water change debate

primetizzle

primetizzle

Member
Ok so how often are you guys doing your water changes...In my 55gal I was doing a change about once a month and adding R/O about once aweek as water evaporated. And now on my 150 gal @ my father in-laws office which I service I planned on doing the same thing. I go in today and everything is off and there's water missing out of the tank. The receptionist told me he started to do a water change and then a patient came in. So I finished the water change. So I find out that he's been doing a water change once a week because he read somewhere that you should do it once a week, me and him get in a debate and I told him the whole point of the L/S and L/R amongst the other things in the tank is to make the tank as close to nature and self contained as possible.........So how often are you guys changing your water
 
fallensynner

fallensynner

Member
ok once a week is 2 much i had a 180g reef tank and i did a water change every 2 to 3 weeks. depending on wat was going on but the max was about 3 weeks if it looks a little to cloudy try every 2 weeks and then see in 2 weeks if it is nice and clear do it every 3 weeks but if not every 2 weeks i did mine about every 3 weeks and my tank was a 180g and was beautiful and thriving better than most ppl would expect a norm tank would everything was healthy everything - clams, mandarines, flame scallop, cardinal, and other fish that are usually hard to keep healthy. the adding of water is going to increase a lot especially if u have good lighting i had an auto flaot that once it passed a level it would auto add fresh water. 15% water change
 
leopard_babe

leopard_babe

Active Member
It depends on what you keep. In my aggressive 180 I used to do 20% once a week. My fish were messy.
In my 46 when it was a reef I did 10% once a week.
When I was FOWLR, and had a really low bioload, I did a 20% every 2 weeks.
I think that it is up to you. What kind of fish and how long has the tank been established.
I based my water changes on what was going on with my tank. My messy fish in my aggressive tank, could make my tank look like a tornado went through it in about 3 days. So I cleaned out more water more frequently.
My FOWLR had about 5 fish and no reef. I did not over feed my fish. The water levels were very stable so I could get away with every 2 weeks. When I only did 10% I would start to get increased nitrates and slight amounts of algea.
So IMO it is a personal choice. There is no right or wrong answer.
 
fallensynner

fallensynner

Member
question leopard - how much did u spend feeding ur pred tank a month? wat exactly did u feed them? how often, every day or 2 times a week or...?how much did ur light bill go up do to the tank?im looking into buying a 180g to make a pred tank. what kind of pred fish do u have exactly? what problems have u come across so far with the pred tank, if any?
srry for all the Q's but u have exactly wat i might get so i can see the answers from one who knows.
 
primetizzle

primetizzle

Member
ok this is whats in the tank
Sailfin tang
Naso tang
Hippo tang
Yellow tang
Copperband butterfly
Maroon clown
False clown
5-blue damsels
2-3stripe damsels
Diamond gobby
Stripped gobby
sand sifting star
3-brittle stars
2-serpent stars
about 50 different hermets
2-sally lightfoots
10-emerald crabs
4-porcelain crabs
cleaner shrimp
coral banded shrimp
8-peppermint shrimp
4-cleaner clams
and about 30 or so different snails including 3 lettuce
and there are some hard corals,some softy's,anemone's,leathers,zoo's,shrooms,polyps,clams..and other things...
And for lighting the are 3 250w 10k double ended M/H and two 150w 48"T5's
 
socal57che

socal57che

Active Member
What are your water parameters and are they consistent. That is what I would base water changes on. If you can sustain proper levels with a change every two weeks then I would stick with it.
If I did one water change a month my tank would look like a sewage lagoon.
So, to answer your question, I do weekly changes of 10%. More if I see a change in water quality.
 
sly

sly

Active Member
Originally Posted by primetizzle
http:///forum/post/2779094
So how often are you guys changing your water
Really? Never. I mean, I end up changing it for one reason or another (moving the tank,etc...) but the last time I changed my water was May of 2007 I think.
 
