Are my weekly WCs too much?

[coronarex]

I recently spoke with a hobbyist about my inability to keep montis. I told him that I do 20% water changes every Sunday(Tropic Marin Pro). He said this is way too much and that I should be doing them monthly. He said that this isn’t stable. And that I should hook up a doser. Is this true and should I take his advice?? My current water parameter are 435-7.9-1320. NO3 @ 5-10. PO4 @ 0.003. Sg @ 1.026. Temp @ 77 F. In the course of a week I do see about a .7-.9 drop is alk. And about 10-20 drop in calc. Is this where my problem lies. I cannot keep montis, gonios, and my toadstool leather hasn’t opened in 2 weeks. Acans have looked like complete trash for 2 weeks after moving them away from a RBTA. I have not changed anything in the tank besides throwing away a handful of bioballs that were caked with glue.I have several other SPS (ORA Birdsnest, Bubblegum digi, milko stylo, green poccillpora, and some pavona) that are growing slowly, beside the BN which is taken off. My tank has been up for well over a year. It’s a Nuvo 30L and Yes I have coralline. Thanks in advance. Light is a single Radion XR30 gen 3 Pro.

 

[RobZilla04]

A doser would be a wise investment because a dip of nearly 1 dKH in Alkalinity weekly is a big swing. Dosing will also allow you to drop water changes to biweekly or monthly as he suggested. Also looks like Phosphate is low at .003.

 

[Retro Reefer]

IMO that’s to much, I do about a 10% water change every few weeks and dose Kalkwasser to keep Alk & Cal stable.

 

[coronarex]

A doser would be a wise investment because a dip of nearly 1 dKH in Alkalinity weekly is a big swing. Dosing will also allow you to drop water changes to biweekly or monthly as he suggested. Also looks like Phosphate is low at .003.

Thanks for the quick reply. Hooking up the doser today. I bought one awhile ago but have been a little intimidated by it lol. How should I bring up phos? Feed more?

 

[Anirban]

I dont think you are loosing much of alkalinity over a week. But my guess is when you do the large water change you give your system a shock so they take time to get back but again you give them another shock. Check the Alk of the fresh saltwater and your tank water if they are too far like more than 1 dkh then just do a 5-10% change. You have coralline growing and that means your system is good and stable. The alk you loose over the week is possibly due to the coralline growth. Does your NO3 and PO4 goes up if you skip the water change for a week?

 

[RobZilla04]

Thanks for the quick reply. Hooking up the doser today. I bought one awhile ago but have been a little intimidated by it lol. How should I bring up phos? Feed more?

That's the simplest way. You can run the skimmer 12 hrs a day for a few days and re-test to see if that helps also.

 

[coronarex]

I dont think you are loosing much of alkalinity over a week. But my guess is when you do the large water change you give your system a shock so they take time to get back but again you give them another shock. Check the Alk of the fresh saltwater and your tank water if they are too far like more than 1 dkh then just do a 5-10% change. You have coralline growing and that means your system is good and stable. The alk you loose over the week is possibly due to the coralline growth. Does your NO3 and PO4 goes up if you skip the water change for a week?

I’ll have to mix up some salt and get back to you on that. To answer your question... no on NO3. They seem to stay around 5-10 according to API and Salifert. My PO4 was at 0.018 months ago when I first bought the Hanna checker. The other day I got a reading of 0.003, this is likely due to the frequent water changes I think. I def agree it’s a shock to the system. Still unsure whether a drop of 1 dkh in a week is fine or too much?

 

[Anirban]

I’ll have to mix up some salt and get back to you on that. To answer your question... no on NO3. They seem to stay around 5-10 according to API and Salifert. My PO4 was at 0.018 months ago when I first bought the Hanna checker. The other day I got a reading of 0.003, this is likely due to the frequent water changes I think. I def agree it’s a shock to the system. Still unsure whether a drop of 1 dkh in a week is fine or too much?

A straight answer will be NO. A drop of alkalinity of 1dkh over 7 days is nothing. Its just over 0.1dkh a day. Your coralline is possibly taking that much up. You need to dose when you loss is atleast 0.5 dkH a day. If you start dosing now to compensate your loss you will possibly dose 1-3ml of 2parts. So, if you want to take that pain and play then do it. Lower your water change amount to 5-10% a week and see how the system looks after a month and then think forward.

