water change question

[Amadod2]

hi everyone i just have a general WC question, i was told today that the way i do water changes isn't the best for my SPS, i do a 30% water change every three weeks, and i was told to do less more often, in the past i was told to do more less ofter?! lol what works for you guys/gals out there? any input would help thanks

[ReefMadness]

I've never heard that so my ears are open as well.
my current schedule is to do 15 gallons every week (10% of total tank volume) as I was trying to eradicate some cyano due to bulbs past their prime. I will say that my corals have been looking more vibrant since changing over to that schedule.

[Myka]

With SPS in particular, stability is key. So the less more often schedule would theoretically be better. There are successful SPS reefs with all sorts of waterchange schedules, including things like 4 times per year. Crazy talk! Haha

[Dearth]

Go onto any salt water forum and you will find this is a hot button topic with many different answers and as far as I am concerned there is no right or wrong answer to this question. There are people who do a water change every 3 days to those who haven't done a water change in a year or more regardless of tank size

If what your doing for water changes is working for your tank then keep on trucking but if you want to try something different try 3-6 months of a different water change schedule and take pictures once or twice a month to compare to see if what your doing is working for you or not.

As with anything if you notice deterioration of corals stop and go back to what was working for you.

I made the decision not to have sps coral and went softie tank and I do one water change a month on average but it's what works for me.

Remember it's your tank do what you think is best for your tank all we do is provide guidelines or what works for us

[Galizio]

I think every tank is different, also the water volume can be a factor. Can't see a little 10/20 g tank going without water changes for long periods of time.
In my experience, I tried monthly WC before, now I do 5 or 10% weekly and sometimes 20%.
Have to say the weekly WC are easier imo, little and fast water changes, also I see my corals do better with this routine....
So I decided to base my WC just looking at how my corals do .
And tell you the truth I like it better also because I have bare bottom and is easier to pick up all the deposit every week, so the tank stay clean...



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[tang daddy]

Bare bottom here aswell 90g display I do 5g every 3-4 days to suck out detritous and every 2 weeks 25g. The 5g waterchange I use probiotic salt and 25g just regular IO.

[DKoKoMan]

I started with monthly water changes in my 75g. My phosphates got very high so I have been doing 20% water changes every 3 days for a while. Everything is back in check so I am planning on doing biweekly water changes. I hope this is able to maintain everything as I have a high bioload. I may end up doing weekly WC's if I have to. I'm thinking the monthly WC may be to long for me, but I May try this first before bi-weekly.

[Amadod2]

in the past i use to do weekly 10% but was told that wouldn't help the tank because it was too little and too often, . so now i have been doing 30% every three weeks and i been told its too much and the corals won't like that. i want to get into a routine that will not be hard so i can continue to do it and that the corals will thrive over time. i was thinking of doing a 10G water change every two weeks on my 75G as the actual water volume for the tank would be roughly 70G or less so it works about to be a 15% water change. what do you guys think??

[Animal-Chin]

My sps don't like big changes and here is why...

I carbon dose with biopellets and a reactor. Because of this I keep my alk at 7 as any higher and my acro's burn their tips. So I have a dosing schedule that keeps my alk steady at 7 all the time.

My salt mixes WAY higher than that. I've measured my instant ocean alk at 13 before but its always higher. If I do a larger water change (say 20%) my alk will swing that day to 8 or 9 and the next day my acro tips will burn. It will drop over the next few days though.

Considering I run a phosphate and nitrate reactor my main reason for water changing now is to add trace elements back into the water. For me doing smaller weekly changes accomplish this and don't create the alk swings I'm trying to avoid.

[SoloSK71]

If what your doing for water changes is working for your tank then keep on

That is the definition successful reef keeping.

Charles

[Amadod2]

Well currently I'm trying to go back to the basics as I never successfully had an sps tank. That's why I'm gauging what everyone else is doing. I want to be able to get the best results

[tang daddy]

Keeping a successful sps tank is not easy, while some have no problems others struggle.

The general rule is weekly or biweekly water changes 10-20%.

Try that out while watching your sps and see if they are growing or not.
Test alk weekly to make sure it is stable while ca and mg too.

I find if I have high po4 my sps stop growing regardless of the big 3 being on the higher side.

It's a balance but sps like clean water, lots of flow and lots of food.

If you can keep your params stable long enough you will see faster growth.

[Amadod2]

Chris do you base your water change amount on tank total water volume or just volume with the live rock?

[IronChefItaly]

As stated, frequency of water changes are determined by your system and your own willingness to do them. I think most people start with performing water changes weekly or biweekly and as their system matures they can continue lengthening the time given they don't see any loss of coral health. Designing my own system, I put a heavy emphasis on trying to reduce the necessary frequency of water changes. The system is now five months old and I have trouble stretching my water changes past two weeks so I can't say it worked quite as intended. I'm curious if anyone can share their thoughts on this or give some insight as to how maintenance changes as a tank matures past a year and upwards of three or more.

[tang daddy]

Chris do you base your water change amount on tank total water volume or just volume with the live rock?

Danny I run a bare bottom, the frequency of my water changes is determined on the detritous that collects on the bottom in the back, which is now every 3-4 days and that's why I do 5g every 3-4days. The 25 g Bi weekly wc was because I was dosing meds and high po4 from heavy feedings and found that doing larger wc there is a noticeable growth and colour up for the sps.

Sps like clean water and lots of food like I said above so it's a fine balance. But because I have lots of fish I try to feed a lot to keep them happy in turn they feed my corals with the fish poop and produce a lot of waste.

[Amadod2]

I was thinking of switching from 30g every three weeks to 10-15g every two. I'm just not sure if 10 would be enough and If 15 would be too much on a 75g system that probably only has 65-70g of water overall

[tang daddy]

I was thinking of switching from 30g every three weeks to 10-15g every two. I'm just not sure if 10 would be enough and If 15 would be too much on a 75g system that probably only has 65-70g of water overall

You have sand right?, looks like you run low nutrients so could probably get away with less wc.

[Amadod2]

I'm in a "testing" mode right now, i added 4 anthais last week, so my nutrients should go up. i do have sand and i gravel vac it once a month. I'm looking to add more fish