How often do you perform water changes?

dacia

dacia

Active Member
I know there are different opinions on this subject, but I would like to see all the opinions in one place. :D Let me know how often and how much water you change, and also tell us all why you do it this way.
 
dacia

dacia

Active Member
When you do these water changes, what percent of your tank water do you change? I normally do 10%. IMHO, I think smaller more frequent water changes are more beneficial than less frequent large water changes such as 30% every couple of months.
 
saltydog

saltydog

Member
I change 20% once a month. on my 75 gal reef. Salt mixed with RO water aerated over night. I would like to do it more often but just can't seem to find the time.
-Salty
 
nm reef

nm reef

Active Member
This is one of those poll topics that get redone about once every 3-4 months...I still try to do about a 5 - 10 gal water change once a month...my total water volume is about 120 gal so slightly more than 5% monthly is my goal. My reasoning is basically to remove / replenish a small percentage of my water and to replace/replenish trace elements...just basic common sense in my opinion.:cool:
 
T

thomas712

Guest
At two weeks about 20 gallons. If I miss that date and go to three weeks about 25 gallons during a month span on a 90 gallon.
Thomas
 
naturelover

naturelover

Member
10 gal every 6 months on a 75gal. It has worked for me in 3yrs.
Just another thread for debate like nmreef said.
Since no one test for every minerals there are always a chance you are overdozing some by doing water change regularly, if you don't do water change you are using some elements up always. How do you decide which ones are used and not used depends on each persons ability to test.
Do you break LR and test it for build up of elements since some might have been absourbed by LR. (Think LR like a phos. sponge). Someday it might leak elements like phos. sponge. I guess thats why most people say LR life is around 5yrs in a tank.
EDIT: Actually 6 times in 3yrs. No consitancy on time length. Maximum I went was around 10 month.
 
blue dew

blue dew

Member
5 gallons every other week on a 40 gallon display with 20 gallons or so in the sump. Probably should do more, but it seems to be working well.
I usually let the replacemnt water age for 3-4 days with a powerhead prior to adding it to the tank.
 
D

daniel411

Guest
I'm doing a 5 gallon water change every other week in my 38g. Might be bumping it up to every week though. I'm switching over to water thats gone through ro/di/uv and want to speed the process up.
 
sparky0028

sparky0028

Member
I do a 15 gals every sunday on a 100 gal tank and things seem to be go well, the tank has been settup since may of this year. I do have a question, when you say aerate - do you mean with a powerhead or an airstone - which is better?
 
crazyreefnut

crazyreefnut

Member
In the years that I have been doing this I have watched different opinions on this. I personally only top off and using tap water water tests are paramont and if it is doing well don't fix it.
 
tiencvu

tiencvu

Member
10 gal weekly on 55 gal. I worked well for me. I let the mix water sit for a week before putting it in the tank.
 
beaslbob

beaslbob

Well-Known Member
no waterchanges fresh and salt since the late 70's.
Kip have you seen the pic of crasyreefnut's tank? Seems he is harvesting bunches and bunches of halimedia each month.
Crazy. Gee you think we broke the code? ;)
 
overanalyzer

overanalyzer

Active Member
For the 5 of you doing top off onlys can we some tank pics??
I refuse to have this debate again ... show me one well respected scientific source who says that you should not do water changes ....
 
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