Water changes...

[Guy W]

Just curious, how often and how much of a water change do you do in your tanks?

I recently had a hair algea farm in my 125gal tank after a 2+ month experiement in neglect (ok I was being lazy). Over the last week I did several water changes, two changes at 20 gallons and one change at 10 gallons. Now that I've come up with a system to do them easily I don't think I'll be as lazy anymore.

But what about the rest of you. Do you do regular scheduled changes are do you also find it to be a pain in the *** to do them and slack off a bit?

Guy

[MonoSebaelover]

It mainly depends on what tank it is and what the stocking is. I do my big tank (209) once a month and do a 25% change (sometimes I will do a 25 percent change byweekly-but this happened more over the summer than it does now) which is about 50 gallons, then on my 29g Quarentine tank which is housing a Yellow Tang, Puffer, Wrasse,and two Clowns that were donated get a water change weekly of 25 percent, my 55 salt gets a 50 percent monthly (can never keep trates low in this tank) and the fw one gets a 25 percent monthly. So on average I do 25-50% changes monthly and yes occasionally I will slack it just depends on the time of the month, what I am doing, and what I should be doing.

[kreblak]

I try to do a 25% monthly change, but I find that I don't always get around to it. Sometimes it is a 25% change every six weeks or so. I, too, have the hair algae badness and water changes would certainly do me good, but I prefer to keep to the schedule I've got and let the blue legged hermits take care of the hair algae.

[mogurnda]

One of the benefits of a small tank is that water changes are easy. I do about 20% every week, 2 weeks max. I figure it's good for export, plus keeps the trace elements up. The corals and fish seem to like it.

[OrionGirl]

About a 25-30% water change every 2 weeks, plus or minus 2 days for the SW system. Weekly 25-40% water changes for most everything else--the beta tank and newt tank sometimes go 2 weeks.

Which means about 120 gallons of SW a month, and about 240 gallons of freshwater per month. And my mother wonders why all my house plants and outside container plants stay to well watered!

[reefpicker]

Hi,

I would say that it depends on the system, the animals, etc.

For an older reef tank, with low bio-load and high nutrient export (protein skimmer, corals, encrusting algae, etc.), I would say that maybe a 10% monthly water change is enough.

For intensive tanks with high bio-load and no nutrient export, I would say that 10% weekly.

As someone pointed out, the advantage of a smaller system is that you can easily do 10% water changes weekly..

I do prefer weekly water changes of a small amount rather than bigger monthly water changes...

There is no golden rule.

I have a 20g tank with two clownfish and I have done only 2 water changes in... a YEAR ... I give this as an extreme example of neglect rather than something to emulate.

In my 55g reef tank (lots of mushroom corals and algae, only one fish), I do not change the water at all. Perhaps, once a year a do a 25% water change...

On the other hand, after I left home and my mom started taking care of the clowfish tanks, I adviced her to do a 10% monthly water change. I usually did a 10% weekly or bi-weekly xchangek, but to make things easy on her.... Well, needles to say, in this small 10g tank, things can go wrong pretty fast... All my pairs died within 6 months after I left...


So, recapitulating... It depends on your setup and you animals... and how good an "eye" you have for spotting problems...

[OrionGirl]

I disagree. There are many problems that can not be 'spotted' soon enough to prevent problems, no matter how good your eye. Without regular changes or testing, how can you determine what your calcium level is? Or where the pH is? Trace elements? Heck, salinity? By the time the problem becomes visible--ie, a change in the growth rate of a coral, or the illness/death of a fish, the problem is already too large for a quick fix via a water change. With regular water changes, you can easily eliminate several possible causes when problems arise, but waiting for those problems before doing a water change is poor maintenance, IMB.

[reefpicker]

Hi,

I knew my posting might generate this kind of response, but I again emphasize that it depends on the system and the animals. You just can not recomend X % of water change at X interval without taking into consideration bioload, system design, etc..

Imagine this:

A 250 gallons SW tank with only one fish (say a yellow tang), the best protein skimmer on the planet ;) and then a handful of MUSHROOM corals (not true corals). Would you advocate a 10% weekly or biweekly water change in such a situation? That would mean 25 gallons of water, IMO wasted down the drain...

On the other hand, imagine a 10 gallon tank with, say 2 clownnfish and a firegoby... Lets say the person has no protein skimmer, no corals, etc. In that case I would advice the owner of the tank to do WEEKLY partial water changes...

Even with bioload is not that simple, for example I know from experience that captive raised clownfish are extremely resilent, while other fish such as angelfish are more sensitive, so even that should be a consideration...

I have been known (and I know others breeders do the same) to keep 60 clowfish juveniles in a 10 gallon tank. In this case I did weekly water changes and tested regulary... I also had a skimmer...

So you can see, that my point is that there is not one answer. It is a very tricky thing, specially when you are striking a balance between money (or time) and the overall health of your system.

When I sayed I had a good "eye", what I meant was more intuition of when to do water changes, test, when to medicate, etc. I can not explain it, but I think that overall, watching your animals is as important as doing the husbandry and tests...

