NoobtoSalt Posted June 4, 2010 Share Posted June 4, 2010 So I had a customer come into my store yesterday and she was talking to me about how she is getting a house with a saltwater tank already setup in the house. We talked for a bit (of course I mentioned the forums) and she was saying that the guy that owns the house only changes his water once a year... She was explaining that he only adds water to help with the evaporation. It sounded like she is getting a FOWLR but this still can't be good for the fish. So the question is, if you have a well established tank how often and what percentage of a water change is neccesary? I'm still doing small changes every 2 weeks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moto826 Posted June 4, 2010 Share Posted June 4, 2010 i have a 45 cube and i change half a week Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impur Posted June 4, 2010 Share Posted June 4, 2010 I have a 75gal and i change 15gal weekly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReeFit Posted June 4, 2010 Share Posted June 4, 2010 after the tank is established and steady signs of nitrates begin to show up after cycling is done, i do 10% weekly. occasionally i will let one week slip if i feel the water quality is good. It also depends on how heavy you feed your fish, or if you even have fish for that matter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grassi Posted June 4, 2010 Share Posted June 4, 2010 10-20% weekly. A bit more sometimes if I feel there is a reason. This way you don't have to add trace elements I also experimented the 1% per day + 10% weekly and I have to say corals were growing faster. I don't know if that was the reason, but other people were having same effects. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newfisher Posted June 4, 2010 Share Posted June 4, 2010 My 90g fowlr with 45g sump/fuge I change 30g every week to week and a half. The water perams are always good, I just have A LOT of BIG fish and feed a bunch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazmyne Posted June 4, 2010 Share Posted June 4, 2010 29 gal nano I change 3 gallons every 2-3 weeks. Water params have been steady for more than two years and two moves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kendaroo Posted June 4, 2010 Share Posted June 4, 2010 I do 15%-20% weekly in both tanks. The 12g has been up for about 2 years, the 24g only for a few months. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kilmca Posted June 4, 2010 Share Posted June 4, 2010 I try to do ~30g per week but lately it's been every two weeks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoobtoSalt Posted June 4, 2010 Author Share Posted June 4, 2010 I just had my water tested at a LFS and the water I've been using had a high PPM count. I'm going to be doing a larger water change I think to cut down on some of that. I thought I was doing fine with the water but seeing it on a tester was kind of eye opening. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackaninny Posted June 5, 2010 Share Posted June 5, 2010 Biocube 29 change 5 gallons once a week - probably overkill but I'm lazy and the 5 gal mark is the top ring on the buckets so it's easy to see both coming out and going in. Corals growing like crazy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
racefan Posted June 5, 2010 Share Posted June 5, 2010 Bio Cube 29-3 gals one week 5 gals the next week. 40 gal- 10 gals every other week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reefnjunkie Posted June 5, 2010 Share Posted June 5, 2010 I have a 75 gallon w/ 20 gallon sump-I change out 15-20 gallons maybe every other week, I did experiment to see how long I could go-I felt guilty after 7 weeks so I change it. My params never varied in all that time, I was concerned more about trace elements that were being absorbed-that is a grey area to me-I dose with Coral vite weekly and Strontium/molybenium(sp?) And IMO-my tankmates are pretty happy but I would say I'm going back to doing 15 gallons every 3rd week I too have read about the water not being changed in over a year-In a FO tank it would be fine I guess as long as NO3 is inline Maybe it depends or a gauge would be if things are living vs. thriving/growing-I shoot for the later- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkBirkett Posted June 5, 2010 Share Posted June 5, 2010 Water Changes I top off with R/O every day and do 25% full change every two weeks. My livestock is all doing great and I only have a few soft corals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bswe22 Posted June 5, 2010 Share Posted June 5, 2010 I do a 5 gallon water change on my 20 gallon w/5 gallon fuge every 7 to 10 days. Everything is doing great right now. I am starting to experiment with different salts. I have a problem with the Alk. and Cal. getting very low every other day. I think my corals are just growing so fast; they are sucking it up rapidly. Bryan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stylaster Posted June 5, 2010 Share Posted June 5, 2010 i do a 50g water change every 3 weeks on my 120g. On the 24g tank i do a 5g water change every two weeks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coralreefer Posted June 5, 2010 Share Posted June 5, 2010 15 gallon change on 135 gallon tank + 40 gallon sump once weekly. DrMerle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markdadof2 Posted June 6, 2010 Share Posted June 6, 2010 5 gallons every week here. Using the GetTanked salt. I will probably wait a few weeks to do another because I got a bit carried away with the brightwell ZEO method and pulled out a few too many nutrients out of the water column. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
batchelor Posted June 6, 2010 Share Posted June 6, 2010 20 gallons every 2 weeks on my 90 gal / 30 gal sump-fuge Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reef165 Posted June 6, 2010 Share Posted June 6, 2010 I do 50 to 60 gallon change once a month on my 150 gallon with 65 gallon sump. I saw a post on page one about high PPM's and well dosnt the salt add to the PPM? Arn't ya suposed to only test your purifyed water for PPM cuz when ya add salt it shows as PPM? Oh and I try to use a couple dif salts, changing every water change or so just incase one has something lacking in the other. Would be great to buy like 4 dif salts and mix them in something to get the benys of each one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ku'ulei Posted June 6, 2010 Share Posted June 6, 2010 1g R/O top off every day; 15g water change every week on my 75g tank/10g sump. Ammonia keeps rising to 0.25 by the 6th day; never had a sign of nitrite or nitrates yet. PH starts to drop about every second week and I add a PH buffer to correct. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CA2OR Posted June 6, 2010 Share Posted June 6, 2010 Re: How often do you do water changes? Water change....what's that? On a serious note....recently I have doone quite a few and will be doing another one or 2 before the 9th....but typically I do water changes once or twice every three months.....if that. I have a 60 cube and when I do changes its 10 gallons...typically I have no idea what my parameters are as I have never owned a test kit. I get little to no growth..... Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tanktop74 Posted June 6, 2010 Share Posted June 6, 2010 I have two 150 gal tanks, I do a 30 gal change on the reef tank and a 20 gal on the FOWLR (thats not really a fish only any more) every other week. I am also doing a 3-4 gal change on our new frag tank once a week, more if needed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael7979 Posted June 7, 2010 Share Posted June 7, 2010 Roughly 300g in system and I do a 25-30g WC every 2-3 weeks. Sometimes I might be alittle lacks on it and it might be every 3-4 weeks, but I make up for it by doing an extra 10g change. So it becomes 30-40g WC instead of 25-30g. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael7979 Posted June 7, 2010 Share Posted June 7, 2010 Oh and I do a 1-2g change on the wifes 12g FO tank when I do the WC's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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