water changes

[icon83]

hey people...i was just wondering about your water chaging habits..i got a tank about 6-7 weeks ago,it is now cycled and lookin good,,,and i am curious as to how much i should change, how often, and what are some tips to make changing the water easier?? should i syphon up some gravel to vacuum the tank while i change the water, or should i leave the gravel alone? should i check the pH of the new water? just lookin for some suggestions and opinions...thanks!! p.s. i'm new to the board so hello!!

 

[dreeves]

Smaller, more frequent changes are less likely to interfere with your balanced system.
It is a debatable issue. Some do big less often, but I feel this could adversly affect some elements of your bio-system.
Smaller like 5-10% weekly, or 10-15% every other week.

 

[crazy4reefs]

WELCOME TO THE BOARD!! i agree with smaller water changes more often.. if you have crushed coral you should vacuum it when you do water changes. that will help keep your nitrates down some.. try to have your make up water be the same temp and gravity as whats in your tank.. less stress that way.. good luck

 

[beaslbob]

welcome to the board.
I do not do regular water changes. Just replace the water that evaporates.

 

[gregvabch]

with the rate of evaporation for my tank, i no longer need to do water changes. i just top off with RO/DI at a rate of about 2 quarts a day. i don't understand why crushed coral is always what pet stores recommend but IMO you would be better off in the long run switching to a sand bed now. i too started my tank with crushed coral and i ended up fighting a never ending battle trying to keep my nitrates under control. if you stick with the crushed coral you need to vaccuum the cc bed EVERY time you do a water change. you would be amazed at how much sludge builds up in a cc bed which leads to high nitrate levels.

 

[reefnut]

with the rate of evaporation for my tank, i no longer need to do water changes. i just top off with RO/DI at a rate of about 2 quarts a day.
Replacing evaporated water does nothing that a water change will do.

 

[maxweljames]

Reefnut is on the money, the only thing that evaporates is the water itself. You still need to get the waste out of the tank. There are microscopic particles of nasty that hang in the water, when the water is gone the nasty is still there. You have to physically remove water to remove those particles and add clean water, And definatly vacuum the CC.

 

[jillian ayers]

Ignore beaslbob, he knows very little about how to take care of a sw tank, and loves to spread that knowledge around...

 

[jillian ayers]

I have done countless reading and continue to read and have listenened and read a good deal of posts off of this board. If someone tells me that my suggestions are not right or are off, I learn from it and do not continue to spread these ideas around. While I may have been a little harsh with bob, he gives bad feedback constantly and I think we've all seen the lagoon. He also seems to have little to no remorse for how he treats his animals, leaving me to feel that he is not someone who should keep them. Read about how he treats his fw fish, how he brags about keeping them unfiltered and overcrowded. I would not say anyhthing like that if I did not firmly believe he is misguiding new hobbyists, and doing it knowingly at that. Anytime I give bad info, feel free to correct me. I come here to help as well as learn. As I'm sure we all do...

 

[jillian ayers]

Also, I worked at a fish store that sold sw fish for awhile, and gained a good deal of knowledge there.

 

[bioreefer]

jill you just made my day. LOL

 

[ophiura]

Originally posted by Jillian Ayers
Ignore beaslbob, he knows very little about how to take care of a sw tank, and loves to spread that knowledge around...
A productive post here would have been to share what you have read about why you disagree with beaslbob, not simply tell people to ignore him. I don't think people would have reacted as they did if you had simply said "I disagree with beaslbob, he has lots of problems with nitrates in his tanks...this is one of the primary reasons water changes are suggested."
Share what have you learned about water changes.
Share what problems you have with not doing water changes.
I TOTALLY and COMPLETELY disagree with him on this issue. But he is not alone. There are many others who do not do water changes either; it is an experimental type of reefkeeping that I, personally, feel will eventually fail. But it is valid, and beaslbob, IMO, can share his view (I wish he would share the whole story, in every post, and suggest that this does not work for every person, and every tank...and that there are major problems).
Feel free to point out how is approach has failed (because he gives out advice but the poster may not know the problems that have resulted from this approach, and why it is a not recommended). Get into a productive debate, because that is how we all learn. You are entitled to your opinions, just as beaslbob is, but you both need to respect the limits of your experience. We all do. Be clear about what you know, as well as what you don't.
I believe that water changes are very important, because this is an artifical, closed ecosystem. Wastes build up, and various things occur. Nitrates are produced in tanks from the breakdown of ammonia. They can be converted in a deep sand bed, or in the center of live rock, etc...or used by algae (including 'pest' algae). Phosphates, silicates, and a whole bunch of other things build up, and lead to tank instability- which typically results in blooms of various algae that you don't want. In addition, high levels of these compounds can lead to (or are considered likely factors in) various fish diseases. Various nutrients and minerals are found in salt mixes but are used by organisms in the tank (eg corals). These need to be replenished.
In short, IMO, you are better off airing out this closed system by removing water and replacing it with fresh mixed water.
I like to see a 30% water change in total for the month. This is a general 'rule of thumb.' It is better to do more smaller changes because it is less stressful to the tank occupants. You should mix salt water a good 24 hours in advance, in containers used only for that purpose. Most people prefer to use reverse osmosis water (RO) for this, as tap water may contain undesireable compounds. Get small power heads and perhaps heaters to mix and heat the water. You should measure pH, temp and specific gravity of water to insure it is close to your tank water.
IMO, coarse gravel and crushed coral should be vacuumed, but live sand, fine sand (or deep sand bed) should not.
Sorry for the length of this post....had a few issues to address Hopefully, this thread can get back on topic.
Welcome to the board, and do those water changes! Also, I reckon if you do a search for this topic, you will get more than you ever wanted to read It actually is a potentially heated topic.

