Massive 50% waterchange 2x a year - thoughts

[ZoWhat]

I dose Lanthanum Chloride every Sunday. I know I'm not getting all the free floating Lanthanum out.

Your thoughts on doing a massive waterchange on Jan 1st and July 1st.

My total water volume is 220g



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[Quietman]

Why would 50% twice a year be better or required over a 5% or 10% weekly/monthly whatever is someone's normal WC cycle? Unless you're just talking people who don't do WC at all.

 

[shadesatsetbreak]

Get lazy, livestock dies.

 

[andrewkw]

I wouldn't consider 50% massive. 500% maybe.

 

[brandon429]

As long as you don't stir up rot from the sandbed then a kid-glove water change of 50% is no harm heh nice Andrew

If no sand, swish test a live rock mid tank to see if castings are built up. If it swishes clean, water changes of any degree won't hurt. Jon just did a 120 gallon water change on a 120 gallon cloudless system, all nitrate and phosphate are immediately back into compliance

 

[brandon429]

Are you dosing lanthanum to offset phosphates from pent up wastes

Do you have a dsb and if so, how dirty is it if you grab sand and drop it with pumps on

 

[Quietman]

I would also doubt La-Cl (I'll abbreviate) exists after a short time (days) if you have measurable phosphates. The particulate result also likely settles out and won't be greatly affected by WC.

 

[Reefs and Geeks]

Unrelated to La-CL (I don't use it) I do like to do a big water change about once or maybe twice a year of about 50-70%. With lots of care to make sure parameters match up with such a large change of course, I've seen coral that have slowed in growth start taking off again after a large water change that I haven't been able to replicate any other way. It was easier to do on my 40 and 65 gallon tanks vs my current 300 gallon system though. I've switched to a couple of 30% water changes instead just due to the logistics of matching up 200 gallons of new water to match existing tank water in temp, alk, pH...etc. Still seems to do the trick.

for reference, my normal water change schedule is along the lines of 10% every 4-6 weeks. If I did 30% monthly I may not see such a benefit from a big water change.