mcarroll
10K Club member
Well, a water change is a tool. Of course it's up to the user to say whether it's the correct one, or a useful one, or how often they want to use it. 
What my daily water change effort is about isn't necessarily that it's easier (less equipment, less time), or that it'll make my parameters (including vitamins and trace elements) ultra stable....though it'll have some effect on both of those. It's purely about getting my water changes done vs not getting them done. The fact that my 25 gallons of water change (5 x 5 gallons) only net about the same effect as a single 20 gallon water change is dwarfed by the fact that 20 gallon water changes don't get done. I end up needing an ATO on my mixing vat. :xd: Daily water changes are the perfect solution. It a nice extra that from setup to cleanup, it takes a grand total of 10-15 minutes til you can't tell I was even there. Wife friendly!
What I meant about your case, is that at every other week you are spacing out your water changes more than they need to be - not that you need to do daily water changes. Though it's one option. If you got a 7 gallon bucket x 5 days you'd still be getting the effect of about a 30 gallon, 25% water change every week. Yeah 7 gallons is gonna feel a lot heavier than a regular bucket...so while it would be quick, it wouldn't be so easy.
Weekly is an ideal minimum IMO. If there's any reason for doing them less-often, try to eliminate that reason and do them more frequently. Even if they have to be smaller water changes. Of course, that may or may not be possible for you - it's just a suggestion that, if possible, would help with trace elements, among other things.
Do the "balling light" people have a detailed position on water changes one way or the other? I'm curious how they integrate dosing trace elements with water changes when we can't test for them and they don't know which salt mix we're using.
Good luck!
-Matt
What my daily water change effort is about isn't necessarily that it's easier (less equipment, less time), or that it'll make my parameters (including vitamins and trace elements) ultra stable....though it'll have some effect on both of those. It's purely about getting my water changes done vs not getting them done. The fact that my 25 gallons of water change (5 x 5 gallons) only net about the same effect as a single 20 gallon water change is dwarfed by the fact that 20 gallon water changes don't get done. I end up needing an ATO on my mixing vat. :xd: Daily water changes are the perfect solution. It a nice extra that from setup to cleanup, it takes a grand total of 10-15 minutes til you can't tell I was even there.
Wife friendly!What I meant about your case, is that at every other week you are spacing out your water changes more than they need to be - not that you need to do daily water changes. Though it's one option. If you got a 7 gallon bucket x 5 days you'd still be getting the effect of about a 30 gallon, 25% water change every week. Yeah 7 gallons is gonna feel a lot heavier than a regular bucket...so while it would be quick, it wouldn't be so easy.
Weekly is an ideal minimum IMO. If there's any reason for doing them less-often, try to eliminate that reason and do them more frequently. Even if they have to be smaller water changes. Of course, that may or may not be possible for you - it's just a suggestion that, if possible, would help with trace elements, among other things.
Do the "balling light" people have a detailed position on water changes one way or the other? I'm curious how they integrate dosing trace elements with water changes when we can't test for them and they don't know which salt mix we're using.
Good luck!
-Matt
