Water Changes in your Reefs

[Charles Poole]

I got a question for the masses. How often do you change your water, and how much do you change?

I am trying to get an idea of what most people find to be a recommended water change schedule.

Chuck Poole

[Condiman]

every 2 weeks

[Sandman12]

I just to top offs and a water change every now and then

[Macbeth417]

Best possible scenario: 5 gallons twice a week for my 110gal.

Working on automating this system. Subtle changes keep water steady.

I top off with ro/di automatically with float valve.

-Erik

[Charles Poole]

I change approx. 15% every other week. I have been looking at automating my system as well, then I will move the schedule to a more frequent but less water change.

How does the 5% twice a week seem to work for you? Have you ever done any other water change routine? If so, what did you notice as a benefit or effect of doing the twice a week change?

[andrew79]

i change 4 gallons in my 55 every week, and 2 in my 20 weekly

[paulsreef]

I'm really lazy... I do 15% once a month in my 90 and 1 gallon every week in my 20. I've been doing the 15% thing with the 90 now for about 3 years with no problems.

I Do A 5 Gallon Water Change In My 38 Every 3 Weeks

[ryan]

15% every other week in my 55!!

Thats Pretty Good

[QueenAngel]

I change my water every Sunday. 10% in my 55 gal.

[guzz64]

Water Changes???? Who changes the Pacific? I just top off and watch calcium Amonia.

All alive, no algae problems(Knock on Wood!!)
I keep an eye on my corals and test extensively if there is a problem. Typically for me it has been Ca getting too high.

[SaltyDawg]

Maybe this does not apply since I have a FOWLR tank, but I do a 25% water change about every 6 weeks and just top off with RO/DI for evaporation.
Wayne

[MikeS]

Water Changes???? Who changes the Pacific?

The tides and currents bring a constant supply of fresh saltwater to the reefs in from the open ocean. Besides that, your aquarium is far, far more densly populated based on a per gallon ratio than the pacific ocean!

Mike

[juprana]

I change 25% of my 70 gallon after every 2 months, if u have good filter system working u dont need to change water on weekly bases

[ubasst]

i just do a top off and every 6 months i replace some of my media

[icereefer]

myself I do a 5 gal every week in my 37gal,but then again I don't add much supplements to my tank and depend on my water changes to replenish,what my corals take out. if I can't test it, it don't go into my tank.

[Robeye]

I usually do a 10% change every two weeks in my 5, 25, and 30 gal tanks. I used to do a 20 - 25% monthly but I didn't like the nitrate levels getting too high at the end of the month so I changed to Bi-Weekly water changes.

[Condiman]

I have actually been changing 5% a week and that seems to work well for me

[romunov]

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/april2004/short.htm
Read this.

[guzz64]

Mike,

I beg to differ, but the tides do not bring fresh water, they merely stir up what is there, making foam (insert protien skimmer). Rain is the top off as well as rivers.

[guzz64]

By the way, no chemical factory or sewer dumping into my tank either.

[icereefer]

sorry mike
but guzz64: the tides and the currents do bring fresh Sea water to the reefs. and yes our fresh top off waters to the ocean come from rain,rivers,and under ground streams.

[icereefer]

By the way, no chemical factory or sewer dumping into my tank either.
no but cooking in or homes putting are hands in our tanks,if we smoke in our homes, cat or dog or human dander or kids sucker in our tanks ,is our factory chemicals or sewers

[MikeS]

Mike,

I beg to differ, but the tides do not bring fresh water, they merely stir up what is there, making foam (insert protien skimmer). Rain is the top off as well as rivers.

yes, the tides and currents "recycle" the water....but the water brought in from the open ocean to the reef is much "cleaner" and stripped of nutrients, just like a water change. Also, your bioload versus gallons ratio in your tank is far, far greater than any pacific reef.

Nutrient export issues aside....are you testing for and replacing EVERY single element and compound found in natural sea water as it gets used up in your tank? Water changes are crucial for replacing trace elements you don't or can't test for. Simply adjusting salinity during top off won't cut it long term.

I learned the hard way about doing water changes....it works for awhile, but it'll catch up to you sooner or later...usually with no warning, also.

