My first water change

[njjamie]

I have a 55 gallon FOWLR. I have a vermaculated angel, naso tang, 3 damsels (going to store later today top get bigger net so I can get rid of them), 2 skunk shrimp, 1 coral banded shrimp, 12 snails, 12 crabs, 40 lbs of live rock, and 3 feather dusters.......yeah, that is it.
So I have had the tank for around 4 weeks now and I am ready to do my first water change. I just topped off my tank last weekend with 5 gallons of RO water.
I need to know how much I am supposed to be taking out of my tank and replacing?? I am reading a bunch of different answers but maybe someone with experience can tell me about a 55 gallon with the stuff I have in it?? I was thinking about doing a 10% change which is just around 5 gallons, every 2 weeks. What do you guys think about this??
Also, How much of that Alkaline buffer should I be putting in the RO before it goes in the tank?? I am using 5 gallon Sparkletts containers.....you know, the drinking water kinds. The guy at the LFS told me a teaspoon and a half??
Lastly, How often am I supposed to be putting in the Bionic liquid? I have been doing a squirt in the morning and a squirt at night. I premix in a bowl and don't just throw in my tank...........should I not be doing it this frequently??
Still loving this message board,
Jamie

 

[oreo12]

I have a 55 I do a 5gal water change every thursday nite. I take 5 gals out put 5gals in I never add any buffers usally the salt mix takes care of that. I have no idea what bionic liquid is I have never used it.

 

[shogun323]

I dont think you will need bionic or any alkaline buffer. You should get everything you need from water changes especially since you have no corals. B-Ionic is helpful if you have alot of corals as they would be using up the calcium and trace elements from your water.

 

[njjamie]

Is it a bad thing if I am using that B-Ionic? Or just not necessary? This was a suggestion from the guy at my LFS, so please let me know.
Thanks!

 

[dmjordan]

you should not add any buffers without first knowing what your current levels are for which you are dosing and second finding out why they are low. never just randomly start adding buffers to your tank because someone said you should. test all of your levels first and find out what effects what....
example: calcium and alkalinity will effect ph, etc..

 

[njjamie]

Originally Posted by dmjordan
you should not add any buffers without first knowing what your current levels are for which you are dosing and second finding out why they are low. never just randomly start adding buffers to your tank because someone said you should. test all of your levels first and find out what effects what....
example: calcium and alkalinity will effect ph, etc..

This is where I am a saltwater retard. I have just started to understand the nitrate and nitrite but all of these other things to look out for is so confusing. I usually just bring my water to the LFS and they test it for me.....should I just buy my own test kits so I have a better understanding of this?

 

[dmjordan]

buy a good test kit like a salifert test kit. you want to have a test kit for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, ph, phosphate, calcium and alkalinity. you can also google each of these to find out what the are and how each one effects your tank.

 

[clekchau]

i prefer weekly of 10% but alot of people just do monthly of 25%
make sure to siphon your sand really well

 

[dmjordan]

Originally Posted by clekchau
i prefer weekly of 10% but alot of people just do monthly of 25%
make sure to siphon your sand really well
you should not siphon or vaccuum a live sandbed. if you have a build up od detrius you can carefully vaccuum that up but the beneficial bacteria living within your sandbed will be sucked out if you vaccuum your sandbed..
water changes are what replace trace elements that are used up or removed through protein skimmers, corals etc... i do 10% weekly water changes

 

[oreo12]

Originally Posted by dmjordan
you should not siphon or vaccuum a live sandbed. if you have a build up od detrius you can carefully vaccuum that up but the beneficial bacteria living within your sandbed will be sucked out if you vaccuum your sandbed..
water changes are what replace trace elements that are used up or removed through protein skimmers, corals etc... i do 10% weekly water changes
I agree 100% never mess with the sand bed. Your fish will stir it up enough

 

[clekchau]

Originally Posted by dmjordan
you should not siphon or vaccuum a live sandbed. if you have a build up od detrius you can carefully vaccuum that up but the beneficial bacteria living within your sandbed will be sucked out if you vaccuum your sandbed..
water changes are what replace trace elements that are used up or removed through protein skimmers, corals etc... i do 10% weekly water changes
you're right, i don't know much about deep sand beds but i do know if you don't keep the detritus out they become nutrient sinks ie your aquariums trash can. i don't have to worry about this as i always run a bare bottom aquarium with alot of flow and everything is pushed to my skimmer or sump which i clean with my weekly water changes. i have a remote deep sand bed that never needs cleaning, lighting, anything. with a moderate bio load, my nitrates are always consistently less than 5 ppm.

