How often do you water change?

[wyang76]

Hi,

I wanted to get some comments on how often you should do water changes. Also, how much water should you change?

I have been told that a good reef system is self-sustaining and you do not have to water change with. You just have to add RODI water to compensate for evaporation.

thanks,

[2fishy]

I was doing 10% water changes once a week, but lately have been doing 20% every two weeks or so. Trying to force myself back to the 10% a week again. I have heard the same thing but have had some problems with nitrates.

[fareforce]

I change about 5-10% every Saturday. Every now and again I might skip a week.

If you don't change water you will have to add suppliments to the water. I have another reef setup that I use to do a 15% water change every 6 months. I doesed Prodi-Bio, so that keept all of my trace elements where they needed to be.

[gburton]

When did you guys start doing your water changes? Was it after you got your crabs and snails or after you got fish?

[Liquid Hobby]

20% every week.

[BurntOutReefer]

10% weekly. and whoever told you that one statement is not very clever.

[Waxxiemann]

I do 10% weekly as well.

[winland]

Not to highjack this thread, but how are you calculating the 10% or 20% water changes?
Are you changing 10% of a XXX gallon tank or do you include the total water capacity, including sump/refugium and plumbing?

winland

[MTB]

20% weekly. After you add a couple fish. Or after your cycle is complete IMHO.

[mistergerardob]

It depends in my nitrates, usually I do 10% divided into two times a week, if my nitrates are 0 then I do a 10% divided into two weeks. The 10% if the total of my display, and my sump.

[BurntOutReefer]

In my case...total water volume...sump, skimmet, fuge, tank, etc.....(even my plumbing gets factored in...)...just being anl...

[dc_909]

15 gallons per week.

[383camaro]

20 gallons per month.

[mushumatt]

I do 30% every month and everything is fine. I take the total water volume of my system and take 30% of that.

[Frick-n-Frags]

I guesstimate a little over 100 gallons in a 50L, a 60L, and a 20 gal sump(30 gal container) because of the LR displacing some of the water. so my weekly 5-10% waterchange = siphoning one or two salt buckets out =6 or 12 gallons


you have to dilute and replenish and that is only possible with waterchanges.

[Northreef2]

I am doing one right now 10 gallons new water for a 100 gallon water system = 10% every two weeks.

Still new though....

[drummereef]

10% weekly changes is a good rule of thumb. Sometimes I even do a little more. The notion that you don't have to do water changes in an established system is a fallacy. Don't believe a word of it. There is much to the water chemistry that you are replacing by doing the weekly changes. You'll see a drastic decrease in the health of your system over time if you try that. And yes, you should be making up for evaporation with fresh water, RO/DI preferably.


From the master himself....
Water Changes in Reef Aquaria
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-10/rhf/index.php

[badpvtdan]

Monthly 10%. Working out well the last 2 years.

[Lotus99]

I do 10% a week of the total water volume (tank + sump).

If your nitrates are high after the cycle is over, it's probably a good idea to do a water change before you add your cleanup crew.

[coast2coast7390]

15% weekly

[coyoteseven]

Average of 10-15% weekly on all, even my outdoor pond.

[eddie c]

i was doing 15g a month and then my nitrates started creeping up and started noticing corals weren't doing as well now i do 10-15g a week and everything is doing much better.

[serum153]

15 gallons a week which made my diatom bloom drop significantly

[trae]

For me 10% of 55 is 5.5. 100= 10 gl change. but i usually test first to determine the outake.

[FOREIGNER]

I empty my whole tank every two weeks and rinse live rock w/ fresh water, make sure it is very clean that way, my corals and fish are not doing too well, but at least the tank looks like new all the time