[Joey D]

Well, it all depends onhow much you care about your fish tank. Poor water quality leads to stress, disease and death. If your not doing weekly water changes, at least do weekly tests. Then you will know how long it takes for the chemicals to build up and can then guage your water changeing periods thus making things easier on yourself. But remeber, if you add more fish or other creatures, it changes everything. Weekly water checks are the key. Reef keeping is definately a hobby that takes attention to detail and mucho care. But once you have it down, it kind of takes care of itself. If you take care of the little things, the big things take care of themselves.

[mogurnda]

Indeed, there are many ways of approaching a tank. Depends on how sensitive your livestock is. I have cycled tanks with CB clowns and they came through just fine. Wouldn't do it again, though.

There are many reasons for water changes, including nutrient export, trace replenishment and removal of secreted toxins. If you are using a 2-part supplement, like B-Ionic, you are adding NaCl to the tank with each dose of CaCO3. This isn't a problem, but can throw things out of whack if you don't do regular water changes. If you have soft corals, many secrete toxins that bother their neighbors, so water changes and carbon are a good idea.

If you look at Frank Hoff's Breeding and Rearing Marine Fishes, with Emphasis on Marine Clownfish, he tabulates the frequency of physical defects and failures to get through metamorphosis of thousands of clownfish at three hatcheries over several years. His hatchery was the worst, and one of the big differences between the hatcheries was the amount of turnover and the resulting NO3 level (40 ppm at Hoff's IOH). But that was never tested experimentally, so it's just correlation.

Regardless, I hope people feel comfortable posting differing opinions. If there is a "party line" that everyone holds to, then nobody learns anything. Heard a great quote in a seminar yesterday: "The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge" (Daniel Boorstein, whoever that is).

[OrionGirl]

So it sounds like you're saying that spotting the problem is not a matter of reacting to changes to the animals, but in determining in advance what those problems may be for a specific setup, and devising a schedule based on preventing the problems?

[mogurnda]

determining in advance what those problems may be for a specific setup, and devising a schedule based on preventing the problems Yes, but experience certainly plays a part. Like any experiment, one anticipates complications and tries to avoid them. Then you get slammed by something you hadn't anticipated. That's when looking at your animals carefully every day is critical. ReefPicker is right that you can't just pull a formula from a book that will tell you when to do water changes, but I don't like using symptoms of stress as a gauge of tank health. Maybe the most rational way I can put it is to say that I have a set of measurable goals with respect to water quality, but I also let the animals tell me if there's something else that needs attention.

[kreblak]

Well said, Dave. Having measurable goals for what you are trying to do is one of the most important aspects of any venture. To pull a formula out of a book is irresponsible, as no two captive marine systems are the same. The only solution, therefore, is to set forth what parameters you plan to stay within, and adjust accordingly as needs arise.

My tank seems okay with a 25% change every month, so I haven't changed. Then again, I have a small bioload, and no corals. The most demanding critters I have are two anemones (aiptasia) and an urchin. Everything else seems tough as nails. Actually, the aiptasia is pretty d*mn tough too! I killed off all but the two largest, which I think look sort of nice on the rock, so I spared them the kalkwasser injection. I'm drifting off topic here...

[reefpicker]

His hatchery was the worst, and one of the big differences between the hatcheries was the amount of turnover and the resulting NO3 level (40 ppm at Hoff's IOH). But that was never tested experimentally, so it's just correlation

Just wanted to add my 2c... It is a well-known fact that water quality and larvae health go hand in hand. Deformities in adult fishes coming from hatcheries are normal, althought someone might argue that by eliminating the normal selective pressure (i.e many abnormal larvae are eaten or starve to death in the reef or open ocean) you are then allowing abnormal larvae to survive.


So I would say that you are right and I agree with you a 100%... Stress and high NOs are not good for fish.

I think you guys basically agree with me... So no argument here... I believe the point has been made for the newbies: water changes should be a function of your needs.

And since you are a newbie, water test properly and routinely done are the gauge that you should use to determine the frequency of this water changes..

How about that? ;) all in favor say, aye... :P

[liquafaction]

The guy I bought this tank from (110 gallon) contains 4 fish, live rock, crushed coral base, plenum filter, canister filter, hang on back skilter (pitched that one), and skimmer when I purchased it. In about a 3 to 4 week period I have added hermits, snails, mushroom coral (bought today), and an anemome (bought today). I do a water test every 5 days. I have watched nitrates go down from 40 ppm to 10 ppm (today), and amonia from .25ppm to 0 (today). I have not performed a water change in the time I have owned it. The guy I bought it from says he has not performed a water change, or even cared for it in 3 months. I would say that it has been 12-15 weeks since a water change was done. Is this beginners luck, or a good balance? I have tested with 2 different kit brands, and one is a little higher on nitrates than the other, but everything else came out the same.

[kreblak]

Not necessarily beginners luck, your system simply appears to have balanced out. Water changes are effective at reducing nitrates, but so is a DSB. IMO, water changes should be done to make sure that trace elements are kept up, and just to keep your water from getting stagnant.