 

[RobZilla04]

I don't think the drop of 1 dKH is too much, the problem is that you'll soon end up dropping more than 1 dKH, and creep closer to 2. At that point I don't think anyone would say that's acceptable.

 

[Gablami]

The problem is not the gradual drop of 1 dkh over the week, it’s the sudden increase of 1 dkh when you change your water. If you gradually dropped your alk over a week, and then brought it back up gradually over a week, I bet all would be fine.

If you desire to grow sps, I think your tank is telling you that you’ve outgrown the ability for water changes to replenish your alkalinity and other elements in a STABLE fashion.

I agree with the advice to go with 2 part of kalk, but if your water changes are keeping your nitrate and phosphate levels where you want them, going to once a month would increase that. Most people aim for 10% weekly. You can titrate the volume changes based on your desired levels.

 

[hart24601]

It's very possible it's causing issues, but I somewhat doubt the W/C and increase of 1 dkh are causing that many issues with a wide variety of corals. Many pico keepers do 100% weekly changes and have sps. Plus you have quite a few other corals that sound like are growing, although slowly.

I would say a doser is a good idea, but if trying to troubleshoot I don't think w/c is the issue. Perhaps nutrient imports and exports.

 

[coronarex]

A straight answer will be NO. A drop of alkalinity of 1dkh over 7 days is nothing. Its just over 0.1dkh a day. Your coralline is possibly taking that much up. You need to dose when you loss is atleast 0.5 dkH a day. If you start dosing now to compensate your loss you will possibly dose 1-3ml of 2parts. So, if you want to take that pain and play then do it. Lower your water change amount to 5-10% a week and see how the system looks after a month and then think forward.

Thank you friend. I will take your advice and reduce the water changes. Can I do them every 2 weeks or should I start with 5-10% weekly?

 

[coronarex]

The problem is not the gradual drop of 1 dkh over the week, it’s the sudden increase of 1 dkh when you change your water. If you gradually dropped your alk over a week, and then brought it back up gradually over a week, I bet all would be fine.

If you desire to grow sps, I think your tank is telling you that you’ve outgrown the ability for water changes to replenish your alkalinity and other elements in a STABLE fashion.

I agree with the advice to go with 2 part of kalk, but if your water changes are keeping your nitrate and phosphate levels where you want them, going to once a month would increase that. Most people aim for 10% weekly. You can titrate the volume changes based on your desired levels.

Less frequent and/or smaller water changes would achieve the same goal correct? So I can either do 5-10% weekly or 20% biweekly. Correct me if I’m wrong. I’ll increase coral feedings from 2x a week to 3x week to bring up phos. How does all that sound?

 

[coronarex]

I won this at reefapoolza this past year minus the doser. I really want to hook it up but I’m trying to be a conscientious. Thoughts?

 

[Gablami]

Less frequent and/or smaller water changes would achieve the same goal correct? So I can either do 5-10% weekly or 20% biweekly. Correct me if I’m wrong. I’ll increase coral feedings from 2x a week to 3x week to bring up phos. How does all that sound?

MORE frequent, smaller water changes would keep things more stable than less frequent bigger water changes.

This is a fantastic article by RHF. One of his best, IMO, though there are many:

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

 

[brandon429]

look up Maritza the vase reef on YouTube. Then friend them

via the listed details, consider these questions:

What percent water change and how often are they doing them

Do they have awesome sps

How long has the system been running, new or established relative to those water changes

How often are they dosing items to the water, and what

How does feeding play a role in a goldfish bowl beating out 90% of sps tanks on the forum


There is no rule about water change frequency or pattern. We can design a system at accommodate either way, focus on your feeding and export however you want to arrange it. Copying what others do for success is one way (high weekly wc volume and good feeding just before, a work method, until you get better at tuning)

No doubt that less frequent wc and precise param adjustments are the common place, but so is the takeaway that sps keeping is hard, that technique makes it hard though viable after some losses and learning.

Alternatively you can just start out busier than norm, feeding and water changes above norm, and that grows sps for everyone. The work calories is what you pay for not being an experienced param tuner, but it’s better than paying in lost sps investments as a dosers learning curve. Make a busy sps reef, low to no sandbed so that you can access it to keep it clean. I feed mine reef nutrition refrigerated feed, feed something high quality that requires refrigeration or freezing, and be busy on water changes. It will work. You’ll hate the work initially, love the tank, and in time can back off and try param dosing.

