theories of water changes.

[Blackness]

A fellow employee and I have this conversation at work numerous times. He is anal with his water changes( almost weekly) and I on the other hand what you call lazy( i'm not though). I've tried doing weekly changes and i've noticed in my tank that my coral grow better when I do change evey 2-3 months. Before every one goes crazy tell me all the reasons for doing more frequent changes I know them all. I work in a lfs, I hear them every day. I rarely have any mishappening but i'm not perfect. I've been doing this for 5-6 years now. Wondering if there was anyone at there that does the same but was too afraid to admit because of ridiculing people. I tell customers when they venture into reef tanks or even saltwater tanks for the first time, " a fish tank is a hobby not a picture on a wall, if you want a beautiful picture buy a picture but if you want a piece living art buy a fish tank." There is nothing worse than a unkept tank.

 

[Witfull]

when i had the 72bowfront i did less waterchanges but higher %. 25gallons or so. now that i have a 210, i do more frequent but smaller changes. funny thing is, its still appx 25 gallons...lol

 

[Travelin Reef]

i do frequent small changes in my 125 just out of ease. I evaporate apx 2 gallons per day so it is just as easy to replace 5 as it is 2. i run 2 r/o at night
one into an empty 5 gallon bucket. the other into another 5 gallon bucket
both fill up over night. a third bucket is my makeup. i always have 5 gallons of makeup, and 5 gallons of fresh r/o. every day i take out 3 gallons plus the 2 gallons that evaporate. i put in 2 gallons fresh r/o and 3 gallons make-up

i am doing a 3 gallon water change daily 20+ gallons per week apx 20% weekly change. takes me about 10 min per day and seems to work for me

 

[Woodstock]

First off, ridiculing reefers are not allowed in RS

Second, every aquarium is different. Yes, I do weekly water changes...but then again I feed a LOT and often. If I didn't my tank would look like a sewage run off pool... yuck!

Biweekly, bimonthly, semiannual water changes?? ... As long as the param stay in healthy ranges for the tank inhabitants... go for it!! There is more than one way to keep a reef going successfully~~

 

[livingreef2004]

when i had my 90 with a dsb i did water changes once a month and all was good now im running a bare bottom 30 gallon and i am doing weekly water changes my 90 had a precision marine bullet 1 on it and my barebottom 30 has no skimmer that is why i stepped up the changes

plus i like to siphon off the bottom of the tank once a week

 

[BoomerD]

Dilution is the solution to pollution.

If you do small water changes, you replenish the trace elements, but don't reduce the contaminants as much as with larger water changes. (duh) I was always a believer in 25% weekly changes in my tanks, but occasionally got lazy and only did 10%.

 

[Blackness]

it's good to hear that no ridiculing reefers are allowed. thats why i started coming here because of some other sites think that they know every thing and what they say must be followed. I know witfull from my job he shops there,

 

[Witfull]

hmm,,,who be you?

 

[Cougra]

I see two completely separate issues here that I have a problem with. I'm speaking in general terms here and not specifically pointing fingers at anyone, merely trying to express a personal view.

Personally I don't really pay any attention to persons comments when ALL they say is "I do a water change every X weeks/months/years" and the person doesn't mention much else about their tank. Water changes are only part of the overall picture. Other things that need to be considered along with water changes is the size of the tank, the tanks inhabitants, the bioload in the tank, if it has and sort of reactors, skimmers, top-off systems, sumps, refugiums, mechanical filtration, chemical filtration, live rocks, type of substrate etc. Each system is set up different and it's the complete set up that allows for some people to do water changes less frequently then others. If I had a 120 Gallon tank with a pair of clownfish in it, I wouldn't expect to have to do water changes very often neither. However if I had a 20 gallon tank with the same pair of clownfish in it then I would be a lot more inclined to do more frequent water changes because the bioload to water volume has drastically changed. There are a lot of ways for nutrients to be exported from a system that don't include water changes and also people add nutrients at very different rates which requires a different approach to tank maintenance.

