Too Many Water Changes?

[deete]

I have a tank which has been up for over a year and my sand gets ugly every few days. I like the tank to look good for when I have parties / visitors and I'm just wondering what everyone's experience/opinions are on this. Can I do water changes too frequently? I use water that is from the ocean (one priviledge of living in southern CA.)

 

[jimmy 4]

You may be overfeeding. What to you feed your fish? Diamond gobies are great sand cleaners. Protien skimmers help a lot also. I don't know if you can do too many water changes if your using ocean water.

 

[shortbusldtang]

I second that. The diamond goby was going to be my suggestion. I had the same problem and bought one of these. He is the hardest worker in the tank. Constantly turns sand over in tank to keep it very white and clean. Could almost guarantee he will keep your sand looking perfect. GL

 

[flower]

Originally Posted by Deete
http:///forum/post/3072379
I have a tank which has been up for over a year and my sand gets ugly every few days. I like the tank to look good for when I have parties / visitors and I'm just wondering what everyone's experience/opinions are on this. Can I do water changes too frequently? I use water that is from the ocean (one priviledge of living in southern CA.)

YES...too many water changes or too much water changed out will create a problem, you need the good bacteria, and without it you will have ammonia spikes.
What you need is a sandsifter to turn the sand and keep it clean. There are gobies, starfish, cucumbers and snails...so lots of varieties, find what works best for your size tank. I have a goldenheaded sleeper goby, my sand looks white all the time. They get big, so they are not good for smaller tanks. Mine is a 90g and it may someday outgrow mine.
P.S. just noticed ocean water...My opinion...bacteria count grows according to the bioload the tank has. The ocean water is not condensed for a tank, it is wayyy bigger. The waves also wash things down and so don’t need a big concentration of bacteria like a tank would need. There is also the fear of pollutants in the water, our seas are not clean...oil spills...illegal dumping...phosphates from stuff folks dump in while boating and swimming. I am by no means any kind of expert...This is just what I honestly think in my own mind without any real education on the subject. But it gives you something to think about and maybe study up on.

 

[locoyo386]

Originally Posted by Flower
http:///forum/post/3072536
YES...too many water changes or too much water changed out will create a problem, you need the good bacteria, and without it you will have ammonia spikes.
Hi there,
Can you explain this, not sure what you mean.

 

[woody189]

Originally Posted by locoyo386
http:///forum/post/3072545
Hi there,
Can you explain this, not sure what you mean.
I think what she meant was that when you do a large water change, you take a lot of the befeficial bacteria out with the water. THen the spike will occur when the there's not enough bacteria to deal w/ the bio load (becuase of all the bacteria that was removed). Then the after the spike everything will even out.
Again, I think that's what she meant. IDK though, because I thought majority of the bacteria is in the LR and LS. I don't think it'll be abig deal if it's a normal size WC.
How big and often are you doing these water changes???
and are you making sure the wtaer if is from a good source?? You can't take ocean water from the surface. I think you need a boat and need to go out pretty far away from the sand to get clean water.

 

[locoyo386]

Originally Posted by woody189
http:///forum/post/3072555
I think what she meant was that when you do a large water change, you take a lot of the befeficial bacteria out with the water. THen the spike will occur when the there's not enough bacteria to deal w/ the bio load (becuase of all the bacteria that was removed). Then the after the spike everything will even out.
Again, I think that's what she meant. IDK though, because I thought majority of the bacteria is in the LR and LS. I don't think it'll be abig deal if it's a normal size WC.
How big and often are you doing these water changes???
and are you making sure the wtaer if is from a good source?? You can't take ocean water from the surface. I think you need a boat and need to go out pretty far away from the sand to get clean water.
Personally I do not think that doing frequesnt or large water changes affect the tank in a bad way. The only thing that I see that might affect the tank is if the water changes are done to frequent to were the bacteria do not have enought time to get the ammonia & nitrites converted, thus starving the bacteria. I do not do frequent water changes, but when I do waterchanges I typically change a large volume of water. I do these types of water changes before feeding time.

