Water Changes

[dbuesking]

Can any body give me some imput on how often and how much water I should be changing on a 125 gal. and 30 gal. refug.

[cd77]

Check out http://www.wetwebmedia.com/water.htm and the related FAQ's. Some of the responses though advocate almost a 60% water change per month which I found was too much -- tank perked up a bit when I reduced to 25-30% per month (5G/week on a 70G). Maybe start around 10G/week and see how it goes from there.

[dbuesking]

Thanks for the help. I have been doing 10% changes every week. But I hear so many differant opinions that I don't know who to trust. LFS said every other month. :confused:

[reefergeorge]

Every tank is different. You will learn from trial and error.
I do 10g a week on my 90g FO.

[dbuesking]

You are right. Every time I do a WC one of my softies closes up for about 2 hours. At first I thought I killed him. Then I quit worring about it.

[cd77]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11115028#post11115028 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by dbuesking
Thanks for the help. I have been doing 10% changes every week. But I hear so many differant opinions that I don't know who to trust. LFS said every other month. :confused:
Yeah, you'll hear different opinions everywhere. From everything I've read though, I'd stick with regular small weekly changes over large monthly (or bi-monthly) changes.

One thing I found helpful before siphoning water out is to use the turkey baster to blow out detritus from the LR. I think it makes the water changes more efficient.

How you mix your salt water and your source water is also very important as well and worth reading up on.

[dbuesking]

I am using RO/DI 4 stage filter and I mix my water 48 hours in advance. I use a small powerhead so I don't heat the water up to much. It is more work than most people think. But a labor of love!;)

[clevername]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11115245#post11115245 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by dbuesking
I am using RO/DI 4 stage filter and I mix my water 48 hours in advance. I use a small powerhead so I don't heat the water up to much. It is more work than most people think. But a labor of love!;)

Bingo; i do the same and iv found i could do one large water change a month.

[uscharalph]

10 percent.