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View Full Version : Are my water changes too frequent ?


dasickle
04/09/2015, 06:47 PM
I do 1 to 1.5 g water changed fro my 3g pico every two day.

Lately I have been really busy and switched to doing water changed to about once every 4 days. My corals seem to be much happier on the 3rd and 4th day between water changes.

Don't get me wrong...they are always happy but it seems like they are all become crazy extended and just drop dead gorgeous two days after the water change.

Could that be due to something in the water chemistry? Most of my stock is LSP's and zoa's.

PhaneSoul
04/09/2015, 06:49 PM
What do u do when you 'change water'?

dasickle
04/09/2015, 07:22 PM
What do u do when you 'change water'?

I stop my hob and my powerhead and syphon of half the water out of the tank. Slowly put the clean water back in and turn my equipment back on.

Peter Eichler
04/09/2015, 08:47 PM
I would switch to doing the 30-50% weekly or maybe a quarter to half gallon daily.

dasickle
04/09/2015, 09:13 PM
I would switch to doing the 30-50% weekly or maybe a quarter to half gallon daily.

Thanks. Is there a particular reason why this is better then 50% every other day?

PhaneSoul
04/09/2015, 09:36 PM
It may be an issue of stability. Your changing water frequently, and a lot of it. You could try maybe just 3 cups of water a day or a %weekly, but try and get a little stability in there.

Also instead of doing any of those what about if you were to change as much water every week or two weeks as it takes you to clean half the sandbed? Do you have a sandbed?

In my 10g I change as much water as it takes to vacuum the sandbed once a week and it works for that tank. I usually end up changing about 30-40% a week

toothybugs
04/10/2015, 06:08 AM
I think you're just wasting salt doing changes that big and that frequent. I doubt your corals are using much of the minerals and I also doubt you are putting enough food in to the system to mandate that kind of water swap.

If it were my tank I'd do half a gallon once a week. Much more stable that way.

scooter31707
04/10/2015, 06:25 AM
I am not no expert, but if your nirates are staying below 10ppm, I would do 1/2 to 1gallon every 2 weeks.

ReefsandGeeks
04/10/2015, 07:14 AM
Just as a referance, that's pretty close to my average water changes in my 40g. I do 8 gallos every other week, so 16 gallons a month or so. Unless your perameters are bad, you don't need the large changes. If you perameters are bad enough to need a 30-50% WC every other day, than the tank is way over fed IMO.

igot2gats
04/10/2015, 10:59 AM
It really depends on how often you want to do a water change. As long as you're doing them correctly, your tank will always benefit from a water change.

Once per week is good enough.

dasickle
04/10/2015, 04:24 PM
Thanks guys for all your advice. I guess I was just being too crazy about my water changes. I will stick with 1g once a week from now on.

How long can I keep my saltwater? I usually get a 5g bucket at a time. Can I keep 5g of saltwater for 5 weeks?

PhaneSoul
04/10/2015, 04:37 PM
Sure. Keep it sealed and it would do good to heat and aerate it the night/day before