frequency of water changes

[wilson717]

My nitrates are high and I did a 6 gallon water change today. My tank is 24 gallons with LR, LS, Clown, Fish, and cleanup crew. My nitrates came down so I want to change more water.
How frequently can I do water changes to get my nitrates down? (everyday, every other day, more than one a day)
I can only do 8 gallons at a time because of space to mix my salt

water.

 

[dmjordan]

I do 10% weekly. Threr are some people who do 20% bi-weekly. If you change more than 10% weekly (IMO) you will sacrifice your other water parameters and water quality. Mkae sure when you do your water changes to clean filter sponges and replace monthly.
You can also add some shaving brush algae or some mangrove (sp) to help with trates.
How high are your trates and how often do you normally change water?

 

[travis89]

I do 10% bi-weekly and so far I have had no problems.

 

[lion_crazz]

I do 15% weekly and my water levels always remain right where I want them.
In order to bring nitrates down, it would be okay to do 8 gallons every 4 or 5 days.

 

[blue00si]

I do a 12.5 % every two weeks and everything has been fine. plus a good cleaner crew pays for it self in the long run.

 

[milomlo]

Well when my trates were high in my 29 gallon I was instructed to do 2 10 gallon water changes every other day. (Just two water changes of 10 gallons each) I actually did a 10 gallon and 7 gallon cause 10 almost emptied my 29 gallon tank. My trates were over 100 though so I guess it depends on how high your trates are.
It worked for me and nothing was hurt - I think the trates hurt the tank more than the water change.
After that I did do a 5 gallon water change once a week until trates were back in line.

Good Luck

 

[wilson717]

Thanks Milomlo. How long did it take for your trates to drop? How long did it take to get them back in line?

 

[stanlalee]

well to initially get my nitrates down I'd do the gallons your doing every few days until they are what you want them to be, then I'd start the weekly or biweekly schedule. I'd personally do em every other day but if you can only mix 8 gallons at a time you may need an extra day to aerate, heat and let the water stablize. as long as your not sloppy with the parameters of the newly mixed water (salinity, temps, stablized) you shouldn't have any issue doing small to moderate changes every few days.

 

[milomlo]

Actually after the first two initial changes my trates were down to like 20
So I just started doing the 5 gallon change once a week until they got back down low. I only had to do like 2 until they got back to 0. Now I do a 10% water change
I did just upgrade to a 100 gallon so now it will be alot different for me. Still getting used to the big changes. So far I am thinking my smaller tank was easier.