When Do I Do First Water Change???

zrs6v4

zrs6v4

In Memoriam
Ok I have a 120 gallon about 2 months old doing great.
My levels are here....
Salinity-1.025
calcium-300 low but just started dosing
nitrite-0
nitrate-10-15
ammonia-0
PH- 8.1ish

I have not yet done a water change, I have a few things in the tank. and feed everyday. (if listing whats in there is necessary let me know) everythnig has pretty much stayed at the same level in the past 3 weeks. I was going to change the water like 2 weeks ago so I went to marine solutions to buy some saltwater, and one of the guys told me not to dos with calcium or change the water for 6 months. he had a reason, something about killing organisms or something, but I dont remember.. SO what should I do change no change? dos, or do not dos?
 
hah, no It was one of the owners I think, and he was dead serious. what is a good calcium level to be at 400-450, and will that help purple the rocks up more?
 
if you are not having corals in the tank
than dont worry about the calcium



if it was my tank i would do a water change every 2 weeks and change out 5-10% what salt are you using ?

what was the alk?


what test kit are you using?
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8355469#post8355469 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by chadfarmer

if it was my tank i would do a water change every 2 weeks and change out 5-10%

I would agree. about 10% every 2 weeks is a good idea , not sure why anyone would say wait 6 moths ?????
Click to expand...
 
I firmly believe in a 10-15% weekly water change. Sometimes it's not practical on 300+ gallon systems. I could see maybe the first few weeks going without changes when it's only live rock and sand letting it get a little bit of built up junk to kick start the bacteria, maybe.
 
i believe i waited a month when i first did mine although i really didn'y cycle too much due to the way i set things up, but after a month i changed out 25-30 gallons on about a 90+ gallon with sump and no levels were changed in the tank what so ever. but we all do things different i always waited till the cycle was almost or complete before i did the 1st water change.
 
zrs6v4,
I just got a preview of the SEASL presentation on water chemistry coming up on Nov. 11. I encourage you and others with new tanks to attend. I learned (I've been in this hobby for a few years) that it may be correct to wait 6 months for your first water change depending upon how fast and how many live inhabitants you add to your tank. The biological system needs to stablize before beginning water changes. That can take months. Doing water changes too soon can actually prevent it from stabilizing. That's one of the reasons why new hobbiest are told to be patient before adding live inhabitants to their tanks. And also why they are told to add slowly. The tank needs to time build up the system to handle live animals.
Again, I hope everyone can attend this presentation on Nov. 11. It will be worth your effort. I will post a carpool thread next week in case anyone wants to ride together from the Missouri side over to Belleville.
 
Remember, you have to park your car and go by covered wagon right after you cross the bridge. Bring your own TP as there aren't many soft leaves left around over here now.





:rolleyes: :lol:



I hope to be there, barring anything weird happening. (my wife was in the ER again last night...kidney stones this time) :rolleyes:
 
I think my passport is current. Better check.

Wow Dave, the authories are going start watching you closely. First the dog and now the wife. It makes for a curious coincidence.
 
Nah, the wife thing has been going on for awhile. Two years ago was her best for ER visits, 15 in one year. Last year was like 11. And this year, just 2 weeks after I decided to go ahead and give starting up my 120 a shot (along with all of its expenses), she left work for 2 separate weeks of hospitalization and never went back to work. She got disability benefits on the first try in Aug, but we're still waiting for her long term disability ins. from work to pay up when they were supposed to have kicked in back in April. This is why I'm always on a tight budget, selling corals when I need some more supplies for my tank, having trouble committing to club events, and not really able to attend weekday events, as I have to be here to care for the 4 year old in the evenings. Now I have a dog I have to carry around and press on her bladder to get her to pee. I'm practically the administrator of a nursing home here. A water chemistry meeting sounds like a GREAT change of pace! :D
 
saltyunderground- thanks for the info I will defintetly try to be there as long as I am not working.... thats what he was explaining to me, but I have a few fish and inverts. I have had the tank up a couple of months and its doing fine, but I probably should have waited on the livestock a little longer.. I did a water change a few days ago and I have been dosing with calcium, iodine, buffer, coral vite, and phytoplankton. My tank seems to be doing well, but its my first tank that I have actually started so I am sure I am doing something wrong or not exactly right. I learn something everyday and am always willing to learn more...

what do you think about auto top-off and a kalk reactor? Is it worth it or should I just keep manually dosing this stuff?
 
Why are you dosing all that stuff? And are you testing for all of it? I see your calcium is low, but are you using the chemistry calculator to make sure you're dosing the right amount of it?
 
well I check the calcium every time before I dose it, but I may do that 2 times a week at most(I just started dosing 2 weeks ago), buffer I check PH and the alkalinity before doing, ioding just started a week ago and I do it once a week, I am dosing with vitamins because I have heard it is really good for coraline and I want to add a blue tang, and I have a clam so phytoplankton is maily for that as is the iodine.
Now mind you I have been told this, so if I'm wrong please tell me it will not hurt my feelings to be saving this money...
 
Just wondering if you're checking the chemistry calculator because adding various things can throw other things out of whack. I don't have a clam, so can't speak to that. I am dripping kalk, though, and my coralline is popping up faster than I can scrape it. Of course, I'm not even doing kalk in my 10g and it has coralline popping up everywhere too. Everything else seems to be doing fine without adding anything, so I just kind of start wondering too when I see folks adding all kinds of stuff. Are you testing your iodine levels? Shouldn't add without testing.
 
Yea I have only added it 1 time, but I havent bought a test kit yet. so all you do is add kalk? I have been looking into that, but I don't know much about it.. what does it do exactly?
 
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