Water Changes

[nickadam]

How often do you guys do your water changes and what is recommended...

 

[puffer9006]

i do my once a month some times twice a month if i want to. i have a 55g and do like a 15g water change. other people will do it as much as once a week.
what size tank do you have?

 

[huntoaks]

I have a 72 gal and I do a 15 gallon RO/DI water change every Sunday.
It works for me!!!

 

[whitey]

Yep,
Every Sunday works best for me.
If I miss one it's not a big deal, but weekly changes has proven successful for me.

 

[urodude]

I have a denitrifier on my 115 gallon reef tank and have not changed water for over 3 years- believe it or not-

 

[agent707]

Originally Posted by Urodude
I have a denitrifier on my 115 gallon reef tank and have not changed water for over 3 years- believe it or not-
Now that is something to brag about. :happyfish
Got any pics of your tank? Just curious how it looks from 3 years of same water.

 

[urodude]

I'll work on pcitures- Not very computer savy with the upload/download thing. The tank is in my office. No fish deaths for years-Hippo tang, purple tang, clown, foxface, a couple of gobys, all doing great. Corals are simple-leather, hammer, mushrooms, green polyps, but all doing fine
The denitrifier is made by Natureef- Its fed with nitrogone and phospagone. I add a 2-part alkalinity/calcium additive also by Natureef 3x/week which also contains trace elements.
I recently added a denitrifier to my 360 gal fish only tank. I would love to avoid water changes on that tank as well.
I'll work on the pics.

 

[lion_crazz]

How much maintenance do you have with this denitrifier? I am just curious. What do you do to it on a daily/weekly basis?
Not to steal the thread, I do my water changes once a week and I do 20% on my 210.

 

[pfitz44]

I have a 55.... i do a 10 gal water change every other week. and on my 20, i do a gallon 2x a week
How much does that denitrifier cost??

 

[lion_crazz]

Hm, seems to me that their website sells them anywhere from $445 to $625
Yeah, I think I will stick to the water changes for now...

 

[lion_crazz]

Gotta love pictures like this...
hm, we have the denitrifier, so let's just FILL the tank with fish!
There are 24 fish in this picture. Can you imagine how many fish have to be in this tank to capture this many in one single shot? Yep, this website already seems like a place where I would want to give my business (regardless of how well their product may actually work). :notsure:

 

[urodude]

Maintainence involves topping off the nitrogone and phophagone bottles every 2 weeks or so(usage depends on the number of cycles and feed time, determined by coral and fish load). Every 3 months or so you need to scoop out the extra accumulated biomass that forms in the reaction chamber- a bit messy and smelly- takes me about 20 minutes.
As far as cost goes, depending on size, mine were in the 550-600.00 range. The chemicals for my two tanks run about 100/year. Salt/saltwater are not free either
For me, it is mainly a HUGE convenience. I also believe the corals and fish do better by having zero nitrate/nitrite/ammonia/phoshate levels all the time.
I don't condone the picture shown with the Natureef logo, but am a fan of their products.

 

[lion_crazz]

Thank you very much for the info! I am always looking for more experienced opinions in regards to denitrifiers.

 

[mrdc]

My LFS guy makes nitrate reactors which I considered getting one but since I went to live sand and as my tank matures, my trates have been 0 (oh and I have been doing more water changes). I would love to add more fish but I guess the more I add, the harder it would be to keep things under control.