Water change during cycling?

[fishman02]

Hi all,

Just received my rock today and created 5gallons of RO/DI water for a possible water change in 2-3 days. From searching this board, some people say not to do a water change during the cycle and other people say do a water change every 2-3 days to keep ammonia spike from killing off any creatures.

Can I get some kind of definitive answers from my ReefCentral buddies?

[bertoni]

You can do the water changes or not. They're a lot of work, but if you can make a noticeable difference in ammonia levels, you might save some extra life, and thus perhaps even shorten the cycle period. That's my view.

[K9]

I did one water change during my cycle, but I used cured LR and some LS from my existing tank to seed the sand bed. My cycle was only a week long. Most people experience a longer cycle than this. I'd do a WC after the 1st week or two depending on your tank chemistries at the time. HTH

-K9

[fishman02]

Thanks guys

[DaveC]

Water changed prolong the cycling of a tank, but as was mentioned above, it your rock appears to have alot of life on it water changes will reduce ammo levels and help save some of that life....

DaveC

[arielb1]

Here is what I found in about.com

Ammonia and nitrite levels need to spike during the cycling process in order for the cycle to continue to its end. If you perform a water change to reduce these levels during the cycle, you will only be delaying the completion of the cycle. Your cycle will complete earlier if you do not perform a water change until your nitrite levels are zero and your nitrate levels are rising.

Search on change saltwater tank.

I just now finished cycling my tank. Truly there is a process for cycling. It was very hard for me to wait so long for my tank to cycle. I took the extra time waiting to get caught in some reef reading, ro/di, and various things I thought I should know.

Someone on the post said it best; 'you'll see brown algae which will crash, followed by green which will also crash and maybe hair algae. Don't get too carried away and add too much too fast. It might lead to a long battle with problematic algae. Always take it slow.' This is so true. Good luck.

Regards
New to reefing...ariel

[MalHavoc]

I disagree with about.com. You're cycling your tank to generate populations of beneficial bacteria to break down future concentrations of ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. As long as you have -some- ammonia initially, you're good. Once your cycle is complete, your levels of bacteria are going to die back to whatever population can be sustained by the bioload anyway. Having a large cycle is just harsher on your rock and liverock fauna, as has been mentioned.

[NoobieNemo]

but tampa bay saltwater says that it is absolutely necessary to do water changes when the ammonia is above 1 ppm

right?

[fishman02]

I'm also running my lights for 4 hrs/day, is this too much or too little?

[K9]

Originally posted by fishman02
I'm also running my lights for 4 hrs/day, is this too much or too little? That's sufficient. You might want to lengthen the photoperiod when you start adding inhabitants later down the road. That's fine for cycling though. People cure live rock in a garbage can w/nothing but a powerhead for circulation. Light isn't a necessity to cycle, but it'll help things that are growing on your rock.

-K9

[bertoni]

I also think about.com is wrong, and changing the water doesn't prolong the cycle.

Think about it. If the bacteria need that level of ammonia to survive, they're going to die right after the cycle's done anyway. Anything that's important to your tank has to be able to survive after the ammonia drops to undetectable.

The statement quoted from about.com is wrong IME. Why should the ammonia need to spike. I've put together tanks without an ammonia spike, and they're doing fine.

[GreyhoundMama]

I agree with those who disagree with about.com. :) I had live rock, a plenum, a good skimmer, and live sand in my 75 gallon tanks when I started them up. I did small water changes when levels got too high and the cycle was short and sweet. I didn't lose any life.

Good luck!

[psiico]

I'd definately do water changes for TBS rock, and I'd keep the ammonia below 0.25 if possible. I just had some lame-o tonga branch to start my tank and I did it that way. Cycle was 5 weeks. Can't say I saved much, the rock was pretty bare to start. The LFS I got it from had already killed most of the life, lol. And I did 13 hour days since day one.