water change question

[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]

Originally Posted by Amadod2

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]

Originally Posted by 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

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