 

[ophiura]

IMO, the biological filter is not in the tank water, it is on surfaces. Doing water changes is not a risk in this regard, IMO, if you are not doing major cleaning on your filter at the same time.
The risk is the instability between specific gravity, temp, pH, alkalinity, etc. These parameters if not matched with your tank water can cause significant stress to the inhabitants of your tank.
IMO, you can do a 100% WATER change on your tank and not have any issues with the biological filter if you are not disrupting the sand bed and rocks, etc. If you do all bets are out the door.
IMO, I do not recommend a sand sifter like a goby, which is eating beneficial microfauna in the tank. This is true also of sand sifter stars. Other sand sifters like certain snails and cucumbers are considered beneficial and do not eat the microfauna in the sand.
The use of multiple frequent water changes, especially if large volumes, must be weighed against the benefits. My tank recently was on the verge of a crash due to lack of maintenance. I was forced to do multiple frequent and drastic water changes to prevent an event that would have been worse.
However, the reality is that these problems are caused by maintenance, stocking, and feeding and the addition of another fish may not resolve the problem - just hide it - where it will crop up in another form.
Even with ocean water you will want to ensure temp and other parameters are basically equivalent to prevent shock. But as far as removing bacteria, etc, I do not personally believe it is an issue.
This is why you can not generally start a new tank using old tank water and new media. That tank will cycle...whereas using new (or old) tank water and established biomedia (live rock, bioballs, etc from an established tank) can eliminate or minimize a cycle.
All is JMO though

 

[deejeff442]

agree 100% well said.
i change water usually 15% every chance i get.
it replaces trace elements in the water and keeps them at a stable level.

 

[socalnano24]

In response to mowzers ocean water reference...
most of the water we get in socal is called scrippes water (sp?) or catalina water. [unless you were actually referring to collecting your own, not recomended btw] The Catalina water comes from the back side of catalina island (about 30 miles offshore). IMO its better than mixing your own water. Contains all the natural trace elements you need. I've never had a problem using it.

 

[deete]

Thanks everyone for all the info. I think the problem may be diatoms, which is strange because my tank has been cycled for quite a long time now, and as I understand it they're common in new tanks. I do water changes about every two weeks but lately have been doing them every week to ten days. It's about a 15% water change, 30% when I'm doing a lot of maintenance.
As far as feeding, I only have to feed a green chromis and a percula clown at the moment, and I feed them a small pinch of flake each day + a few Marine Two pellets.
Originally Posted by SocalNano24
http:///forum/post/3072725
In response to mowzers ocean water reference...
most of the water we get in socal is called scrippes water (sp?) or catalina water. [unless you were actually referring to collecting your own, not recomended btw] The Catalina water comes from the back side of catalina island (about 30 miles offshore). IMO its better than mixing your own water. Contains all the natural trace elements you need. I've never had a problem using it.
Just so that it's clear, I don't go to the beach and syphon water from the ocean lol. The water I get is Scripps water from the LFS, who gets it shipped in from the ocean.
<random info> Scripps water comes from Scripps Pier in San Diego. There is a psychiatric hospital who has a line ran several hundred feet down into the ocean, and they allow citizens to pump out water into trucks, and whatever container they have, for "free." They require a donation, but I hear it's small.</random info>

 

[ophiura]

The reason diatoms are common in new tanks is because basically nutrient levels are fluctuating as the biological filter matures.
So in an old tank, or one with limited maintenance, the same thing happens because the biological filter may be overwhelmed, dying off, etc. Drops in pH and alkalinity may impact the bacteria.
Believe me, I battled just about every algae as my tank started to spiral. For quite awhile, I couldn't see through the glass due to red slime. But for various medical reasons I just let it slide. You start to see everything a new tank sees, in an old, spiraling tank too. While there is hope for stabilization in a young tank, and older tank or one with a nutrient issue is not likely to stabilize without significant intervention.