Water changes

[tropills]

It's been a long time since I had to do this, Little background info first.
About 2 years ago I was having major tank troubles that resulted in a total tank crash. lost every fish and coral Ive owned in the last 20+ years of this hobby. heart breaking to say the least.. I've since started a clean system, including all new liverock and sand.. My tank has cycled and I still have NO fish or corals in the system, so pretty much just 240 gallons of water and 250 pounds of rock, how often should I be doing water changes ? should I still keep my old ways of 15% every week ?

Thanks, Also looking for coral donations to get restarted again.. :fun2:

 

[friendlyAlien]

my opinion is that "yes" you should do water changes. You still have coralline algae and your "life rock" using minerals and putting out toxins/waste. In fact even once you fully pack it I would guess that live rock is the biggest living organism in your mini-reef.

I am about to restart my reef-adventure as well ... it is going to be fun fun fun!

 

[magdelan]

I think that 15% per week is great!

FWIW- From neglecting to do regular water changes, my nitrates crept up into the neighborhood of 100ppm. After just finishing my 6th water change in 2 weeks, my nitrates are now sitting between 2-5ppm. I will continue to change 50g every 2 weeks on my 150 total water volume system.

Good Luck!

PS- if I wasn't starting from close to scratch and had some corals to frag for you, I'd hook you up... but I can't right now

 

[cardiffgiant]

I try to do at least 10% a week. Some weeks I do 15%.

If you find yourself in Buffalo any time soon, let me know and I'll be happy to donate a frag or two to your restart.

 

[Conesus_Kid]

I do ~20% every two weeks.

I've got purple cap, blue millie, GSP, and Kenya tree if you ever make it out my way.

 

[iamwrasseman]

yes i would suggest 20% weekly as more is better and you want to keep it clean so 20% in my answer .i have a very overstocked five tank system with a common sump and i do 20% weekly and it has >5ppm nitrates at the most and .02 po4 which is good for my bio load

 

[Henry Colf]

Hey Greg, glad to see you back. General rule of thumb is minimum 10% weekly so if it were me i'd do around 25 gal. a week.jmo....

 

[tropills]

Thanks everyone.. I just needed to re-learn myself on a few things. Ya know you get into a rut over the years and forget the simple things.. Like I said its been over 20 years since I started a tank from scratch.

 

[Henry Colf]

It's amazing the simple things we forget in this hobby. LOL... Greg i'm with ya my tank is still cycling got the brown hair algae growing and i'm sctatching my head as to what to do......

 

[tropills]

Hey Henry, I had some cyno and brown hair algae also when I first restarted. My fix for it was raising my DKH to 15 and increasing flow in the trouble spots.. Tanks crystal clear, cope,and amphipods everywhere and coralline growing pretty quick.

 

[SkiFletch]

I'm a little different than most around here. I do about 80% every 2-3 months. That reminds me, I'm due for another one :lol:

 

[tropills]

I'm a little different than most around here. I do about 80% every 2-3 months. That reminds me, I'm due for another one :lol:

Definitely a good way to keep nutrients down for sure.

 

[tmz]

I do 1% pr day plus some maintenance related changes,for a grand total of 40 to 45% per month. I think 10% per week is sufficient .