to many water changes?

[tokigami]

Hi,

I am using tropic marine salt. and it seems like the more water changes i do the worst the tanks gets.

I have a 360 Gallon system and just did 4 back to back water changes at 50 gallons each.. so I changed 200 gallons in 4 days.

my dts is 0 and i changed all stages of rodi unit before doing this. things seem to look worst.

is it possible that too may water changes is bad?

 

[sghera64]

Hi,

I am using tropic marine salt. and it seems like the more water changes i do the worst the tanks gets.

I have a 360 Gallon system and just did 4 back to back water changes at 50 gallons each.. so I changed 200 gallons in 4 days.

my dts is 0 and i changed all stages of rodi unit before doing this. things seem to look worst.

is it possible that too may water changes is bad?

Yes, it is possible to have a temporary negative symptoms from doing successive large water changes. This is so because you are significantly affecting the system stability. A significant success factor in a reef system is stability.

That said, there are many reasons why one would accept the risk of a short-term impact for longer term benefits of a large water change (e.g. rebalancing minerals and trace elements).

 

[Flippers4pups]

Hi,

I am using tropic marine salt. and it seems like the more water changes i do the worst the tanks gets.

I have a 360 Gallon system and just did 4 back to back water changes at 50 gallons each.. so I changed 200 gallons in 4 days.

my dts is 0 and i changed all stages of rodi unit before doing this. things seem to look worst.

is it possible that too may water changes is bad?

Tell us what's bad. Large water changes can cause pramameters to swing. Yes and no.

 

[tokigami]

i am going through mini tank crash and have no clue why so am doing massive water changes, i checked everything sent a triton and just cant figure out whats going on. i check for rust in every magnet i dunno.

so i just did massive water changes...

 

[sghera64]

i am going through mini tank crash and have no clue why so am doing massive water changes, i checked everything sent a triton and just cant figure out whats going on. i check for rust in every magnet i dunno.

so i just did massive water changes...

So the problems you see came before the water changes and were not caused by them?

If true, maybe you could be more specific about what is crashing. What specific negative observations can you share? Are fish dying, SPS white tips or all white, mucus coming from certain corals, leather corals retracted or shriveling, is nuisance algae taking off? Or other things all together?

 

[theMeat]

Idk if it’s a tropic marine thing, but on one of my large tanks i’v been having that same issue only once I switched to tropics

 

[tokigami]

So the problems you see came before the water changes and were not caused by them?

If true, maybe you could be more specific about what is crashing. What specific negative observations can you share? Are fish dying, SPS white tips or all white, mucus coming from certain corals, leather corals retracted or shriveling, is nuisance algae taking off? Or other things all together?

all sps tank. corals seem to slowly fade and then get the dry look. then no pe then they peel. while others just straight stn over night...

 

[Elegance Coral]

Do you have any pic's of the tank and how the filtration is set up?

 

[Vahanyos]

Have you changed anything recently on the tank? What are your parameters? Were you able to contribute the deaths to any parameter swings?

Too many water changes will cause instability in your parameters but over time they should balance out.... Can't really contribute much without knowing some history and parameters

 

[sghera64]

all sps tank. corals seem to slowly fade and then get the dry look. then no pe then they peel. while others just straight stn over night...

Often in reefs, bad things happen fast and good things happen slow. Doing a major water change was probably a good idea to reset the system. The effects of that will take time. So be patient.

In the mean time, we need to identify root cause. I think answers to some of the questions posted by folks may help.

 

[sghera64]

all sps tank. corals seem to slowly fade and then get the dry look. then no pe then they peel. while others just straight stn over night...

For how long has the deterioration persisted? Past week? Past two weeks? Past month?

 

[tokigami]

guys thanks for the responses.

r..

i did a few things different and they all where done about 45 days ago,, which is when i started seeing problems.

i changed my light cycle for the radion gr4pros from the ab schedule to a more blue schedule and extended the light cycle

i also stopped using flatwarm stop and coral booster after using it for a year. i was doing 1 cap of each per day ( this i think was my biggest problem) but that was 2 months ago

i also dosed some iron to try and get my chaeto to grow and tried dosing coral colors abcd. this is


i test everything weekly

parameters are stable
alk 8.3 test with salifert
mag1480 test with salifert
calc 430 test with salifert
po4.04 test with red sea pro
no3 10ppm test with red sea pro

i changed out all my test kits for new ones to make sure non where bad.

i calibrated my refractormeter and got new calibration fluid

i checked for and dipped corals to check for flatworms. i got a microscope and checked corals for red bucks and no pests where present

i send a triton test the results are attached.

it says it high in chromium and tin. so i got polypads and now running this and doing massive water changes.

changed out 50 gallons every day for last 4 days...

pics of corals attached

 

[sghera64]

guys thanks for the responses.

