Purpose of frequant water changes?

[rachyl756]

OK part of me feels dumb for asking this, but I don't do water changes that often personally.

My water levels are all really good, fish thriving, corals doing good, mushrooms doing incredible. All kinds of biodiversity is showing up as the months go by in the sand and on the live rock.

I keep reading of people doing 25% water changes on a near weekly basis. I did ONE large water change like that AND it was after the whole power chaos of the hurricane. Other than that I do rather small water changes and I'm not sure what good they are doing since everything is within parameters, and the coral is propagating.

Am I missing something? This is my first salt water anything, but its been up almost a year now.

Rachel

 

[Anonymous]

It is possible to go away with water change for years, but it is only suggested if the reefkeeper knows what he/she is doing, and/or very lucky.

For most people, it is highly recommanded to do regular water change. It is one of the best ways to make sure the ionic and nutrient balance is withing reasonable level.

 

[Anonymous]

Agreed

I don't do huge ones, I have to top off 2 quarts a day on my 55 gal so there is plenty of new water going in, however I like to do a 20 gal water change every couple of months (that is how much water the sump holds, so I clean it out completely and then refill with new water)

Bryan

 

[shr00m]

if i were you id change out the water with whiskey. or perhaps vodka

 

[Anonymous]

>... if i were you id change out the water with whiskey. or perhaps vodka

What's that about :?

>... I have to top off 2 quarts a day on my 55 gal so there is plenty of new water going in, ...

the top off is considered as contaminant, and it does nothing to improve the water quality like water change does. This is why people often has to use RO/DI as top offs instead of tap water.

 

[Anonymous]

I think it's best to do small water changes very frequently. I shoot for about 2-4% weekly.

 

[PilotNY]

You not only keep the ionic and nutrient balance, but don't forget putting trace elements back into your tank from mixing up a new batch of saltwater. LOULE if that was what you meant by 'ionic and nutrient balance', I apologize for misunderstanding you. Magnesium and Iodine are just 2 trace elements put back into the water. I do a 25 gallon change on my 110 every 2 weeks.

Carl

 

[Anonymous]

I think it's best to do small water changes very frequently.

Agreed. I do a 15 gallon water change on my 180 weekly...and I'm fairly happy with the results.

Chris

 

[shr00m]

i mix up 30 gallons of water and do water changes once a month on my 75 gallon, sometimes 1.5 months, everything always does really great, kinda a bigger water change but ive always had good results with it.

 

[hillbilly]

Water changes are a great way to replace trace
elements and remove unwanted things from your
water that the skimmer did not. I prefer not to do
more than about 20% of the tank volume at one
time, about every 3 weeks or so. Works for me.

 

[Jolieve]

I do a 10 gallon water change every week on my 75 gallon tank. I think a lot of it depends on your skimmer as well, my skimmer is really smaller than what my tank needs, and so regular water changes are vital to maintaining the water quality. The regular export of nutrients and other bad things that build up in your system over time, is important to maintaining the stability of your water quality. Even if your water is within parameters, it is likely that that balance changes over time. Since the ocean does not change in stability of its parameters... it only makes sense to do water changes regularly to maintain the stability of those parameters in our tanks.

We are trying to recreate our own slices of ocean here after all...

J.