water changes my view

[socal57che]

Hey doc, my 72 is pretty solid and I think it could handle having a wrench thrown into the WC schedule without much of an isssue. I have an endless supply of filtered sea water from Scripps Aquarium so quality of the water is nearly identical every time and there's no mixing anything. I am going to change from 7g weekly to 1g daily. I have several 7g containers from walmart and a 72g tank so the math is easy for a 7 day week. I'll give it a go and see how I fare.

BTW, where in the Ozarks are you?
signed,
Mr Guinea Pig

 

[florida joe]

Gee I start one little thread and look at the healthy debate it has spawned. GREAT INPUT PEOPLE

 

[wattsupdoc]

Originally Posted by socal57che
http:///forum/post/2873024
Hey doc, my 72 is pretty solid and I think it could handle having a wrench thrown into the WC schedule without much of an isssue. I have an endless supply of filtered sea water from Scripps Aquarium so quality of the water is nearly identical every time and there's no mixing anything. I am going to change from 7g weekly to 1g daily. I have several 7g containers from walmart and a 72g tank so the math is easy for a 7 day week. I'll give it a go and see how I fare.

BTW, where in the Ozarks are you?
signed,
Mr Guinea Pig

Awesome!

Im in Ozark, Ozarks...No really the town of Ozark.
I wish I had a line on NSW. I'd jump on that.

 

[socal57che]

Originally Posted by wattsupdoc
http:///forum/post/2873438
Awesome!

Im in Ozark, Ozarks...No really the town of Ozark.
I wish I had a line on NSW. I'd jump on that.
I know exactly where you are. I used to work for John Youngbood Chrysler (crooks) in Springfield. I was one of their transmission techs. Your neck of the woods has really boomed in the last few years.

 

[wattsupdoc]

HA, that's funny, I got thrown out of there once.

Yes it has grown so much from when I moved here in 87. Used to be I was really living in the woods.

Now it's not so much.

I miss it and suppose if I could find another backwoods place my wife would be OK with that's where I'd be.

 

[fishhunter]

ya thats about right! I do about a 1/4 change a month in my Biocube.

 

[mantisman51]

I have a 125g (actually 130.8g, if all the charts are right), I perform 15g water changes every 2 weeks-3 weeks if my back is acting up.I am wondering now if I'm not over-doing it. I have 130#'s of LR, about 150 blue and red hermits, 25 turbo & cerinth snails and I can't seem to get enough algae growth for them all. Dang, my tank is clean. My lawnmower blenny has resorted to chewing the thin film of algae off the back glass of the tank. I wonder if a little more nitrate wouldn't be beneficial?

 

[wattsupdoc]

I would not say you are over doing it. Where you are at looks like a good place to be. Get some Nori or algae sheets for your vegetarians.

 

[snakeblitz33]

I have very, very light bioloads in all of my personal tanks. Deep sand beds, a small protein skimmer and a lot of flow is generally what I do. However, I have started most of my tanks with dechlorinated tap water. I have done at least 3 water changes on them, but after that - I don't change the water but once every six months. Approximately 25%
I personally don't think that it is necessary to keep up with water changes constantly unless your filtration isn't very good or unless you don't have enough live rock.
It really depends on your filtration system, IMHO.

 

[reefkprz]

Originally Posted by SnakeBlitz33
http:///forum/post/2882514
I personally don't think that it is necessary to keep up with water changes constantly unless your filtration isn't very good or unless you don't have enough live rock.
It really depends on your filtration system, IMHO.
or if you feed like a madman like me, or if you have a high bioload, or if you have a high element consumption rate, or if you have a coral load that exudes turpenoid compounds, or..... there are actually quite a few reasons to do lots of water changes and IMO few set ups are so good they can handle very little waterchanges.
the thing being, without a basis for comparison a person can think their tank is thriving when in reality its barely surviving, jump up the water changes and growth could increase as well as overall tank appearance being better, less tint to the water makes the lighting more effective etcetera. it really is hard to say less in more in this case. honestly IMHO there is nothing more effective in maintaining tanks than water changes.
I prefer calfos saying on the subject " Weekly partial water changes should be considered above average care, while monthly service is simply average (although that does not make it acceptable or even healthy for coral!) Aquarists who claim they do water changes less often or even not at all are not doing the industry any favors by bragging that they can't kill most things in their tanks no matter how hard they try. It's just luck and the grace of god. If you send one hundred chickens running accross a busy freeway, some are going to make it accross, but the rest are going to be hood ornaments. that doesnt make the survivor smart or the race just, its just a matter of statistics." (quote from anthony calfos book of coral propagation volume one version 1.0

 

[blue oasis]