r..

i did a few things different and they all where done about 45 days ago,, which is when i started seeing problems.

i changed my light cycle for the radion gr4pros from the ab schedule to a more blue schedule and extended the light cycle

i also stopped using flatwarm stop and coral booster after using it for a year. i was doing 1 cap of each per day ( this i think was my biggest problem) but that was 2 months ago

i also dosed some iron to try and get my chaeto to grow and tried dosing coral colors abcd. this is


i test everything weekly

parameters are stable
alk 8.3 test with salifert
mag1480 test with salifert
calc 430 test with salifert
po4.04 test with red sea pro
no3 10ppm test with red sea pro

i changed out all my test kits for new ones to make sure non where bad.

i calibrated my refractormeter and got new calibration fluid

i checked for and dipped corals to check for flatworms. i got a microscope and checked corals for red bucks and no pests where present

i send a triton test the results are attached.

it says it high in chromium and tin. so i got polypads and now running this and doing massive water changes.

changed out 50 gallons every day for last 4 days...

pics of corals attached

That was helpful. I’m betting someone here on R2R will induce a useful theory for you to consider.

Meanwhile, I’d like to ask what corals you have that are still fine or doing well?

 

[tokigami]

That was helpful. I’m betting someone here on R2R will induce a useful theory for you to consider.

Meanwhile, I’d like to ask what corals you have that are still fine or doing well?

most millis are doing great seems like all the rainbow tenuis i have are not doing good at all.

here are some pics of the ones doing great and growing fast

 

[brandon429]

It must be said that water changes may not have caused your harm. Anytime hop on over to nano-reef.com, picos forum, and see all those corals and more in tiny systems that get complete water changes weekly or more. All salt brands

My own reef, probably five thousand 100% changes massive coral loading per gallon same stuff. That sps had absolutely blotted out my whole vase and had to be burned back out with vinegar on a tank drain so I could reclaim the vase for cuts to regrow another decade.

Pouring water on top of the classic hands off sandbed can for sure be implicated in tank losses. But that's not a water change issue imo, but a sandbed philosophy issue. Dips and various stresses I'd rate worse than the change.


That doesn't mean a wc won't combine with other stressors to amplify loss, but given normal params we never see problems in 100% water changes in pico reef corals and these guys like Hart here are doing top shelf electric pinks and reds and blues sps, not mid level stuff. Something to consider.

In our sand rinse thread, lots of tanks did a complete restart on a clean sandbed...all new water, fine. Just giving an alternate take that's all. It adds more causative angles for you to consider beyond the immediate seeming ties

I can understand how formerly steady-state lower alk systems + heavy sps might not like water changes using new mixes that may spike alk, but you are using the same salt right for the changes

If that was my tank the first thing Id do is lower light intensity and ramp back up slow stress= cloudy overcast week in my opinion, to lessen loss

 

[tokigami]

It must be said that water changes may not have caused your harm. Anytime hop on over to nano-reef.com, picos forum, and see all those corals and more in tiny systems that get complete water changes weekly or more. All salt brands

My own reef, probably five thousand 100% changes massive coral loading per gallon same stuff. That sps had absolutely blotted out my whole vase and had to be burned back out with vinegar on a tank drain so I could reclaim the vase for cuts to regrow another decade.

Pouring water on top of the classic hands off sandbed can for sure be implicated in tank losses. But that's not a water change issue imo, but a sandbed philosophy issue. Dips and various stresses I'd rate worse than the change.


That doesn't mean a wc won't combine with other stressors to amplify loss, but given normal params we never see problems in 100% water changes in pico reef corals and these guys like Hart here are doing top shelf electric pinks and reds and blues sps, not mid level stuff. Something to consider.

In our sand rinse thread, lots of tanks did a complete restart on a clean sandbed...all new water, fine. Just giving an alternate take that's all. It adds more causative angles for you to consider beyond the immediate seeming ties

I can understand how formerly steady-state lower alk systems + heavy sps might not like water changes using new mixes that may spike alk, but you are using the same salt right for the changes

If that was my tank the first thing Id do is lower light intensity and ramp back up slow stress= cloudy overcast week in my opinion, to lessen loss

Thank you for this. I didn't know the pico guys do 100 percent water change. I'll read up

 

[brandon429]

https://reefbuilders.com/2013/05/21/fix-fish-tank-reef-aquarium-problems-95-water/


That's just to show a perspective for large tanks that use big changes, he was using natural reef water. Lots of our crews that do them simply age and mix the change water before use...in brute trash cans etc

 

[MJNTWise]

How much are you feeding? Maybe to low of nutrients ?

 

[najer]

I would stop doing big water changes and go back to your normal routine, you need to find the source of the metals, check all magnets and pumps for corrosion, check in case you accidentally dropped anything metal in, just IMO.