Mike

[Mr. Roach]

My LFS has a 125gal tank that they have not touched in 2 years. When I bought my tank set up they told my that the only thing that I would ever have to do is add ro water. Looking at there tank I would have to believe them. They guy has been in the hobby/business for many years.

[MikeS]

Looks can be decieving my friend. My tank "looked" great up until the day it crashed.

Water changes are such a simple way to help insure good water quality, why skip them? Some people do it to prove a point, others to avoid the maintenance hassle. I think in tanks like this, it's more a matter of "when" than "if" that tank will crash. Nutrient export issues aside, water changes help replace lost elements, and help to stabilize ionic ratios. Without them, some elements will get used up, while others may accumulate. Imbalances can occur also. Granted these conditions exist in the reef tank to begin with, but IMO a good water change schedule can help minimize them.

Mike

[brafish]

I feel my tank is overstocked. I do 20 % on my 50 Gallon once a week. Anything less and nitrates get out of control. I have just implemented an Algee sump and Deep Sand bed to try and bring nitrates down. Even if this slows the biuld up down I will of course still need to change water every two weeks to replace vital elements.

Personally I don't believe that no water changes will work in a reef tank with lots of corals and fish. Even if you did top ups rich in trace elements you would still need an algee sump 4 times the size of your tank to to effectivly get rid of nitrates. Not to mention a really deep sand bed.

[coral_diver]

Just did my first change in my 37gal and it was nerve wracking but I changed out only 5gal as I am a big scardie cat :lol: Changing over to ro and I figure at this rate in 5years....just kidding. Tank looks better allready. I am still scared of a cycle hitting me and that is the reason for the slow change over. While we are on the water subject though can I ask everyone when you mix your water and are sure it is all mixed when you add it does it still have some white particulate in it? I had my ro mixed like two weeks ago and it looked good but when I dumped it in I had some stuff floating around it went away in about a half hour but still makes me nervous. I had this when I would change my 5gal too not really sure why?

[MikeS]

Yeah, changing out 5 gallons every 1-2 weeks should not cause a cycle...I wouldn't worry too much about it. Look at it this way...every time you remove 5 gallons of your nasty tap water, you are removing alot of bad stuff and replacing it with much "cleaner" water. And I think that giving it 1-2 weeks between changes should give your tank ample time to adjust and build up what bacteria in the water column was lost in the change. Of course, just keep monitoring your water parameters.

As for the salt....what brand are you using? I know when I used Instant Ocean, I had a hard time getting it to dissolve completely, there were always little white flakes floating around in it.

Mike

[icereefer]

so what your saying is you mixed your salt in your RO water 2 weeks ago ?
and do you use instant ocean?
Myself I mix my salt about 48 hrs before I add it to my tank,I keep it airated and keep it at the same tempature as what I keep my tank and I run my salinity the same as my tank too.

[coral_diver]

Yes and I use Reef Crystals. I know this seems like a long time in between but I was hesitating it is just such a project to switch over. I know though it is for the best. Anyway I mixed the salt in each 5gal bucket 30gal total but each bucked was five galons so I mixed the salt in to the correct SG to match my tank then airated each bucket for aproximatly one and a half to two hours then was going to do a full tear down and fill and readd everything then I decided that I was going to do it in sections 5-10 gal at a time and just switch over slowly so I wouldnt risk a new cycle and stress the fish corals etc. So then I procrastinated and did not get to it until today so I mixed the water up and put my thermometer in the bucket and waited until the water was the same temp as the tank this took about an hour. Having already taken out the water from the tank and did a few cleaning jobs such as algea scraping etc when the water was ready so was I and it all looked fine until I swiched the light on and saw that once again and it didnt look like salt peices could this be calcium build up? there was a white particulate matter floating around. As I said I had this with my 5gal too. It does subside with in a half hour or so and the water is as clear as ever again. I just know you should not mix water and then add it right away because even though they live in the salt it can still be toxic so reason for my nervousness. I was wondering if anyone else goes threw this?
Mike the little flakes sound like exactly what I am experiencing is this a bad thing or will my fish corals etc be ok with the half hour after I add this stuff that it takes for it to clear up? I am just worried about loosing any of my babies :lol: Thanks for all the info

[guzz64]

I see that there are several "Ideal" water change senario's here. I have two LFS in the area that do not change the water, and just top off. It may be that the tanks in the stores see such a change over of livestock that it isn't critical, I don't know.

