How often should I do a water change

[DcoarM]

I have been in the hobby for almost a year now and about a month ago my LFS gave me some horrible advice. It caused half of my fish to die and stress the others out a lot. Since then I have elected to do research on everything and take what LFS says lightly. Prior to my fish dying I only had a hob filter. Once I saw my hard work and things that I cared for die I elected to do this hobby the right way. To much money and time. I recently added a 20G long sump to my 55G display. In the sump I also added a skimmer and small refugium. I also bought the 5 stage BRS RODI unit. So my question is how often should I do a water change and how much.


Tank
Display - 55G
Sump - 20G
Skimmer

Live Stock
Clowns - 2
Magenta Dottyback -1
Bi-colored blenny - 1

Colors
Rose Bubble Tip
Green kenya tree
Pink kenya tree
Frogspawn
Torch corol
Zoa's
hammer head
brown star polyps
Green star polyps

 

[definitionofreal]

I do 5g wc every week on my 55. Everything is thriving.

 

[LPSGUY]

I have several tanks up. Fish only I only do 10-15% a month. Reef tanks I do roughly 25-35% of water monthly.

If you can do a smaller amount weekly I would do that but it gets tiring after some time. Every two weeks is better than monthly.

 

[GHill762]

oh: water change? what is that??

 

[DcoarM]

That is what I said for a while too. When I lost my live stock like that though I had reality check. Why risk losing all of the money and time you have put into this hobby.

 

[Planedoc]

I have a 75 gallon (85 gallon total system) that I do a 25 gallon water change every 8 weeks and it's fine. It has 6 year old live rock but sand was replace about 2 years ago.
My 240 is a little less than two years old and I was doing 30 gallons every other week but do to problems I have been doing 50 gallons a week the last two months. Bottom line is every tank is different. I would recommend 10% every 2 weeks as the bare minimum starting point. You can make changes from there.

 

[KillerKlownFish]

I have a 34 gal. I was told 10% every 2 weeks. My tests show me it should be every week. I'd say start with 10-25% water change test your water frequently maybe every other day. When the results show it's time for a water change do it. Now if you want a longer duration btw changes increase the amount (%) and test.Eventually you will find the amount you want I the time frame you want. Now I know this all changes as you add more fish and coral. So it's a never ending process. However eventually you find a rhythm to it. This is just MHO from my own experience. And so far it's working for me. There are many knowledgable people on here so take everything into consideration and find what works best for you.

 

[Reefing Madness]

Oh boy, the dreaded water change question. Answer is, watch your parameters, these will tell you when its needed, then you'll get an idea of a routine.
Now, if you Carbon Dose, like a bunch of us do, then your water changes are few and far inbetween, like maybe twice a year, maybe none.
There are things you can dose the tank that it lacks in time, or you can change your water, up to you.
If your skimmer is large enough, and you have a large quantity of Macro Algae in your Sump/Fuge, then this will scrub your water for you, and it will spread out your water changes. Bunch of different variables to look at, so theres not really going to be a definate answer to your question. Basically, by testing, your water will tell you.

 

[EW_Fish]

I do 25% weekly to avoid dosing anything.

 

[robbrouse]

I have an 75 with a 20 sump and I do 15 (more or less) gallons every week.

 

[StikHedRon]

10% weekly will suffice, but you should weigh your corals demands to what your maintenance schedule should look like. If you have a full blown sps tank than more water changes are needed if you want to keep it simple. A full blown softie tank, really won't require it as much as they like the dirtier water. It will all be based on what your trying to accomplish. There are many ways to do this, it's just finding what works for you and your tank.

 

[ARNALDOLEX]

i went 9 months one time with no water change tank no lie was amazing very good growth but i had no sps back then so i do once a month now

 

[Mercurio]

I have pretty much the same setup as you do, except with more fish/corals. I do a 5 gallon water change every week but I also dose.

 

[Dalmatia]

10-20% every 2 weeks is what works good for me and my buddies, that's if your not dosing. Just to maintain the mag., cal.......
If your dosing,, your prob good for a month if not more depending on your nitrates

 

[mfinn]

I do about 20% every two weeks without fail.
I have been keeping that schedule for almost 2 decades.

 

[Dalmatia]

Does anyone else put an air stone with their water that's curing? I do and often find lots of impurities that will float on the surface after about 24hrs of curing. I guess it's working like a big skimmer

 

[JMSKI333]

I do about 20% every two weeks without fail.
I have been keeping that schedule for almost 2 decades.

Show off hahaha :llama:


I do 15-20% a week

 

[Dalmatia]

Here is a 55 with just a skimmer, 1125 hydor pump and a aquaclear 50

 

[oceangirl2009]

I started with 10% weekly but as things established (going on 2 years now), I've definitely gotten more lax. As long as parameters are stable you can get away with going longer between water changes.

 

[11f150]

I changed my water schedule recently and have seen noticeable changes in the happiness of my coral. I have about 125gal total and do 3-20gallon water changes a month.