Is it possible to change water too often?

[rlwreefer]

I have a 110 FOWLR tank and have been battling diatoms and cyno bacteria for 2 months now. This tank has been running almost a year now. I am hunting the source of the diatoms and want to rule out my obsessive water changes. I use RO/DI water and make in a 32 gallon trash can. I change the water every week, siphon off the display. I am doing almost the whole container, so between 28 and 30 gallons. Is this too much? Can this be an issue?

[Madratter]

My guess is that not enough flow in the tank is a far more likely culprit. Also, what is the bioload and how much do you feed?

[Reverend Reefer]

doubtful. how do you do the water changes? do you mix it and wait for the ionic crap to stabilize? do you mix the water in one big fast change or do you do it slowly? not that any of this will cause diatoms or cyano..... is the trash can clean? hmmm. for the cyano, i'd say more flow is needed, that usually fixes cyano problems, at least it did for me. do you have lots of live rock? maybe you might want to add a diatom filter....

[joet3580]

also check rodi water with a tds meter that will definetly rule out new water as problem

[getfooled]

diatoms could be from changing that much water that often. I also have a 110 and change the once every 3 weeks w/o any issues. I did battle diatoms for awhile, but eventually it will go away. Did you recently add more live rock, you not disturbing the sand bed are you. For the cyno what are your lighting conditions and water movement. I changed skimmers & bulbs added a sand sifting star and it was gone.

[thegrun]

I don't think that weekly water changes are too often, but 30 gallons is way too much water to change for your tank. It is best to limit your water changes to 15% unless there is an underling reason to make a larger water change. Changing more than 15% risks shocking the livestock because it is nearly impossible to exactly match the water you make the change with to the chemical levels in your tank. That said, I doubt the water changes are the source of your problems. You use RO/DI water, but have you tested it for TDS? My tap water is so bad that I have to run a second DI cartridge to get my TDS below 25 PPM. If your TDS levels are above 5 PPM, that could be a source of your problem.

[rlwreefer]

Bio load -
i have 2 percs
1 royal gramma
one black and white damsel (can't get him out)
one yellow tail damsel
1 pink bubble tip anemone
1 cleaner shrimp
two peppermint shrimp
3 mexi turbos
5 or so blue hermits
5 or so small sand sifter snails (cant ever remember the name)

Flow -
1 mag 18
3 hydra koralias #3

Process -
I make the water, mix it with a mag 3 pump and wait until the next day to do the change. I shut off mag 18 I have running the returns - and siphon it all off at one time, then pump it back in from the garbage can. It all takes about 20 minutes.

[rlwreefer]

oh - I feed alternating mysis shrimp, formula one, formula two
one cube a day

[chow]

sounds like too much feeding

[reefkeeperaxm]

I would suggest reducing feeding to once every two days. Also I would do smaller, frequent water changes, somewhere in 10 gal range. 30 gals may be too much of a shock. The flow seems adequate and also the bioload is reasonable. I may be reading it too fast but it doesn't seem like you mentioned the skimmer you're using. Often times its just a matter of upgrading and pulling out more junk out, that fixes the problem.

[Madratter]

Personally, as others have mentioned, I would feed less. Also, IMO I would radically increase your cleanup crew. Something is going to eat that stuff you are throwing in the tank. And currently, those nutrients are ending up where you don't want them. Increasing CUC and decreasing feeding are the two sides of that coin.

[jenjen]

I have a 110 FOWLR tank and have been battling diatoms and cyno bacteria for 2 months now. This tank has been running almost a year now. I am hunting the source of the diatoms and want to rule out my obsessive water changes. I use RO/DI water and make in a 32 gallon trash can. I change the water every week, siphon off the display. I am doing almost the whole container, so between 28 and 30 gallons. Is this too much? Can this be an issue?

No diatoms or cyano until 2 months ago, and the system is around a year? Are you still using original bulbs in your lighting? Maybe time for new bulbs?