The second issue that I have is when an LFS employee tells someone who is just entering the hobby that they only do a water change every X months/years and their tanks looks wonderful. I think that LFS employee is doing the new comer and the hobby a big disservice because he new comer doesn't have the practical experience to keep a tank healthy long term without regular water changes and if they fail it reflect badly on the entire fish keeping community. Once they get familiar with their system and equipment and the animals they are keeping then they can start to change their maintenance schedule to match the tanks requirements. I think it is really important for LFS employees to explain that every tank is different and although I only do water changes every X weeks/months/years that they came to this stage in tank maintenance only after they understood more about keeping their tanks.

 

[ldrhawke]

I see two completely separate issues here that I have a problem with. I'm speaking in general terms here and not specifically pointing fingers at anyone, merely trying to express a personal view.
..................................................................................................................I think it is really important for LFS employees to explain that every tank is different and although I only do water changes every X weeks/months/years that they came to this stage in tank maintenance only after they understood more about keeping their tanks.

Well said......better to error on the safe side and do semi-weekly water changes, than run around like "chicken little" when the tank does start to crash.

 

[KimPossible]

I know someone who RARELY does water changes. He does have all the gadgets, gizmos, a moderate bio load and a 3" sand bed. He gives credit to a well diversified clean up crew.
I on the other hand do 25% every other week.....but then again, Im a heavy feeder and I have CC.

 

[Blackness]

Courga,

your right about what u said. I for one don't tell new customers what i do. lfs has it's own policy of new tanks. I refer to that information. I have more time spent on my tank at work then most people do at home. I may discuss this with a loyal customer that I deal with. I don't treat the tanks that I maintance like my own tank, monthly water changes on all tanks, amount depending on each individual tank. It isn't good business to mess with customers' money buy letting them think that you don't need to do water changes. My goal in life right now is to buy the fish store that I work at. It wouldn't do my any good to waste a potential future customer.

Oh yeah Dave it's adam

 

[mps9506]

Perfect article for this thread!
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-10/rhf/index.php

 

[ldrhawke]

I know someone who RARELY does water changes. He does have all the gadgets, gizmos, a moderate bio load and a 3" sand bed. He gives credit to a well diversified clean up crew.
I on the other hand do 25% every other week.....but then again, Im a heavy feeder and I have CC.

I don't think there is any question a reef tank with a fairly well balanced bio load and the right equipment can go along way to reduce the need for water changes.............I strive to maintain my tank the same way. My problem has always been catching and seeing a problem when a tank is slowly getting out of balance. Regular water changes are very cheap insurance.

 

[BoomerD]

When all else fails, do a water change...there is nothing that should be harmed by one, and most things get better as a result.

 

[Yarr]

In reality it isny a lot of effort to do a water change.. everyone just hates doing it..if i on the other hand did less frequent water changes id have ot find other reasons to mess with my tank every week

 

[Witfull]

you need a reason?...i got one,,,because its there~

 

[mps9506]

Well. the real reason for doing water changes is either to dilute something that is already in your tank (eg. ammonia, nitrates, etc.), or add something to your tank that is constantly going down (eg. Ca. Alk, trace elements).
Technically if you didn't have to dilute anything and you were able to constantly maintain other parameters in your tank, then no water changes are not necessary.
Since most of do not test for everything on a regular basis it would be safe to say frequent water changes would be a safe bet in keeping corals. It is quite easy to dial in your Ca reactor and maintain you alk and Ca and Mg. But do you feel like testing for all the other stuff?

 

[ldrhawke]

Corals are often loaded with highly toxic chemicals that have been evolved over billions of years that you can't even test for and most have not even been catagoried by science. As corals fight for territory and/or survial they release them into the water.

I think I'll continue with my water changes to just be safe :scram: :scram:

 

[cheeks69]

IMO/E regular water changes are fundamental to maintaining a healthy thriving tank. I've got plenty of nutrient export/recyling with my DSB, Xenia, LR and skimmer but dosing trace elements is very difficult to do especially since there are no accurate test kits for it, so W/C's are a must for me.