Water changes

[dodo99]

Hi,

My Tank:

29g FOWLR
Eclipse 3 Hood
1-20w 18K tube
1-20w Actinic tube
12 lbs Fiji live rock
2 lbs live sand
Counter-current protein skimmer
1 clownfish, 2 blue damsels
various cleaning critters...
Kent Pro dKH
Kent liquid calcium

It's been setup for 6 weeks now. My ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels are still at zero. (PH 8.2-8.3, 78F) Is this normal? I was expecting to have to do a water change once my nitrate levels rose too high, but they're not... I've been through a few weeks of diatom brown algea, which was over about 3 weeks ago. My live rock is a nice purple, with a few small feather duster worms too.

I've read on a few websites that you may not need to do frequent water changes. Is this true?

Thanks.

 

[Fatal Morgana]

What kind of skimmer is that? Lee's?

Don't add any more livestock for a few more week and make sure what you have is doing well. Sounds like either your test kit is not working well, or your cycle is so small that you don't see it. It is possible if you have nice live rock, and it does sounds like that's the case here.

>...I've read on a few websites that you may not need to do frequent water changes. Is this true?

I can go without taking a shower for months, but not everybody can do what I do. If you are just starting this hobby, it is highly recommanded that you do regular water change. Once you get more experience in the hobby, you can relax a bit and see how far you can go before disaster strikes... just kidding.

BTW, welcome to RDO!

 

[dodo99]

Yup, it's a Lee's, medium size. I get about 1/4 to 1/3 cup-full of collected matter per day.

I'm preparing 10gals of new water. I don't have an RO filter, just a Deionizing filter (from Aquarium Pharm). It's mixing with a powerhead, airstone and a heater. Is 24hrs good enough till it can be used?

I was given a coral, but not sure what it is exactly. It was a gift... I've had to keep it away from my darned red hairy hermit crab. He's evil. :twisted:

Here's the pic:

 

[dodo99]

Oh... I forgot to mention, the tentacles are much longer now with feather-like tips or simmilar to the shape of a fern leaf I guess, but very small. I'm guessing that means it's happy... for now. :?

 

[Fatal Morgana]

Keep in the back of your mind that you may want a better skimmer if you have issue with nutrient/am/nitrite/nitrate later. Otherwise, it should be fine if you don't let the air stone work for months without ever changing it.

Did not bother to wait for the pic to load, but it looks like a tree coral or its relatives. Easy starter coral, and great for beginners. Should have eight "leaves" per stem... octocoral.

as for the water, don't bother with the airstone. Just make sure you have the temperature and salinity/specific gravity as closely as you can to the tank water.

 

[Fatal Morgana]

Actually, now that I see the whole pic, I think it is closer to a devil's hand.... anyone else?

 

[Anonymous]

I've read on a few websites that you may not need to do frequent water changes. Is this true?

Thanks.

No. Do water changes and do them frequently.

 

[benthos]

No. Do water changes and do them frequently.

:x this topic is so frustrating, I have been doing weekly 10% W/C because it made sense to be replenishing trace elements, Ca, etc... but now Im starting to worry more about the weekly fluctuation that is stressing my fish and corals. No real sign of stress but the possibility is there. I just dont want to be making that much weekly RO water either.

If you are just starting this hobby, it is highly recommanded that you do regular water change. Once you get more experience in the hobby, you can relax a bit

Ive been maintaining SW reef aquariums for a couple years and doing weekly W/C all that time. I would like to start easing up on them but I dont want to start dealing with huge algae outbreaks.

according to this link below frequent W/C are a myth...
http://www.reefs.org/library/article/t_brightbill_wc.html

So how could someone say "No. Do water changes and do them frequently" without providing why?

My new tank is a 40g about 3 months old, with a 10g refuge with macro and no skimmer. Im getting the usual cyano outbreak thats common with a tank this new so my question is Do you think in this situation with a person who has a couple years experience running this kind of setup could get away with only doing W/C when removing algae from the substrate or cleaning once a month or so?

 

[Anonymous]

I have had my tank set up for over 5 years now, and I still do weekly water changes. You can try to do w/c less frequently...see what happens. My guess is that the algae will stay problematic, particularly with no skimmer.

I read the link...I don't agree with it. While it's true that some have successful tanks without doing regular w/c, I think your chances of having a successful tank increase dramatically with regular w/c. I don't have any proof to back this up, only my own experience and lots of anecdotal evidence.

Good luck!

 

[ChrisRD]

IMO it really depends on the tank (how it's setup, husbandry techniques, what you're keeping in it, how heavily stocked the system is, etc.). Monthly water changes can be fine for many systems.

 

[SnowManSnow]

With your setup.. Id do water change at LEAST every 3 weeks of about 1/3rd of the water.

I know you don't want to hear this.. but the eclipse hood makes it REALLLLY hard to expand. I moved my hood to my FW tank in the bedroom.

If youre going to keep coral.. your going to need a better skimmer... i know it hurts.. but you'll spend about $135 on a BakPak or Remora. You'll also need more light.. again a problem with the hood.

Don't get irritated at me for suggesting more $$ I know I hate it when ppl do that haha.

Good luck.

B.

 

[SnowManSnow]

Hey, an idea for your water.... I buy my water at 33cents / gallon at Walmart... its DI/RO.. and all that stuff... A lot of grocery store chains also offer the "fill your own container" stations.

Just an idea.

B.

 

[blastermqn]

Don't knock the Lees skimmers. They don't turn over a lot water, but they are fairly efficient and better in performance than the average Seaclone in my experience. Just ungainly ugly in a tank.

What happend was that this guy had good LR for starters and it did a low order ammo cycle without picking it up on radar, which is ideally what you want. End of problem.

My advice:

Don't get anymore fish - at least for 6 more weeks. I'm not thrilled about that coral being in there so soon, but hey, if it works, it works.

Stick to the 10% weekly water changes. At some point, your nitrate levels will elevate as the tank matures, and the water changes willl slow this. 10% a week is perfect for a lightly stocked 30gal.

If at some point corralline starts taking off that Kent marine soup won't sustain the tank. Your high K lighting though will keep corralline growth slow though.

 

[dodo99]

So I changed 30% of the water last weekend, all levels are at zero for Amonia, Nitrites & Nitrates. My Alk went up to 14 deg for a few days, but it's back down to about 10.5 now. I just checked my calcium, and I'm a hair above 400. Everyone seems happy so far.

The saga continues...

 

[dodo99]

BTW, my Lee's skimmer is pulling about 1/2 cup full of junk from the water a day. Is that pretty much normal?

 

[benthos]

Ive used a lees skimmer also and on my nano Id get some of the darker skimmate at times but IMO if your getting half a cup a day its sounds like it could be the more liquid pee color skimmate. not really doing too much to remove DOC like "good" skimmer could do. but I dont even skim anymore so its not like its hurting to use it.

 

[dodo99]

It's more of a honey color. I usually have to clean the bubble chamber every few days because it gets really dark with deposits of brown-greenish goop. Quite gross I must say. Glad it's not in the water anymore :?

 

[LCGoldman]

"Dilution is the Solution to Pollution":wink: