How much water do you change?

[somethingphishy]

Reading a Marine Depot I came across an article about water changes. I was kind of suprised that they wrote---- "Most experts now recommend approximatley 10% water changes per month."

Got me thinking-- I do a 10% weekly--Could i slack off a little--Not to keen on the idea but what does everyone else do?

I'm mainly looking for feed-back from people with reef tank set-ups under 100 gallons (that being my tank is only 40 gallons) but if you got an awnser give it to me. thanks.

[Benny Z]

i think i'm going to try a 5% weekly routine. we'll see how that goes.

[mr pink floyd]

I do 5 gallons out of a 29 weekly, which is about 17.2% weekly

[Scuba_Dave]

I do about 20% every month

depends upon your bio-load - how many fish you have
and if you add supplements
if you don't then water changes will help your corals

[Alexj716]

That is interesting, I do about 10% a week. I would love to hear from someone that is having good luck with doing less.

[LOTUS50GOD]

30% A WEEK! This keeps my heavily populated reef in check

[chemisfun11]

I change 5 gallons every 2 weeks on my 90 gallon. I supplement with Iodine 1%, Reef plus and DT's and cyclopeeze. I run a Koralin 1502 Ca reactor and the only trouble I've had are with LPS. Zoos, leathers, mushrooms and some acros and montis no problem. LPS don't stick around more than 4-6 months.

[TrojanScott]

I do 15 gallons every two weeks.

[zenzence]

90 gallon tank, 10 gallons per week! No problems at all so far knock on wood. Supplements Dts oyster eggs and sometimes phyto. Love my geo reactor

[sassyfishy]

40 gallon tank, 8 gallons every 1-2 weeks. (20%)

[krismist]

I do a water change about once a month and its about 15-20%. I have had good luck doing it this way. I have softies and SPS and they seem to do fine this way. But I recommend that you have good skimmer.

[zenzence]

Skiiimmmerrrsss sorry I hate my skimmer! Venting

[agfahy]

SKimmer....whats that? LOL Skimmers need not apply.

[zenzence]

Oh how I wish I would have researched before purchasing my skimmer. I am currently saving for a my reef creations skimmer. Comments? Not trying to hijack the thread just curious.

[pugbreath13]

50 gallon tank, 10% a month for almost 2 years. Only 3 small fish though, no problems. Mainly sps.

[li-mike]

10-20% every other week.

[krismist]

I am told the Corallife Ven Skimmer is the bomb. It does a great job and its not 400.00.

[unmc2001]

5 gallons weekly on my 58 gallon. Recently added sump holding about 15 gallons and a little chaeto. I run a remora pro skimmer.

[OnTheReef]

I am saving for an ASM -- and you're not hijaking, this is directly related to my reply -- I also change 10% of my water, once or twice a week, if my nitrate kit shows any color development at all. Once I have that ASM skimmer and the macrolgae in my refugium really gets going, I am hoping this can slow down.

[Sk8r]

10% a week, and I test the water the day after.

[xtrstangx]

On my 40g, I change out 5 gallons weekly. Every two/three weeks if I have the whole afternoon off, I'll change 9-10 gallons intead of 5g that week.

[affan]

15 gallons every other Sunday on my 100 gallon reef. When lazy, every 3rd Sunday. No problems whatevsoever. But one must have a good skimmer to get away with that. In addition, I run an EcoSystem 3612 fuge.

[palmer59]

I do about 12% (35G) every other week.

Mike

[spoiledcats]

So I guess the better the skimmer the less often one has to do water changes? I'm thinking of getting an ASM G2 for my 90 gallon. I wish they would make them a little shorter though. I have 24" clearance in sump and the skimmer is 21.5". I hope that will be enough for maintenance.

[blenny90]

Spoiledcats - Buy the ASM. It's a few more dollars than others but well worth the price. We bought a Coralife Superskimmer, had it for about a year and could not control phosphates which led to major cyano bacteria.

Changed to ASM (Euro knock off) and tank is doing beautiful.

We bought the G-3 for our 90.

[twon8]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7056960#post7056960 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by spoiledcats
So I guess the better the skimmer the less often one has to do water changes? I'm thinking of getting an ASM G2 for my 90 gallon. I wish they would make them a little shorter though. I have 24" clearance in sump and the skimmer is 21.5". I hope that will be enough for maintenance.

that will be enough, you only need 1/2" to take the cup off.

and yes, i think with a better skimmer your water stays cleaner. i have a 90 with 130 total system volume and i change on average 10% every six weeks. to guess at it, i have changed maybe 40 gallons in the last six months; far less than 10% every week. everything is looking good and i am getting great color and growth. i am running a g3 with recirculating and gate valve mods being fed directly from the overflow, and it keeps my water clear. I test regularly for alk and calcium, and i have to clean my glass more when i go a long time in between, but if that is the only price then ill gladly pay that.

on the 180 i was changing 10% every two/four weeks but have lately been changing 5 gallons every week by skimming really wet.

i tend to believe that as long as you have a good skimmer and lots of flow to keep water oxygenated and keep your alk and calcium up you can go a while. but that is my experience with these particular systems, which have been running for a few years. i am not saying anyone else should try this, as i am sure changing water is good for the animals. it is just so damn messy. i do run carbon, mostly for how clear it makes the water, though i am sure there are other benefits.

i suppose it comes down to what you are doing water changes for. without a good skimmer i had to do them for nutrient export, but now with a good skimmer i don't see any signs that the corals aren't happy. i feed a lot but i also have a large pod and bristleworm population. i have tons of corraline and no other algea that doesnt get eaten by my tang an lmb.

[richfavinger]

My calculations come to about 20% every 2 weeks on my 75g...

[somethingphishy]

After reading all the responces I 'm going to keep up with my 10% changes. My tank stays clean and i'm not looking to loose corals to poor water quality. I have been on that water change schedule for approx two years and all is well. Thanks for all the responces.

[MiddletonMark]

If that w/c habit is `working' ... why mess with it IMO.

On my 60g coral tub [no fish] in the basement I change 10-20% every month to 6 weeks.

On my 58g display tank [6 fish] I change 10-20% every week to every other. It keeps things looking good, seems to help me balance levels - and despite my massive skimmer if I let it go too long I can tell from the discolored water.
A great skimmer sure helps - but IMO doesn't do everything.

[NexDog]

What's a water change? :D:p;)

[jim293]

In my 110 I do 15 gallons per week. Keeps everything in good order.

[reefgeek84]

5% weekly.