How often do you water change?

[blub]

Just wondering the general concensus, after reading through many polls, talking to people, and reading through some old practical fishkeeping magazines, about the frequency of water changes.
Some people seem to do top ups, and then do a water change twice a year, and I dont know about you, but I really cant see how on my current rubbishy tank, (I know :rolleyes:) , I can barely seem to get through two weeks without needing a 20% change!

Cheers

Blub ;)

- Edited - Will contact mods, as I went and forgot to put the poll in :rolleyes:

[bristol_rich]

On my 24 g nano i change 6 litres a week on a sunday :)

[HowardM]

10% a week ....

[magpie]

On my orca 12 gallons I do 2 gallons water change every week to keep on top.

Tony

[tigerstorm1234]

180l before displacement and i do 25L every 7 - 10 days depending on my shifts. I used to fo 25L every 5 days but was advised not do. I've known of people that on my size of tank only do 25L every four weeks. Each system is completly differnt and depends on stocking and equipment i guess

[techieman]

5 litres at least once a week in my 90 litre nano.

[castiger]

440L Perc 120 - change 50L every week. trying to get nitrates and phosphates down to 0

[Wizz0]

10%Weekly

[Cav]

20 litres in my 98 litre every 2 weeks

[Something Fishy]

My tank is approx 500L and I change 45 L per week.

[richie rumble]

130l, 25l change per week :D

[Morn]

My tank is 40L and i change 6L every week.

[ANDY2]

50L every week on 180 gallon tank

[martin99]

25 litres every 2 weeks in my DD Nano 24usg

[Viv]

400 litres, 10% a week

[alanwsg]

I don't do water changes.

[Cranners]

I change around 5 litres a week on 130 litres so almost 20% per month

J

[angelfishman]

i change 170 galls of water in a 400 gall tank once every 6 weeks.derek

[Ocean Corals]

I don't do water changes.

Not doing water change how has that effected your coral growth?? I dont do changes that often i rely on RO top ups. But my coral growth is quite slow and i think this may play apart in this!!

Paul

[mikk1301]

36 gallons every 2 weeks 200gallon system

[alanwsg]

Not doing water change how has that effected your coral growth?? I dont do changes that often i rely on RO top ups. But my coral growth is quite slow and i think this may play apart in this!!

Paul
Well, it's difficult to say as I've nothing to compare it against.
I only keep softies & LPS.
Things seem to grow fine especially Sinularia & Kapnella.
Zoa's don't though: they just seem to fade away.
Nem's and clam seem to be fine.

[furface]

I don't do water changes.

Alanwsg, just wondering why not ? Not saying there's anything wrong with it, just not heard of it before. Heard of 6monthly water changes. What do you dose ? Do you dose minerals seperately ? Cheers alanwsg.

[Dami]

same again, no water changes...
i've become relaxed about it because of the nature of what it is we're doing.
i used to be a 'no water change' guy, then was urged back to it....however,
water changes were introduced initially to 'EXPORT' nutrients and toxins.
ie if your nitrate is 50ppm and you change 50% then you get 25ppm.(in the old days)
now days filtration is so upto date and methods are far better understood.
i changed 5% in november last year. and since then i'ver gone back to top-up only.
My nitrate is less than 0.1ppm every day and my kh levels have become much more stable.
the question is why remove clean water?
if you use the right additives then you replace the absorbed minerals and traces without the need to water change????! correct????!
if you got a nano with high levels why not use a canister filter hidden away to absorb more toxins. surely it kinder to the livestocks?
would you wanna have your air supply vari every week? people only get 'so' close with new water. it's always gonna be 1% - 2% out??? thats enough to p**s off most things!

[alanwsg]

Well, I just don't see the point. If your test results are all OK, why disturb them: after all, our mantra is "stability, stability, stability".

My nano has NO3 unreadable on my Salifert kit.

My main tank (350L) has NO3 at 40ppm (Wow!). But that seems to be it's "natural" level, doesn't go up, doesn't come down. I've given up trying to fix it. If I try a water change it drops but quickly (in a couple of days) returns to 40ppm and stays there. I blame my Dwarf fuzzy lion fish. Messy eater!

I don't keep SPS, so that might get me off the hook.

It's not laziness (which is what you're all thinking). As evidence I offer my 3 FW tanks that get a 20% w/c every 2 weeks pretty much without fail. What we need is live rock for FW tanks.

[Ocean Corals]

same again, no water changes...
i've become relaxed about it because of the nature of what it is we're doing.
i used to be a 'no water change' guy, then was urged back to it....however,
water changes were introduced initially to 'EXPORT' nutrients and toxins.
ie if your nitrate is 50ppm and you change 50% then you get 25ppm.(in the old days)
now days filtration is so upto date and methods are far better understood.
i changed 5% in november last year. and since then i'ver gone back to top-up only.
My nitrate is less than 0.1ppm every day and my kh levels have become much more stable.
the question is why remove clean water?
if you use the right additives then you replace the absorbed minerals and traces without the need to water change????! correct????!
if you got a nano with high levels why not use a canister filter hidden away to absorb more toxins. surely it kinder to the livestocks?
would you wanna have your air supply vari every week? people only get 'so' close with new water. it's always gonna be 1% - 2% out??? thats enough to p**s off most things!