Hi there Fla. Joe, I have a 90gal reef / fish tank and have been doing 30gal water chages every two weeks for the last 5 years. I wake up early Friday morning and start making my water (I have a RO/DI system) in a 40gal rubbermaid garbage container. Friday night I add my Red Sea Pro Salt and I have a Sielo pump on the bottom which mixes in the salt. Saturday morning I add iodine and Kent Marine ChromaMax to the container. I then start emptying 30gal of water from the tank and cleaning the glass and sand and then adding back the new salt water . I use a heater in the container so the water chage is very close to what is coming out.
This seems to work for me and I test my water every Sunday and Wed. to make sure I do not need to add any chemicals. I always keep 50gal of fresh RO/DI water on hand for evaporation.
Gary
Clearwater, Fl

 

[florida joe]

Originally Posted by BLUE OASIS
http:///forum/post/2979413
Hi there Fla. Joe, I have a 90gal reef / fish tank and have been doing 30gal water chages every two weeks for the last 5 years. I wake up early Friday morning and start making my water (I have a RO/DI system) in a 40gal rubbermaid garbage container. Friday night I add my Red Sea Pro Salt and I have a Sielo pump on the bottom which mixes in the salt. Saturday morning I add iodine and Kent Marine ChromaMax to the container. I then start emptying 30gal of water from the tank and cleaning the glass and sand and then adding back the new salt water . I use a heater in the container so the water chage is very close to what is coming out.
This seems to work for me and I test my water every Sunday and Wed. to make sure I do not need to add any chemicals. I always keep 50gal of fresh RO/DI water on hand for evaporation.
Gary
Clearwater, Fl
Gary in this hobby it all comes down to what works best for each of us. You my friend seem to have found what works best for you

 

[locoyo386]

Not that it means anything or that it is the same thing but;
I have a ten gallon gallon tank with 4-goldfish that I have not done a water change in about 4-1/2 years. They are still doing great and living their lifes. To add to that I have HOB filter and only change the media once a year.
Not that it means anything or that it is the same thing though, just wanted to comment.

 

[florida joe]

Originally Posted by locoyo386
http:///forum/post/3007669
Not that it means anything or that it is the same thing but;
I have a ten gallon gallon tank with 4-goldfish that I have not done a water change in about 4-1/2 years. They are still doing great and living their lifes. To add to that I have HOB filter and only change the media once a year.
Not that it means anything or that it is the same thing though, just wanted to comment.
fresh water and how much do you top off in a month

 

[locoyo386]

Originally Posted by florida joe
http:///forum/post/3008369
fresh water and how much do you top off in a month
Yeah it is freshwater, I top off maybe once a month of that.
Also in 2 of my 6 10 gallon saltwater tanks I have 3-damsels in each. I used to do water changes every week on both. Now I have started to cut back on that on one of them. I am to once a month on water changes and I still do not see an ill affect on that tank. I also have 2-hermit crabs, 3-snails and one cleaner shrimp. Both tanks seem to be doing great. I have been doing that for about 4 months now (1 water change per month). NOt sure yet if the size of the tank matters, but if anything it should be worse in a smaller volume of water vs. a bigger volume of water.

 

[mantisman51]

Heck, you could throw goldfish in your septic tank and they'd probably do alright. I never knew how easy (and cheap) FW was until I got into SW 3 years ago.

 

[wakeboard3584]

i have gone up to 3 months without a water change and had NO negative side effects. i dosed the tank a few times in that period and topped it off every few days. it was summer, so there was quite a bit evaporation. i have a 28 gallon and i keep my salinity low (1.023) so that if alot of water evaporates, my salinity doesnt get too high (around 1.027) i keep 35 lbs of liverock and have xenia that doubles every month or so. good liverock is key and i really think the xenia has something to do with keeping nitrates low. i talk about it on another thread. oh, and my nitrates were ZERO when i finally did a water change. the only reason i changed it was to get some water out to make a re-arranging easier haha.

 

[culp]

i will always keep doing my water changes.
i guess i just like flushing my money down the drain.
but thats just me

 

[don trinko]

Very interesting thread. I also have fresh water tanks including Discus. Just bring up WC in the discus forum and you will get a nasty thread going.
Congradulations to all who contributed to this thread for keeping it civilized.
Just for the record I have 2 FOWLR SW tanks; a 20h and a 75. I change 35% once a month. Sometimes I feel guilty since my discus get 50% twice a week and many think I'm not changing enough. Don T.

 

[dlee]

I have a discus tank too. I do a 50% each weekend and that is not enough. They are visibly much happier after the change. Brighter colors and more active.
In my reef I do 25% each weekend. It seems to work for me and corals seem a lot happier than when I was doing larger % changes once per month and dosing the tank with elements in between changes. I feel like larger than 25% can upset the tank "chemistry". I have had snail and brittle starfish spawnings after larger water changes.....but maybe that is not such a bad thing.