Water changes

[MammothReefer]

I asked Mr Wilson who helps out with the "Coral Reef in Canada 1650 gallon" about water changes. Check it out in my view he says good to do on smaller tanks but much bigger tanks can get away with it. I dont know of guys with over 500 gallon tanks, do you guys ever do water changes?

YES! It's a must. On my old 500+ system. I went a while without water changes, and it was a disaster. Fixing a large system after things get out of whack due to a lack of water changes is a nitemare. I was having to mix up 100's of gallons of water to get things back on track after 6 months w/out, it took months of weekly 100g water changes to fix the tank. Unless you want to keep a larger fowlr or softie tank..but if you want a large sps tank. You need to stay on top of it before you notice problems.

 

[Brian Chong]

10% weekly water changes is a HUGE contributing factor to my success with sps.
Helps me keep it simple and still get zeo-like results.

 

[RyDub03]

I do ~10g on my 60g total volume every week. IME it's a must from day one. If you ever let it slip it takes a very long time to make it pretty again. There is no better advice than to make sure you do significant water changes at regular intervals. Different amts and different times work for different systems but you must find a system that works for you and stick with it no matter what for long term success. For me the roughly 15% every week works best.

 

[zaheda]

Ok majority here belives in doing water changes. Well I think depends on the livestock one keeps and some get away with doing water changes. With Sps corals I think it would be utmost necessary to do regular water changes. Its good to replace fresh mixed water to a tank every week.

 

[jhoff]

I do 5 gallons a week on 46gal and also syphon sand bed

 

[Dustin1300]

10% weekly. Success follows...

 

[chefzif]

10% weekly! to keep all paremeters in good check!

 

[PasserAngelfish]

sorry i haven't done water change for 3 months. i just add water. i'm minority. i try hard to balance elements by adding, testing them weekly.

 

[robs.mark]

I know this sounds weird, but i actually enjoy do wc's! I change 10% every weekend, and sometime the same again in the week too. I love the way the tank looks a few hours after its done, everything just seems happier! I really dont see what the big deal is with people and water changes,once you get into the swing of it and get a routine going it literally takes 15 mins with the glass scraping included.

 

[TheCoralFarmer]

I change as much as a can as often as I can. I just make sure the water mixes for at least a day before going in

 

[Western_reefer]

I do 25% watcher changes every week which totals to 100% a month.

I also agree with robs.mark, once you get into the swing of it, get a routine going it only takes a couple of minutes and everything does look much happier after a water change.

 

[Laddy]

I know this sounds weird, but i actually enjoy do wc's! I change 10% every weekend, and sometime the same again in the week too. I love the way the tank looks a few hours after its done, everything just seems happier! I really dont see what the big deal is with people and water changes,once you get into the swing of it and get a routine going it literally takes 15 mins with the glass scraping included.

Hence, my signature! :beer:

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

When it comes to waterchanges, I guess I would be considered a minimalist, I change about 10% of the water every 2 weeks.

I look at water changes as excess nutrient export, to remove the nitrates and phosphates, I personally have undetectable nitrates and phosphates so there's really no reason for water changes... Right?

However, for me there are 2 main reasons I conduct water changes, 1, to remove any build up of all the other elements that may be accumulating in the tank (the ones that we don't test for) that can/will eventually be harmful over time. And 2, to replenish those other trace elements outside the big 3 (calcium, alkalinity and magnesium) like iodine, strontium, boron, potassium etc. that are being depleted over time.

Yes, you can get away with not doing water changes and keep a reef tank, but I'm of the opinion that to have a beautiful, successful reef tank than you might want to look into starting a schedule that you can be comfortable with.

 

[hmello@bermexin]

http://www.reefs.org/library/article/t_brightbill_wc.html/view?searchterm=Troy Brightbill

http://www.reefs.org/library/article/t_brightbill_wcdata.html/view?searchterm=Troy Brightbill

 

[mutateddogbone]

seems like you're going to get a consistent response here, i do 20% weekly. i got lazy for a couple months and didnt notice how bad my corals started doing until i did a good water change, and it was night and day. i strongly advocate water changes, esp for SPS tanks

 

[zaheda]

Ok most do water changes that have repied here, so who doesnt do water changes at all. On one of the forums in South Africa a guy mentioned he is reefing for 20 years and dont believe in water changes. The additives he uses makes up for water changes. Also he argues that there is not one good salt out there that is close to sea water parametres.