So what additives do you use to replace the absorbed minerals?? How is your water clarity? I imagine the clarity would suffer due to the lack of fresh salt water?? I believe mine does :laugh: I have never use additives but i am interested in your theory/method?

Cheers

Paul

[sitribe]

30 litres every 2 weeks for my 180 litre tank, oh and I use NSW.....:D

[shaunh]

10% Every 2 Weeks

[Dami]

storm......
I'm not sure what u mean?
'Water quality' and 'Water clarity' should be seen as two seperate issues in reef keeping.
ie: perfect perameters does not = clear water. also: clear water does not mean perfect water!.
organics and larger protein's are factors in 'Clarity'.
You get these out with a good skimmer (in the right place in your system) and carbon. (again, used properly!)
if you are doing a water change just for 'clarity' then why not just clean the water thats there already rather than wasting money on salt????
i cannot see a reson to change water so frequently without the need to 'Export nutrients'.
what can you add with fresh salt that you can't buy in a bottle with out the 'table salt' added????
sorry, i'm curious if anyone can answer for me?

[eddiedundee]

10% every wed on my days off tank 2years old its3x2x2

[Daveyboy34]

440L Perc120 - Auto top-up (using about 20ltrs R/O a week) + 40 ltrs a week changed (would like to cut back at some point as total carnage in the kitchen whilst mixing etc.)
Dave

[Bradden]

So what additives do you use to replace the absorbed minerals?? How is your water clarity? I imagine the clarity would suffer due to the lack of fresh salt water?? I believe mine does :laugh: I have never use additives but i am interested in your theory/method?

Cheers

Paul

It's a good question... what trace minerals you you replace and how?

[alanwsg]

I dose with Kent's "Essential elements" and I also dose Iodine separately.

[jon tunstall]

So glad this subject came up as I ended up leaving the water change for quite a while as I had an auto top off running and everything has stayed tickityboo...

Might do a 10% water change in a few weeks but for now it gets 12ltrs of fresh RO via the auto top off each week.

Nitrates have stayed between 5-10ppm. Stability is the key as we say.

[freewilly58]

20lts one week then 40lts the next BETA 340lts tank & sump

[Screwloose]

160 gallons / 600 or so litres,

change around 50 litres a fortnight :D

[nilesh]

280 litre tank, 4o litres every two weeks

[lawrence cope]

its an intresting subject and i am also glad it has come up!
I used to do 40 litre water changes weekly. Now i havnt done one for quite a few weeks and everything still seems fine! All levels seem stable and all corals are growing so im wondering if regular water changes are required! I only keep softies and lps so i cant comment with sps. Just what i have found myself.
Although i am thinking about starting again soon just to see if it makes much difference to the corals. It would be intresting to see what happens!

[Long dave]

hardly ever change water maybe a bucket full every few months.
keeping sps lps soft the lot......
plenty of growth and no problems so far

do add all trace elements and potassium strontium iodine etc on regular basis.

[johnnyboy]

!0% on 100gal once a year. My nitrates are 100 and the tank has never looked so good.
I did loose a blood shrimp 12 months ago but I think it died of old age.
Stability. Stability. Stability.

[Vicky_99]

We do 25 litres of salted RO every 4 weeks (260l tank plus sump) and top up sump with fresh RO as and when it needs it - normally about a litre a week. Nitrates are on the high side (still!) but not noticed any adverse effects in the tank. Just annoying that the reading isn't what it should be!

Vicky

[Volitans13]

I do about 20% every two weeks, might do it once a month tho if you all think it is ok to do so.

[spilly]

9 litres per day, works out about 12 % weekly ish.

[mikeunlinda]

10% every sunday while changing filter floss

[Reefdude]

25 litres evey 4 weeks (10%) ;).

[denise.gardner]

about 10% weekly on one tank 30%on another tank but thats because im doing 40% aday water change on seahorse nursery

[seasalt]

i'm currenlty trying to get my nitrates down below 20 ppm so have done a few recently. no idea how much in terms of Litres as its a full large salt bucket. mny system is 180L after dissplacement , now dosing vodka instead to see if that helps.

[denise.gardner]

apparently thats what you use in that new nitrate reducer

[seasalt]

whats that then?

[denise.gardner]

ive read your thread and found it highly amusing its called the aquaripure denitrator if you just put that into google it will take you to the web site .you use it instead of a skimmer

[rattters]

I do 10 litres a week, there again its only a 94 litre tank!:)

Just done it today-well yesterday now!

