Water changes

G

gareth.hubbarde

New member
This has probably been discussed before but wanted to ask. How much is enough of a water change? I'm planning on 12 litres bi-weekly therefore around 25% every 4 weeks. Would you consider that enough for regular changes? Obviously if something goes wrong I may need to do more. Thanks in advance.


100w heater
1000 l/pH return pump
Nano skimmer
Purigen net
300g carbon
11kg live rock
4 kg sand half bought as live.

2 red legged hermit crabs
1 blue legged hermit crab
2 nassarius snails
1 Mexican turbo snail
Clove polyp frag,
Finger coral frags,
Green cauliflower frag
Pulsing xenia frag
7e894e2c0025ad22e3bc86f18571fc9d.jpg


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How long has the tank been up for? In reality on a young tank that isn't 100% stable I would be doing 20-25% water changes on a weekly basis. Especially as it looks like you don't have any sort of method to reduce nitrates/phosphates. What are your current water parameters?

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I do appx 10% (not an exact science) every 2 weeks when tank is new/young or whenever nitrate is high. Then once it gets established do WC once a month bc I use a DSB w live rocks and skimmer which once established becomes a self sustaining ecosystem maintaining good water parameters.
 
There are 3 reasons that come to mind in favor of doing water changes:

1) Newer tanks for nitrate reduction

2) Any tank for Ca, alk & Mg replenishement

3) To keep up trace elements

You should be testing for nitrates, Ca, Mg & alk. If you find the nitrate going up or the others going down, do more water changes (or start dosing). There is no fixed percentage that is right. Every tank is different based on age, bioload, number of lps and sps corals, salt used ect.
 
Nitrates and phosphate are but high, am getting some rowaphos Thursday to help lower it.
25% at a time is difficult, but probably achievable, have to order more salt on Thursday too, probably do a water change on weekend. Will do tests later and post results for exact levels.

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rowa does not do anything for nitrates... Its for phosphate and personally I think its a mistake to use it on a new tank like you are..

water changes man.. didn't I say "water changes" are ALL you need.. Don't get fooled into GFO.. (pretty sure I covered that in your last post... well one of your last 50 posts :p)

You should have spent the money on more water containers IMO..
Get those nitrates/phosphates down via water changes..NOTHING else..
and do it before those corals you put in there die.. so NOW...
That encrusting monti WILL die/not be happy with elevated nitrates...
Stop adding corals.. Get your water parameters correct first..
 
I can do 17 litre water change at any one time. Just checked how much my container holds. So do that for next 2 weekends?

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wait, is this a new tank?...if so corals should not have been added until tank has been established for at least 4-6 weeks and cycled properly...New tank cannot handle the bio load initially, please be patient and slow down.
 
Am going slow from now on, not putting anything else in for next 4/5 weeks. Will do 17l water change Friday and then the following Friday and the one after, so 3 decent water changes. On holiday the 4th week so will be left until I get home. Then another water change before adding fish. Does that sound OK? Oh and I won't get rowaphos either.

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gareth.hubbarde said:
Between 25 and 50.

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I'd do more water change to bring it down to the 20 and below mark. Try doing water change every few days until nitrate goes down and not wait a week. And test the water daily.
What is ur tank size?
 
Is that nitrate? If so that's too high still. If your tank is sitting at that level then all of your rock will be absorbing the nitrate and effectively work as a buffer to maintain that level at least until the anaerobic bacteria take hold. What size tank is it? It appears that your clean up crew might be a bit understaffed. You should really perform a massive water change (75% or more). This should have been done when the cycle completed before anything was added. Nitrates should ideally be less than 5 with routine weekly water changes to maintain that level. You'll have difficulty lowering your levels with only small changes.

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I'm not sure where you live, I assume since all measurements are stated in metric you're not in the US. Regardless you should be able to find some large (us equivalent of 5 gallon) buckets. Assuming that your rock displaces 3-5 gallons then you can easily do a 20-25% change. This is exactly what I did on my first tank. With a few buckets you should be able to perform larger changes and extra buckets are always good to have on hand.

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gareth.hubbarde said:
Tank is 94 litres

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That's 25 US Gallons...sorry but us Americans are still stuck using Gallons. With a smaller tank slightest water variations have greater impact on tank inhabitants, in other words there is less room for error as smaller tanks are less forgiving. Having said that, please try frequent water changes and test daily until nitrate stabilizes.
 
gareth,
Do water changes daily until your nitrate levels and phosphate levels are acceptable..
Don't wait and just do one a week..
After you have acceptable levels THEN you can back off to once a week or once every 2 weeks to maintain those low levels..

IMO get nitrates under 5 and phosphate under .1 and keep them there... Then monitor to see how fast/if they creep up and do water changes as needed to keep them there..
 
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