My success has been through no changes. I originally did changes and was constantly plagued by waves of algae blooms and unstoppable hair algae. I stopped the changes and have a crystal clear and healthy tank.
I also dont have my hands in the tank often. I am the only one to do anything to it as well. Maybe it will all crash as you indicate, maybe not.
But, so far, so good. I think people tend to over analize and make things a lot harder than they are.

[redleader]

I do 40% every 15 days with natural sea water. Inverts, just seem to love it! My guess is a lot of microlife in the fresh sea water. The only problem tho is algea growth during the raining season. I top off with R/O and kalkwasser. Another issue, is that during raining season PH is very low (8.1).

Why I use seawater? Because its free. Because the beach is a couple of miles away from my house (a mile further than my LFS). Because a very good friend of mine has a beach house and the house keeper fills me the tanks.

[playa0069u]

I have been doing 2 gallons but now I am doing a gallon and a half every week in my 10. Why do you guys mix the water for so long? I mix it with a powerhead for a few minutes and away I go.

[Condiman]

Why I use seawater? Because its free. Because the beach is a couple of miles away from my house (a mile further than my LFS). Because a very good friend of mine has a beach house and the house keeper fills me the tanks.

The only thing I would worry about is the pollution levels in the water. I would be very carefull on that when putting that water into my tank. Also you said you have a problem during the rainy season. That may be due to the runoff of the water off the land picking up more pollutants along the way.

[Condiman]

I have been doing 2 gallons but now I am doing a gallon and a half every week in my 10. Why do you guys mix the water for so long? I mix it with a powerhead for a few minutes and away I go.

THe only problem with doing it that way is that the salt may not be completly desolved and the tempature of the water may not match that of what the tank temp is. That will cause extra undue stress to the inhabitants of the tank and when that salt that is not completly desolved finally dose it will throw off that salinity level of the tank.

[Ryguy]

I mix my salt about half hour before changing, I boil water to get the temp up to the tank temp, then syphon the tank out and pump the new water in. Been doing it this way for the past 4 years and have never had any problems.

I was using instant ocean, but now using coral life

[playa0069u]

k thanks. if you mix water like days or even weeks before hand , as long as you airate it before you use it does it lose anything?

[cyberreef]

I do that every week and I change 10%. I also match the PH of the new water with my tanks water.

[FishinInTheDark]

Playa, I mix mine about 12 hours ahead of time, and let it sit with a heater and powerhead until the temp is correct and I can double check the salinity. I also balance Ca and Alk at this time.

[wade]

I wrote an article on this topic for Advanced Aquarist magazine. The basic idea is that you need to change enough water to remove the things you don't want, and not enough to shock your system. The more you change, the more closely aligned the 'new' water must be to the old water in terms of temperature and salinity. pH and other parameters are less important as they are typically buffered.

Here's the article for your review:
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/april2004/short.htm


For my personal tank, I change about 40G of water (from around 220) every other week.

Wade

[Reelfish]

I change the water in my tanks once a month 30g in my 120 and 20g in my 75. I heat the water, then mix my salt and run a powerhead to mix and pump the water into the tanks. I change my water before the lights come on to prevent corals from the shock of the light change.

[maypo59]

I do 10 gals every two weeks, in a 90 gallon system. Been doing it for about 4 years that way. As an experiment years ago, I went about 2 years no changes, just ro/di top off water in one tank and 10% changes ro/di top off in another. The corals in the one with changes did better, but niether tank crashed..

[Jasonzo6]

I change about 20% in my 72 gallon once a month. Seems to work well... I've always been told the water change is important for corals, inverts, etc because the salt mix replaces alot of the trace elements that are important and have been "used up". I actually mix two salts - instant ocean and coral life.

[Jarrod_TFO]

I do 15% every other week and top off 5% everyweek, give or take depending on evaporation,

I'm in the works in setting up and automation of the top off and a 48 hour mixing system for water changes, so that he salinity is perfectly even and temperature is as well as the change occurs.

Sounds a bit much to most but some old timers in my club are that "exact" and their tanks are amazing.

[playa0069u]

Io ....

[Vi3tKid420]

15% in my 29 every month... but most people say every two weeks but my tank runs fine i check nitrate n all and its good so whats the point..