[simon garratt]

Surprisingly only about 20% in the last 2 years on 490 gallon system...The tank doesnt seem to realy need it, so i just do 25 gallons every 6 month or so just for peace of mind, A complete turnaround from my old 200 gallon system that needed around 25% every month. Both systems have always shown sub 0.1ppm no3 and sub 0.01ppm Po4 and both systems ran well balanced elemental levels so i generally go on what the corals look like rather than any test readings...if the corals are looking a bit lax despite good readings, then i do a bit of a batch to spruce things up and boost non testable perameters or deplete acumulations of ther compounds that may be hindering the corals..

regards

Simon.

[ace45]

500 litres and do a 50 litres every 6 weeks

[matty2]

Tank is 300l and I change about 20l a week:thumbsup:

[Cav]

30 litres every 12 days on my 180 litre.

[Dive Master]

10% weekly without failure!

[seasalt]

ive read your thread and found it highly amusing its called the aquaripure denitrator if you just put that into google it will take you to the web site .you use it instead of a skimmer


hiya
glad you liked my thread.:thumbsup:
just had a look at that de nitrate thingy,
all it 'uses' is co2, h2o and n3.
so thats carbon dioxide, water and nitrate,
aka a deep sand bed in a tube :)

$250 wow thats expensive sand lol

[Ridgeway]

10% every other week

[mickeyf]

3-ltr on 1000ltr system every 4months

[Boro]

20% every fortnight.

[sharon9224]

180L tank and I change 25L every week.

[neil_1978_0]

10% fortnightly (75Ltrs)

[richieg]

around 10% every couple of months on 100 gallon

[cdurkin100]

25 ltrs every 7 days. On my vision 180.

[rattters]

I change 10%, 70 odd litres every week on my 700 litre system.:)

[richieg]

how come everone apart from me and simon change water everyweek??are you all diluting nitrate or summat???

[Rental]

I have an AWC system through the GHL that changes approx 10.5 litres a day on my 600 litre system. Has worked incredibly well but have had two minor hiccups with the probe reading low (I use the AWC to regulate my salinity). Now am incorporating cleaning it into my weekly chores!

I change 8 litres in my 94 litre Nano every third day-ish. Sounds a lot I know but this is from the water change tank on the main system so not "freshly made". This helps make up for the lack of skimmer on the Nano where I am currently fairly heavily feeding two new QT-ees.

As for diluting nitrates in my main display, nope, they are at 1ppm and PO4 is undetectable even on the Merck kit. I was finding both my mag and calc consistently low when I wasn't water changing though (with no hard corals as yet). As for the Nano/QT then yes, it is dilution all the way! NO3 crept to 5ppm until I started doing larger changes, now it is <= 2.5ppm. I also like the fact I am introducing display water which helps with the eventual acclimatisation of new fish.

[marcopolored]

We used to do water changes (20% every 2 weeks in a 600L), as it's how we used to run our freshwater tanks. Then we ran out of salt and never did any for a while. When we bought more salt it just sat in the cupboard and never got used as everything was stable and fine. Think we did a 10% about a month before we gave that tank away.
We used the same water to go in the vision 180 that the fish are in now and the only reason we did a water change in that was because we needed some mature water to put in our quaratine tank. Think that was about 25L about 4 or 5 weeks ago.
Readings done 2 days ago are:
Nitrate 0.2
Phosphate <0.003 (possibly zero)
PH 8.2
Ca 410
Mg 1380
Alk 9.6
We don't run anything, nor add anything and everything is healthy.
The fish will be going back into a new 5x2x2 in a few weeks and we will be using the same water (including the extra that's stored (heated and circulated) with the rest of our live rock) which will then require a salt water top up and once that's stable we'll go back to no water changes but regular testing to keep an eye on things.
The trick is stability and ours is.

[johnadam]

450 lts, change about 125 lts every 3 weeks.

[Manta]

20% every month on 200gal system.

[Long dave]

none since before christmas.
no nitrate or p04 and corals looking good so why bother?
(ps dose trace elements& prodibio etc)

[JP-79er]

125l and change 30l every two weeks, but i don't add any suppliments. Did move it out to 30L every month, but after a a year and a half ran in to algae problems, now back to fornightly and all seems well, if it remains stable may extend to every three week to see how i go but will introduce suppliments if i do extend the time gap.

[GrantyBoy]

10% which is 25l every two weeks. But this can increase to 10% a week should I be having any issues with the tank, algae etc etc,

[maintenanceman]

20% every 2 weeks

[fran112]

10% every month

[Ben S]

10% every month to 6 weeks.

[whipitup]

130 Ltr. RSM, I change 16-18 Lts. once a week.

[Sherminator]

10% weekly for me.

[Chris Braid]

25 litres = 5% every week.

Cheers, Chris