 

[sammystingray]

Incase any of you guys read the post that I have deleted, I agree with what I said, but it was just a little too negative. Truth is, and you new folks believe this....I went a year without doing water changes or feeding my tank at all....the fish ate pods and algae, the algae ate fish poop, and the pods ate fish poop and algae...it was my attempt at a self sustaining tank, and it worked.....nothing died. When I finially decided to do a water change.....it was unbelievable the difference.....everything, and I mean everything looked ten times better within hours. Seriously, water changes are an extremely smart thing to do for most tanks. Of course they aren't all that fun, but well worth the effort. I have been keeping SW for about ten years now, and I suspect most folks who set up tanks are looking to keep them for years....not months.....long term tanks benefit greatly from water changes in my opinion..... very important to use good clean water such as RO water when doing changes.....in a way, using water from the tap and doing frequent water changes may actually add more nastys than not doing water changes at all. Do you want folks to say "hey you got a fish tank" and then move on, or do you want a centerpiece that will spark hours of conversation and wonder?? I prefer folks to say "WOW, no wonder you are always talking about your tank!! what is this and that?" Use good water and do water changes in my opinion. If Beaslbob is happy with his tank...more power to him, but I suspect most folks are looking for something a little.........shall we say..... "cleaner".

 

[reefnut]

Incase any of you guys read the post that I have deleted,
Man, I always miss the good stuff

 

[sinner's girl]

when the tank was new and we had time we did more wc, now we do less. the tank has more filtration than it needs and only two fish. oh, and we do wc before adding new fish (a few days before)
oh, and we always vacuumed the cc while doing a wc, that's how we got the water out. (but then we also had a ugf), haven't done a wc since getting rid of the ugf (should though) but when we do, we'll still vacuum the cc. don't move lr around though, leave it where it is.
avoid using freshly mixed water
the reason for this is it tends to stress the fish, or it does mine.

 

[jillian ayers]

Originally posted by ReefNut
Man, I always miss the good stuff
Apparently, so do I. Anyhow, error in speaking realized and it will not happen as such again. Next time I'll try to explain and, hence, not make anyone angry or turn anyone off to me. It just makes me fairly angry that bob brags about how he treats his fish and, especially with the fw fish, it seems he does not care. I work hard and change water and top-off and do tests once a week, and it's hard to watch someone who doesn't even do that waltz in and try to tell everyone else that it's ok to let your tank turn into a swamp and not at least seem to ATTEMPT to care about their fish. Maybe I am out of line. If so, feel free to delete this post of mine. Just stating my opinion.

 

[calvindo]

looks like this is a sensitive subject. here's my question... if you do weekly checks on water and everything pans out. Is a water change still necessary?
maybe some of us need more frequent water changes then others, due to the wide range of hardware we use. Also, maybe the type of live stock each of us have in our aquarium makes a difference... I'm just not sure, as i am new to sw myself. But it seems logical....
Calvin

 

[ophiura]

This is the limitation: you only test for a tiny range of things that may actually build up or be depleted in your tank water. The standard test for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH and alk do not take into account the incredible number of things that can accumulate in the tank (minimum, you should also test calcium, phosphate and silicates). Ultimately it is your decision, but I think many people (see Sammy's post as an example) do see the animals (esp corals) "perk up" after a water change. I simply don't see why anyone would assume that keeping a closed system would survive long term without the removal and addition of new water. This is one fact I think we can all agree on: it is not the ocean, and does not replenish itself.

 

[leopard_babe]

So if you take the water directly out of the tank, do you add it directly back into the tank? Or do you add it to the sump area? Speaking of making your tank nice and clean...How often do you clean the spounges in your filters?