Do I need to do water changes if my nitrates are low?

[christwendt]

Everyone told me to do plenty of water changes frequently. I have a 20 gallon tank with protein skimmer , carbon and gfo(chemipure blue) , clean up crew 3 hermits, two margarita , two snails that burry in the sand and eat dead stuff/ food, cleaner shrimp , refugium (tiny for pods ) My nitrates have never been more than 5 ppm. I do water changes every two weeks. All my corrals seem happy. I don’t notice any diatoms anymore just green algae all over my rocks. I’m just wondering why do a water change if I’m managing all my elements and my nitrates are less than 5? I dose magnesium, calcium , and alk. I feed heavy with reef roids, frozen pods , and frozen blend. My question is
Do I stop using gfo and Carbon? Btw my phosphates are zero according to lfs I don’t have that test.
When do I know I’m due for a water change if I’m dosing and everything is in the correct ranges nitrates never are more than 5.
This is my first tank started April 10th. Btw I’m dosing algae barn pods (clean up crew) every month for my mandarin. I’m just confused on the water change aspect and if my tank is too “clean “.

 

[AZMSGT]

Yes, trace elements get depleted and need to be replenished.

 

[christwendt]

Yes, trace elements get depleted and need to be replenished.

Okay so if I keep doing them I will maintain zero phosphates and like 2.5 nitrates. Is that too clean ? I was reading having a tank too clean is bad

 

[Alan245]

I was in this same situation a couple months ago. Nitrates were low and phosphates were 0. This eventually lead to a bad algae outbreak. I skipped a water change for a week and let it run its course. Now that I am showing some phosphates it seems to be much more stable.

 

[christwendt]

I was in this same situation a couple months ago. Nitrates were low and phosphates were 0. This eventually lead to a bad algae outbreak. I skipped a water change for a week and let it run its course. Now that I am showing some phosphates it seems to be much more stable.

What are your nitrates and phosphates now ? So I should push water changes back a week ?

 

[Alan245]

What are your nitrates and phosphates now ? So I should push water changes back a week ?

Your tank is still very new and i think that algae will be inevitable, but i personally would try to have some phosphates present. Skipping a change for a week can help that. My nitrates are about 10-15 and now phosphates are .03

 

[Euphyllia97]

You can start dosing trace elements and stop doing WC’s if you want. Google for “triton”

 

[Johny Cash]

Dont let your Nitrate or phosphate hit zero, anything above is good, you want biodiversity in your tank that way bad algae or bad bacteria cant thrive. Ideal no3 and po4 for a new tank is to stay low and once the tank is established you can go up since your corals and beneficial bacteria will be colonized, but said that all depends on the type of corals you will be implementing. So in conclusion zero of any nutrients bad could lead to dino outbreak
having nitrates at 3-6ppm and phosphate 0.03-0.08ppm is ideal. You will go through some phases of algae but this is normal in new tank. Test regularly and keep nutrients close to these parameters you will be fine. I would still do my regular water changes every two weeks.

I would invest in hana phosphate ULR checker, i am not sure what your LFS used to determine zero phosphates.

 

[Homebrewer]

Yes, trace elements get depleted and need to be replenished.

I agree with this.

Alternatively you can not do any water changes and dose trace. Plenty of people do this. Makes more sense to me for those with huge tanks where a 10% water change would be huge. Otherwise, for a 20g, water changes are just easier to get right IMO.

I noticed, however, that you are using Chemipure Blue. I love that product, used to use it all the time. It will, as the package I believe says, strip phosphates substantially. That product was great when I wasn't practicing the best husbandry on the tank and would go a long time without water changes.

My habits changed and thus I stopped using Chemipure Blue, switched to BRS 0.8 carbon, dropping the phosphate-specific removal media altogether. If you calcualte it out on a monthly change of carbon vs. a three month change of the Chemipure, the carbon (even though an expensive carbon) works out to be cheaper. I also do every other week water changes (10 gallons of a 65g) and I saw levels stabilize to 1.0ppm nitrate (Nyos and Red Sea) and 0.03-0.06 phosphate (Hanna ULR).

Every system is different, and yes yours is pretty new; I'm only sharing my experience in case it helps.

 

[Beardo]

I would stop using gfo, no need to use it if you don't have a phosohate issue. You don't want zero for phosohates.
As far as water changes there ars different thoughts there. I do regular water changes for trace elements and my tanks have always done well with this.
There are quite a few people that don't do water changes or do it infrequently. But they usually are dosing trace elements.

You could try cutting back on the frequency of water changes and see how things looks.

 

[Bryknicks]

Everyone told me to do plenty of water changes frequently. I have a 20 gallon tank with protein skimmer , carbon and gfo(chemipure blue) , clean up crew 3 hermits, two margarita , two snails that burry in the sand and eat dead stuff/ food, cleaner shrimp , refugium (tiny for pods ) My nitrates have never been more than 5 ppm. I do water changes every two weeks. All my corrals seem happy. I don’t notice any diatoms anymore just green algae all over my rocks. I’m just wondering why do a water change if I’m managing all my elements and my nitrates are less than 5? I dose magnesium, calcium , and alk. I feed heavy with reef roids, frozen pods , and frozen blend. My question is
Do I stop using gfo and Carbon? Btw my phosphates are zero according to lfs I don’t have that test.
When do I know I’m due for a water change if I’m dosing and everything is in the correct ranges nitrates never are more than 5.
This is my first tank started April 10th. Btw I’m dosing algae barn pods (clean up crew) every month for my mandarin. I’m just confused on the water change aspect and if my tank is too “clean “.

The tank is very new with corals that are not very demanding. You do not need to worry about trace nutrients at this point. Let the tank settle in and establish itself. I would start by pulling the GFO for a week and cut back on the water changes (either less frequently or less volume) and see where the nutrient levels are. The pods will help to a degree in keeping the tank clean.

Once you have a stable tank in a few weeks/months and the coral are growing much more, then I would consider heavier water changes or dosing trace elements.