 

[clekchau]

Originally Posted by oreo12
I agree 100% never mess with the sand bed. Your fish will stir it up enough
how would "fish" stir up the lower portion of a deep sand bed? :notsure:

 

[fishgeek01]

they won't and shouldnt. This is where the most beneficial biological processes are going on, hence the need or desire to have a dsb.

 

[dmjordan]

Originally Posted by clekchau
how would "fish" stir up the lower portion of a deep sand bed? :notsure:
sand sifting gobies will stir up the sandbed and so will nassarius snails.

 

[clekchau]

Originally Posted by Fishgeek01
they won't and shouldnt. This is where the most beneficial biological processes are going on, hence the need or desire to have a dsb.
that was the argument when deep sand beds were the "in" thing, now people are leaning towards for bare bottom tanks with remote deep sand beds or shallow sand beds because of numerous nutrient problems with long term deep sand beds. what is your take on all of this?

 

[clekchau]

Originally Posted by dmjordan
sand sifting gobies will stir up the sandbed and so will nassarius snails.
lower sand bed, not upper

 

[dmjordan]

nassarius snail burry themselves completely in the sand bed and stay there except when they come up during feeding. have you ever seen a sand sifting gobie in action? i have seen orange diamond gobies sift and move the sandbed all the way down to the bottom of a tank with a 5" sandbed.

 

[oreo12]

All I know is my engeiner goby has tunnles all over the place he loves to dig up and pile the sand in a mound then moves the mound to a new location. My yellow wacthman in my 55 also loves to tunnel. I can look under the tank and see his tunnels

 

[1journeyman]

Originally Posted by clekchau
that was the argument when deep sand beds were the "in" thing, now people are leaning towards for bare bottom tanks with remote deep sand beds or shallow sand beds because of numerous nutrient problems with long term deep sand beds. what is your take on all of this?
I think it's false...
First, you should never vaccuum a sand bed.
A deep sand bed must be set up correctly. If that is done, you will have no issues. The problem comes when people don't know what they are doind, dump some sand in a tank, stir it around, and then wonder what's going on.
Not sure what people are "leaning" towards bare bottom tanks. That's totally unnatural and not good for you inverts, many fish, corals, etc.
Nass. snails stir up the top portion of your sand. That is a good thing. The lower portion must be undisturbed to allow for anearobic bacteria to process your nitrates.
Simply put, a properly set up deep sand bed will never have "nutrient" problems. maintaining proper sand depth, keeping good flow through your aquarium, and keeping surface sand shifters such as worms, pods, Nass. snails, etc. is all you need.
I'm really curious who has started to promote bare bottom tanks again. I thought that had died out.

 

[clekchau]

Originally Posted by 1journeyman
I think it's false...
First, you should never vaccuum a sand bed.
A deep sand bed must be set up correctly. If that is done, you will have no issues. The problem comes when people don't know what they are doind, dump some sand in a tank, stir it around, and then wonder what's going on.
Not sure what people are "leaning" towards bare bottom tanks. That's totally unnatural and not good for you inverts, many fish, corals, etc.
Nass. snails stir up the top portion of your sand. That is a good thing. The lower portion must be undisturbed to allow for anearobic bacteria to process your nitrates.
Simply put, a properly set up deep sand bed will never have "nutrient" problems. maintaining proper sand depth, keeping good flow through your aquarium, and keeping surface sand shifters such as worms, pods, Nass. snails, etc. is all you need.
I'm really curious who has started to promote bare bottom tanks again. I thought that had died out.
i guess it is not simply put as alot of very experienced reefkeepers have set up deep sand beds and have switched to barebottom with excellent and well documented before/after results, and i mean these are big, beautiful aquarium magazine quality reefs. they are the ones claiming that deep sand beds will in time be a nutrient sink, detriment to the aquarium and they have pretty solid evidence. every test imaginable with the deep sand bed and without. trust me, not only has it not died out it is building steam as those people with barebottom and shallow sand beds are having alot more success.
thanks for your opinion though LOL