novahobbies

novahobbies

Well-Known Member
I only change 15% or so every two weeks on my 110 tank, but there's a very small bioload on it right now so it doesn't get bad very quickly. My seahorse tank is another issue: three horses plus a coarse shell-sand bed equals nitrates constantly in the 20+ range, so that gets a 15% change weekly. There's a lot of tang-poo in that tank you described, but even still I don't think I would be changing the water more than once every two weeks.
 
fau8

fau8

Member
Your water testing will tell you how often you need to change your water. if your nitrates are low (no more than 10 in a fish only setup) you might be able to go 2-3 weeks. However you look to have a subtantial bio load so I would think 2 weeks would be the longest I would go.
Now the rules change if you have a heavy coral load as they will remove alot of the base elements from the water. (clacium and idione for ex.) People tend to use additives to compensate for this, but you should never dose anything without testing the levels first. The piont being here that if you do regualar water changes every ywo weeks you should never have to dose anything, and water changes based on water quality testing that indicate high nitrate or phospates even when doing biweekly water changes probally indicate you are over feeding. This problem will also be indicated with the presence of hair algea and other algea blooms.
 
stdreb27

stdreb27

Active Member
With that bioload, you need to change your water often, personally I side with your uncle, I'd be doing a 20 or so gallon water change weekly.
 
D

dragonzim

Active Member
Originally Posted by FaLLenSyNNer
http:///forum/post/2779444
ok once a week is 2 much i had a 180g reef tank and i did a water change every 2 to 3 weeks. depending on wat was going on but the max was about 3 weeks if it looks a little to cloudy try every 2 weeks and then see in 2 weeks if it is nice and clear do it every 3 weeks but if not every 2 weeks i did mine about every 3 weeks and my tank was a 180g and was beautiful and thriving better than most ppl would expect a norm tank would everything was healthy everything - clams, mandarines, flame scallop, cardinal, and other fish that are usually hard to keep healthy. the adding of water is going to increase a lot especially if u have good lighting i had an auto flaot that once it passed a level it would auto add fresh water. 15% water change
Once a week is certainly not too often, especially with the bioload that is in that tank.
 
1knight164

1knight164

Member
Ten percent a week. Keep in mind that water changes are done to replace trace elements as well. Waiting a month may leave your tank depleted.
 
metweezer

metweezer

Active Member
Originally Posted by socal57che
http:///forum/post/2779491
What are your water parameters and are they consistent. That is what I would base water changes on. If you can sustain proper levels with a change every two weeks then I would stick with it.
If I did one water change a month my tank would look like a sewage lagoon.
So, to answer your question, I do weekly changes of 10%. More if I see a change in water quality.
+1
 
notsonoob

notsonoob

Member
I was researching on the opposite side to see how long you can go without a water change.
This really depends upon how you set up your filtration
I've been two months, but I also have a ten gallon aquarium with cheato and a 10 gallon sump, with a decent pad and skimmer underneath my 72 as well as a carbon pad. The water, fish and corals are doing the best they have ever been, however, I do add 1 Liter of Kalk drip daily, reef plus twice a week, and usually add at least 1 gallon of RO top off a day. Maybe 1.5 when it doesn't rain. My air conditioner runs all day.
I would never attempt this without having the proper flow and filtration.
Next...Mangroves!
Last time I did a water change it was just about as clean as the water going in. I would also point out that I have alot of sponge growth, and the benificial little critters growing all over the place.
 
sly

sly

Active Member
Like I said, I hardly ever do water changes... Depends on your tank's needs and the filtration. For filtration on my 72 I have:
  • Mangroves
  • Chaetomorpha
  • 80lbs. Live Rock
  • DSB in refugium
  • Algae Turf Scrubber
  • Ozone
  • MSX 160 Skimmer
    UltraViolet Sterilizer
    Auto-topoff RO/DI water
    Wet/Dry
    Lots of water circulation
    Substantial clean up crew
    Low bio-load
    only use homemade food
 
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