Water change frequency for FOWLR

[wmhcpa]

My fish only tank is serviced every other week. After adding live rock how often should the water be changed?

[cward]

A wise man once said " the solution to pollution is dilution", or something like that. Do you have a good size skimmer? I would recommend changing 10-20% every two weeks rather than doing a large one every month.

[Gary Majchrzak]

I'd monitor nitrates and change out water accordingly to keep them low.

[nataz]

I think it would depend on what you have in your tank and what your feed along with how much your feeding. If you have a pred. tank your fish are going to produce more waste and usually are sloppy eater so with that in mind your water chem. could change fast.I use to do 20 gallon water changes a week in my 120 fish only which after i got a system down it only took me 20-30 mins to do and i was able to keep my water lv's under control. Hopefully this help but its only my 2 cents. Good luck.

[drummereef]

When I ran a FOWLR I did weekly 10% changes. It made it much easier to get into the swing of things when I made the move to a full blown reef. In any event, water changes improve the environment for its inhabitants.

[PatMayo]

I would change 10 to 15% weekly. It will help your critters immensely.

Regards,

Pat

[2fishy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9518480#post9518480 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Gary Majchrzak
I'd monitor nitrates and change out water accordingly to keep them low.

I agree with this! I am dealing with trying to lower the nitrates right now. I had surgery that caused me to have to just get by with water changes. Now that I have safely healed and the tank looked a little neglected, we (hubby & I), did a 20% on Friday, tested the nitrates again today and found that they were at 20 ppm, so "we" did another 20%. I will retest tomorrow and if they are still high we will do a 10% tomorrow and retest the next day. And this is why you should never neglect you water changes, unless absolutely necessary!:lol:

[PatMayo]

This is a snippet from one of Randy's articles. I will link the article. If you want a good education on water changes read this article.

"Clearly, larger water changes are much more effective than smaller changes for a fixed number of such changes. The 30% change per month gives a nitrate concentration of only 9 ppm after a year, while the 7.5% monthly change yields a concentration of 64 ppm nitrate after the course of a year."

There are circumstances where water changes is not the best way to reduce nitrate.

Anyway, read the article to get the full context of the statement. It will enlighten you.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-10/rhf/index.php#3

Regards,

Pat

[2fishy]

Thanks Pat, I know I will read that article!:thumbsup: Mostly because I hate having to do water changes everyday! :D

[uscharalph]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9518222#post9518222 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by wmhcpa
My fish only tank is serviced every other week. After adding live rock how often should the water be changed?

Your tank is being serviced? Don't they do a water change then?

[wmhcpa]

Yes they do water changes everyother week, but at this time I do not have any live rock. Which is why I am asking the question. I am wanting to convert to a system with live rock with the idea of finally making it to a reef system over time.

My current system is a 125 gal fish only with a sump filter w/bio balls. When must a protein skimmer and improved lighting be added?

[uscharalph]

I prefer slightly larger water changes every 3-4 weeks (20-25 gallons on my 55 gallon tank). Some people do smaller one's every week.

You're probably going to want to get rid of the bio balls.

[megaspoot]

I have a 75g with 50lbs of LR, 50lbs of LS, 1 scooter blenny and 2 yellowhead sleeper gobies. Also have 2 bundles of Chaeto in there too. I'm also wondering how ofter to change water. My nitrates are actually decreasing because of the chaeto, so I'm not sure if I should do a water change or not. My nitrates are about 10ppm.

[PatMayo]

Just because you have live rock does not give cause to reduce water changes. Even with live rock, good skimmer light feeding etc you would be better served to still make frequent water changes.

The corals and fish will be happier because of it. Your tank will be much more healthy and your critters will be stressed less.

Regards,

Pat

[Snowboarda42]

think of it like air. Would you rather be stuck in a room with your own poop , with air being changed every week? or would you rather have it ever two weeks - month?

Speaking of room with poop my coworker just ripped some major @$$.

Gotta go puke now.