby water at $1.00 a gallon?! Just go to Walmart or any grocery store that sells RO water and fill up some 5 gallon jugs, much, much cheaper........ but that's a moot point now......
Some people use tap water for awhile and their tanks do ok, (not that it's a good thing, depends on the tap water in your area) so I wouldn't do anything terribly drastic just because you have RO water readily available now. I'd change out 50% of the water, wait 2 weeks or so, then do another 50% water change. Keep testing your levels every other day. If you change out all the water, you lose all your good bacteria in there and will start a cycle, so I'd say better to have some nitrates and phosphates a little high rather than start all over and lose all your beneficial bacteria, but that's just my opinion.
Re: water change
Baby water at $1.00 a gallon?! Just go to Walmart or any grocery store that sells RO water and fill up some 5 gallon jugs, much, much cheaper........ but that's a moot point now......
Some people use tap water for awhile and their tanks do ok, (not that it's a good thing, depends on the tap water in your area) so I wouldn't do anything terribly drastic just because you have RO water readily available now. I'd change out 50% of the water, wait 2 weeks or so, then do another 50% water change. Keep testing your levels every other day. If you change out all the water, you lose all your good bacteria in there and will start a cycle, so I'd say better to have some nitrates and phosphates a little high rather than start all over and lose all your beneficial bacteria, but that's just my opinion.
jtesdall
Premium Member
I also would not risk cycling your tank by replacing all of the water. If life is healthy now don't risk it. I would say 30%-50% every 3 days to a week for a month. The salt will get expensive though. Then I would go to regular water changes.
I agree with knoxville about the math and not getting harmful compounds removed, but I don't think it is worth the risk of a cycle which can kill everything. Maybe make your first water change a bit larger like 60% or 70% to improve the math.
Now if things aren't doing well now, then that's a completely different story.
I agree with knoxville about the math and not getting harmful compounds removed, but I don't think it is worth the risk of a cycle which can kill everything. Maybe make your first water change a bit larger like 60% or 70% to improve the math.
Now if things aren't doing well now, then that's a completely different story.
leeweber85
New member
From what I read, most of the benefical bacteria that keeps you from cycling lives on surfaces (glass, live rock, sand). I would do as large of waterchanges as you can. 50%+ I used to do large waterchanges all the time and it never phased anything as long as I matched the Temp/PH/Salinity. The larger you do the faster/less expensive it will be to get the entire volume back to RO quality.
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