To water change or not to water change that is the question

[anthony27]

As crazy as this sounds, I was going alot fo readin in the past couple of days about dosing and water changes and what not.


I would like to know how many of us see results from doing water changes and the coral we have in our tanks.

And the other side how many of us do not do water changes and see a difference in the corals.

and please no :argue: :meow:

 

[Lenny718]

I do a 20% water change once a week on my 45g, my corals open up more and I'm getting good growth. I also herd of people doing larger water changes once a month and getting similar results :scratchch

 

[anthony27]

I am over due for a water actually. But I have seen resultes here and there

 

[JARRETT SHARK]

I do 20% every 2 weeks and have sick growth!!!!

 

[anthony27]

I do know from in talking with other members on this site that the water changes re news the levles you want for certian coral to grow in the system. I do not add trace ellment dosing as I rely on the salt.

 

[lfsmarineguy]

Water changes in reef systems is not so much to remove the waste and nutrients as much as it is to replace the trace elements that are consumed by the livestock. Small and frequent water changes are best and with ALL the tanks I have seen( I don't care if people say their corals "are doing great" odds are they are not since they have no way of testing for "great" and their corals don't send them emails telling them how they are doing) the ones that receive frequent water changes have the fewest problems long term. larger systems can get away with less frequent changes but this depends on size and bio load. If you really look into the information on this most of the people on the "don't do water changes side" have no real evidence that their tank is healthier, just that they are prone to hyperbole. Proper water changes are your best additive and eliminate the need for most of the liquid fixes on the shelf.

 

[oonycxwilloo]

But what if you have a calcium reactor/ dose using 2 part? Won't the water change replenish more than it is suppose to?

 

[ZANYMASTER]

In that case Will,you'll have to buffer to get the Alk right.

 

[ClosetFishGeek]

I do small daily water changes......7 gallons a day. Defintiely saw a diference when I switched over to this system. Before I was doing a large monthly water change. I definitely noticed a difference after the 3rd week of this Daily water exchange.

 

[reseter5]

i do not do water changes ... and i have great growth and great water levels... i do however go through about 10 gallons of water a day in evaporation.. i have a few friends with 300+ gallon tanks and do not do water changes and have amazing reefs.. but we all dose trace elements and the usual calcium and so on........ althought when i had high phosphates from a bad r/o mambrane i did do some serious water changes.....

 

[DrHarryLopez]

With my older tank I tried to do water changes monthly, however that wasnt always the case. As the ORP on my aquacontroller went up from its norm, i did a water change. On occasion the monthly water change would lapse however my ORP remained constant. In fact i seen the reef actually take off and hasnt looked better. I fed my fish frozen foods once weekly if i remembered. I did grab a bunch of calupra along with other green stuff, pods, and critters from my refugium and place it in the main display tank. The fish would nibble on this thru out the week.

Note that my old tank (90G) had mainly softies and some LPS corals, 2 midsized and 3 or 4 small fish. Heavy skimming and very very steady Ca/Alk/mg. very low phos numbers.

Bottomline, IMO I found that in a mature well balanced ecosystem water changes were not as critical.

 

[Reef Reaper]

10 % water change every week!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[LongIslandAndy]

Water changes in reef systems is not so much to remove the waste and nutrients as much as it is to replace the trace elements that are consumed by the livestock. Small and frequent water changes are best and with ALL the tanks I have seen( I don't care if people say their corals "are doing great" odds are they are not since they have no way of testing for "great" and their corals don't send them emails telling them how they are doing) the ones that receive frequent water changes have the fewest problems long term. larger systems can get away with less frequent changes but this depends on size and bio load. If you really look into the information on this most of the people on the "don't do water changes side" have no real evidence that their tank is healthier, just that they are prone to hyperbole. Proper water changes are your best additive and eliminate the need for most of the liquid fixes on the shelf.

+1 Could not agree more

 

[ryangrieder]

I went over a year without doing a water change. Then I got a heavy duty rodi unit and did 30% water changes every two week. NEver once did I see a difference. Then I slowed it down to every month. Still never noticed a difference. I still keep us with it but nothing ever changes in coral looks or extent any greater.

 

[Wes]

But what if you have a calcium reactor/ dose using 2 part? Won't the water change replenish more than it is suppose to?

no, the calcium reactor or 2-part dosing maintains calcium/alk levels. The new water from the water change should have similar levels.

"looks great" is relative.

I could have a softy tank w/ no waterchanges and everything will "look great" and grow well.

I can have an SPS tank w/ no waterchanges that looks like crap.

 

[Marc76430]

personally, water changes correspond to 5% per week. I use RED SEA CORAL PRO as my salt, i don't know if you know this salt but it offers a good and high Calcium level.

We must say that water changes are sometimes not very easy to do and constraining too. We haven't got always the time but i think they are very important anyway if we don't want to keep a POOR water in the time.

Do you have any good idea and advice in order to make water changes easier and more practical....

 

[fallenlordz]

I do around 3 gallons water change in my 55g every 2 weeks.

Having only 3 fish - helps alot

 

[jadakiss]

i do 10gallons every week and i only have softies lps a little sps and 3 fish's in a 55 with a 10g sump. i feed 5days only and i feel i still need to do it every week

 

[Awibrandy]

I went 6 months with no water changes. At the time I did not really see a difference in most of the corals with the exception of my acans(which looked like they were dying. The water was crystal clear.
But once I went back to weekly water changes I saw a remarkable improvement in ALL my corals [softies, lps, sps &clam). Brighter colors, more growth, and open to a whole nother level.
I change out 30 gallons weekly on my 155 w/30g sump. I try to feed daily - a very healthy portion of a mix of Frozen foods w/selcon, vit. C, VitaChem & Garlic extract. And Nori sheet

On my 120 w/30g sump I do 35 gallon biweekly.

I don't dose anything as yet!!

 

[MIKE NY]

not a question for me...10% weekly