Water changes!

[Aqua-Digital]

The biggest advise i can give anyone with regards to water changes is "consistancy". A tank needs two things, stablility and consistancy. In other words if your tank is new then do a water change of the same amount once a week, then once things settle drop that down to once every two weeks. After that it all depends on what your paremeters are telling you.

In my experience a mature tank needs a water change only once a month. As the tank has become mature it has developed in part its own eco system and every time you do a water change you are messing with its own bio rythm. For example, my tank in the UK was a very successful full LPS/sps system, no sump (shock horror!!) and no filtration other than a deep sand bed, a huge skimmer and 80KG of live rock in 125 gallons of water. the tank got a water change every 3 months if it was lucky, and the stag corals grew beyond control!!

What i am trying to say is, as said before "if it aint broke dont fix it" But you must keep track of those parameters especially phoshate and silicate, as these are the two that can build up on you. Everyone is looking for something that has dropped and many forget about the ones that can build up, other than the obvious 3 nasties of course!.

My moto has always been, less played with more success. Just my oppinion.

Best wishes
Michael
www.aqua-digital.com