How often do you do water changes?

[surgeonfish]

After reading all the posts I wish I had a nano tank. I do 55 gal water change weekly on a 300 gal tank. Is it a bad thing my kids college fund went into salt mix?

[Der_Iron_Chef]

Originally Posted by surgeonfish

After reading all the posts I wish I had a nano tank. I do 55 gal water change weekly on a 300 gal tank. Is it a bad thing my kids college fund went into salt mix?

DUDE! That's a little nuts...well, for me, considering my aquarium IS 55 gallons, lol.

My parents spent my college fund on a time share.

[Joe Reefer]

I do a 40 gallon change once a month on 200 gallon system.

[Pescador]

I'm about the same as Joe, 50g change once a month on my 220.

[ponokareefer]

I do a 25 gallon water change every-other week on a 125 gallon system. I used to do weekly 3 gallon water changes on my 33 gallon. I miss those days. But the bigger tank is way better!

[Snappy]

I do 20 gal biweekly which is about 10% of my total water capicity, (more like 15 - 20% if all the rock is put in the equation). I used to do 20 gal weekly on 160 gal but I started to think that was a waste of my time and switched to biweekly after I plumbed in my refugium. The system certainly hasn't suffered from it.

[Kabong]

Hey!
where's the not as often as i should option!

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

I like doing the one big water change every 3 months compared to the small water changes every 2 weeks or monthly. Last water change was late September, then I just did a huge one this weekend. Originally planned on doing 90g on a 210g reef, by draining water from the fowlr, siphoning reefwater into the fowlr & then topping up the reef with new water. Unfortunately, I miscalculated & ended up draining too much out of the fowlr which caused me to have a near empty sump so I had to make up another 40 gallons for the reef. So, in total, just did a 130g water change on the 210g reef with 75g sump (total water volume minus LR & LS etc. is probably 180-190g).

On the other hand, I run a RS250 skimmer, Phosban reactor, semi-remote deep sand bed, micron sock, and grow lots of macroalgae in the refugium/sump so the water quality was still surprisingly good despite a long time between water changes and a high bioload/feeding regimen. The corals look the same (very good) before & after the water change, whereas in the past, usually they look a lot happier after a water change. Hmmmmm.

I'm not recommending this water change schedule for everybody, just posting up what works for me.

Anthony