Lastly, when you buy a new sps frag of any kind to try, don’t put them under high production white lighting the rest of your reef might be accustomed to

The bluest you can go is the least bleaching risk, then slowly slowly whiten over time, many days. Bluer than norm, second trick for easy sps trial.

Using true live rock as opposed to white brought up base rock, third trick of those who make it look easy. I’m not saying a base rock + low water change + testing and param reaction dosing wont work, it’s just the hard way.

 

[coronarex]

look up Maritza the vase reef on YouTube. Then friend them

via the listed details, consider these questions:

What percent water change and how often are they doing them

Do they have awesome sps

How long has the system been running, new or established relative to those water changes

How often are they dosing items to the water, and what

How does feeding play a role in a goldfish bowl beating out 90% of sps tanks on the forum


There is no rule about water change frequency or pattern. We can design a system at accommodate either way, focus on your feeding and export however you want to arrange it. Copying what others do for success is one way (high weekly wc volume and good feeding just before, a work method, until you get better at tuning)

No doubt that less frequent wc and precise param adjustments are the common place, but so is the takeaway that sps keeping is hard, that technique makes it hard though viable after some losses and learning.

Alternatively you can just start out busier than norm, feeding and water changes above norm, and that grows sps for everyone. The work calories is what you pay for not being an experienced param tuner, but it’s better than paying in lost sps investments as a dosers learning curve. Make a busy sps reef, low to no sandbed so that you can access it to keep it clean. I feed mine reef nutrition refrigerated feed, feed something high quality that requires refrigeration or freezing, and be busy on water changes. It will work. You’ll hate the work initially, love the tank, and in time can back off and try param dosing.

Lastly, when you buy a new sps frag of any kind to try, don’t put them under high production white lighting the rest of your reef might be accustomed to

The bluest you can go is the least bleaching risk, then slowly slowly whiten over time, many days. Bluer than norm, second trick for easy sps trial.

Using true live rock as opposed to white brought up base rock, third trick of those who make it look easy. I’m not saying a base rock + low water change + testing and param reaction dosing wont work, it’s just the hard way.

Thanks for all of this info. If I’m being honest most of it went over my head and I’m far more confused now than I was before. I try my best to mimic other hobbyist success and I think that has worked greatly for me. Just looking to create more stability than I have. I’ll do the smaller water changes as many have suggested and continue with my weekly water testing. Hopefully this will create more success as far as growth. As I mentioned I have a bubblegum digi which according to many is very hard to keep. The fact that it is thriving in my tank tells me I’m doing somewhat okay. I’ll check out the YouTube vids as you requested and refer back here and/or reach out if I have more questions. Thanks friend

 

[Anirban]

Thank you friend. I will take your advice and reduce the water changes. Can I do them every 2 weeks or should I start with 5-10% weekly?

If you are going to hook up a doser then every 2 week should be fine. Otherwise once a week with 5-10% is good.

 

[coronarex]

If you are going to hook up a doser then every 2 week should be fine. Otherwise once a week with 5-10% is good.

Thanks bro

 

[RobZilla04]

Thanks for all of this info. If I’m being honest most of it went over my head and I’m far more confused now than I was before. I try my best to mimic other hobbyist success and I think that has worked greatly for me. Just looking to create more stability than I have. I’ll do the smaller water changes as many have suggested and continue with my weekly water testing. Hopefully this will create more success as far as growth. As I mentioned I have a bubblegum digi which according to many is very hard to keep. The fact that it is thriving in my tank tells me I’m doing somewhat okay. I’ll check out the YouTube vids as you requested and refer back here and/or reach out if I have more questions. Thanks friend

It seems confusing at first, but once you pick a method and go with it things simplify. Moving from 5-10% WC weekly to 20% biweekly is an easy step. You've got the right stuff to start dosing 2-Part. Nutrients will creep up a little bit due to the less frequent water changes, but that's part of what you want right?

I'm a big advocate for simplicity (plus weekly water changes are very tedious). I dose 2-part and do 20% WC every other week. Calculating consumption was tricky for me at first, but it's really simple once you read the right info. You're doing things right for sure. Now it's time to take the next step and going slow would be doing what I've stated above.