Anyone do daily AWCs? Couple questions.

[Hulley]

Good morning fellow Reefers! I'm planning on building my mixing station soon and have a couple questions. I'm running a RSR 350 with LPS corals and plan on adding some clams, no SPS, at least for now. This will be controlled by an Apex and DOS dosing head.

1. If I change out 10-15% weekly, or more if needed but, do that spread out during the week, would I need to dose any chemicals?

2. Would I achieve the same results just changing out the 10-15% weekly on a single day instead?

I run a low bio-load and the AWC would be a way to replace the elements that the corals would consume...in theory at least.

Anyone do this? I think it would be easier that setting up 3-4 dosing heads and replacing those chemicals and monitoring individual elements and then making adjustments as I go along.

 

[Gablami]

I found this article by Randy to be very helpful. It talks all about water change, but specifically compares small daily or continuous water changes to larger less frequent water changes.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-10/rhf/index.php

The bottom line is small, frequent water changes is slightly less effective in reducing unwanted nutrients or impurities on the water, but minimally so. They have the benefit of increased stability.

To answer your other question, some who store mixed salt water for extended periods of time find that alkalinity will slowly drop over time. I’ve found this with Fritz salt and Red Sea Blue (to a lesser degree). There are varying opinions on this. Some will add Seachem Reefbuilder to the water to keep the alk stable. I don’t really care since I run a Carx and it will supplement the alkalinity to make up for the small amount of drop from the AWC. Your 2 part dosers would do the same thing.

I have not heard of a need for additional supplementation for an AWC as opposed to regular water change.

 

[Gareth elliott]

Good morning fellow Reefers! I'm planning on building my mixing station soon and have a couple questions. I'm running a RSR 350 with LPS corals and plan on adding some clams, no SPS, at least for now. This will be controlled by an Apex and DOS dosing head.

1. If I change out 10-15% weekly, or more if needed but, do that spread out during the week, would I need to dose any chemicals?
Would depend on your tanks usage, some tanks may need a lot more carbonate forming materials than others.
2. Would I achieve the same results just changing out the 10-15% weekly on a single day instead?
The goal of spreading out is less change occurs at a single point of time. By changing 1% a day you are not effecting the water chemistry at once but instead over the course of the week.
I run a low bio-load and the AWC would be a way to replace the elements that the corals would consume...in theory at least.
I use the autoaqua aws for my tank and do love tge simplicity of it. No more siphons, no more mess, this was my primary reason for switching tbh.
Anyone do this? I think it would be easier that setting up 3-4 dosing heads and replacing those chemicals and monitoring individual elements and then making adjustments as I go along.

 

[Hulley]

I found this article by Randy to be very helpful. It talks all about water change, but specifically compares small daily or continuous water changes to larger less frequent water changes.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-10/rhf/index.php

The bottom line is small, frequent water changes is slightly less effective in reducing unwanted nutrients or impurities on the water, but minimally so. They have the benefit of increased stability.

To answer your other question, some who store mixed salt water for extended periods of time find that alkalinity will slowly drop over time. I’ve found this with Fritz salt and Red Sea Blue (to a lesser degree). There are varying opinions on this. Some will add Seachem Reefbuilder to the water to keep the alk stable. I don’t really care since I run a Carx and it will supplement the alkalinity to make up for the small amount of drop from the AWC. Your 2 part dosers would do the same thing.

I have not heard of a need for additional supplementation for an AWC as opposed to regular water change.

Thanks for the link. I guess I would probably just go with the same day water change and mix salt as needed to preserve the integrity of the mixed SW. I'm really just looking for a way to avoid setting up dosing pumps and keeping my tank automated and low maintenance. I've got a slick little ATO set-up and it's completely hands free so I'm getting spoiled! LOL!

 

[lion king]

The aspect to consider is that you will get precip of elements in your fresh saltwater. So as the fresh water ages you will be getting less than optimum balances of ca, alk, and mg. I tried an automated water exchange on my nps tank but could not get the pumps calibrated, I did not want to spend the money or high volume dosers. I'm using a quick change system instead and mix my water for the week. Its a new tank, so far with limited stock I am not needing to dose.

I have found the fritz reef pro salt mix to be the most stable of the ones I tested.