Water Change Frequency / Sand Change / Products

[jharrower]

Hi all, I’ve had two clownfish and a purple dottyback in my 52l fluval Evo for nearly years now. Same sand, live rock and skimmer.

I’m finding it difficult to keep up with the water changes at the moment. Any advice on if I could buy anything or add anything to reduce the frequency needed to change? Maybe replace the live rock, new sand, any product I can add, etc?

Please be constructive, not looking for comments like just give the fish up! Thanks

 

[Tuan’s Reef]

No corals? With a tank that small, water change is probably the easiest and best method.

 

[Rusty_L_Shackleford]

If the tank is doing well i wouldnt rock the boat. Maybe skim a little wetter or run some carbon. I would just try to up the nutrient export a bit. Is a hang on refugium an option?

 

[brandon429]

You need to learn rip cleaning

Reason: after each rip clean, your water change/ glass cleaning/ overall tank work drops any 90% and sustains several months. You're having to change water now due to built up organics and waste. A rip clean cleans your tank bottom to top, exactly like your thread question wants to know:


Read / study

Algae Identification

Any opinions on what type of algae this is growing on my rocks and sand bed?

www.reef2reef.com

Rip cleans aren't harmful or bad, they're all good, and any reef can run them at any time without harm

 

[bakbay]

How about going bare bottom (unless you like the natural look of sand) and avoid all this mess? I started out with different grades of sand. The weekly / monthly stirring & suction of detritus from the sand got old after a few years. Also given the high flow requirements of the reef, I went BB and never looked back!

You can simply but SLOWLY suck out the sand (along with the nasty gunk) between WCs. When I converted mine, I went with 25% removal every 2 weeks. Given the age of your tank, your LR should have cultured enough beneficial bacteria for filtration already.

Good luck! I’m a huge proponent of NO WCs — I just let the LR and skimmer do all the work while dosing the big 3 and trace elements for both my tanks.

 

[Reef.]

You need to learn rip cleaning

Reason: after each rip clean, your water change/ glass cleaning/ overall tank work drops any 90% and sustains several months. You're having to change water now due to built up organics and waste. A rip clean cleans your tank bottom to top, exactly like your thread question wants to know:


Read / study

Algae Identification

Any opinions on what type of algae this is growing on my rocks and sand bed?

www.reef2reef.com

Rip cleans aren't harmful or bad, they're all good, and any reef can run them at any time without harm

Sorry but that is not a solution to the OP’s issue, they don’t want to do water changes, a one off ‘rip clean’ is not an answer to that issue.

 

[ScottJ]

Hi all, I’ve had two clownfish and a purple dottyback in my 52l fluval Evo for nearly years now. Same sand, live rock and skimmer.

I’m finding it difficult to keep up with the water changes at the moment. Any advice on if I could buy anything or add anything to reduce the frequency needed to change? Maybe replace the live rock, new sand, any product I can add, etc?

Please be constructive, not looking for comments like just give the fish up! Thanks

What is your water change schedule? Maybe you could cut it back a bit? If you are having difficulties keeping up, maybe you could recruit some one to give you a hand? Maybe make up a couple weeks worth of saltwater at a time so it's ready to go.

Maybe even an aquarium service? Probably expensive, but with such a small tank, it might not be too bad, depending on how long you need the help.

There are auto water change systems available, but $$$.

 

[Reef.]

Hi all, I’ve had two clownfish and a purple dottyback in my 52l fluval Evo for nearly years now. Same sand, live rock and skimmer.

I’m finding it difficult to keep up with the water changes at the moment. Any advice on if I could buy anything or add anything to reduce the frequency needed to change? Maybe replace the live rock, new sand, any product I can add, etc?

Please be constructive, not looking for comments like just give the fish up! Thanks

why not just change 1-2 litres a day instead? A plastic jug, take 2 jugs out of the tank and replace with 2, you don’t even need to heat the water up, do that every day, takes 1 minute, by the end of the week, you have changed over 25% of the water.

 

[bakbay]

In addition to my 150g cube, my latest RSR250 has not seen a WC in 6+ months and I have no skimmer, no refugium, nothing. Both are bare bottom tanks and thriving with corals, even SPS. I understand that I’m the minority here but NO WC has worked for me over the years. In fact, my old 60g went 6+ years w/o a WC until I upgraded to the 150g.

 

[Reef.]

In addition to my 150g cube, my latest RSR250 has not seen a WC in 6+ months and I have no skimmer, no refugium, nothing. Both are bare bottom tanks and thriving with corals, even SPS. I understand that I’m the minority here but NO WC has worked for me over the years. In fact, my old 60g went 6+ years w/o a WC until I upgraded to the 150g.

250 litres vs 50 litres, so your smallest tank is over 5 times the size of the op’s tank, that probably matters.

If you don’t have a skimmer, refugium etc how do you control nutrients and what lvl nutrients in your 250?

 

[bakbay]

250 litres vs 50 litres, so your smallest tank is over 5 times the size of the op’s tank, that probably matters.

If you don’t have a skimmer, refugium etc how do you control nutrients and what lvl nutrients in your 250?

On that tank, I have 2xMP40s keeping detritus in suspension and ultimately land in the sump. I have filter floss inside the media basket, which I toss out every week / two. Last time I checked, my N was 30 and P was 0.3 with Hanna.

 

[Reef.]

On that tank, I have 2xMP40s keeping detritus in suspension and ultimately land in the sump. I have filter floss inside the media basket, which I toss out every week / two. Last time I checked, my N was 30 and P was 0.3 with Hanna.

Do you mean 0.03 or is it actually 0.3?

 

[bakbay]

Do you mean 0.03 or is it actually 0.3?

You read that right — 0.3! Every 3-6mos, I would use PhosphateRx and knock that down.

 

[bakbay]

You read that right — 0.3! Every 3-6mos, I would use PhosphateRx and knock that down.

Before and after — I did one more dose but forgot to take pics.

 

[jharrower]

Thanks all. Thoughts on replacing the sand with an easier to clean substrate?

 

[ScottJ]

Thanks all. Thoughts on replacing the sand with an easier to clean substrate?

Remove the sand altogether? I don't, but lots of people run bare bottom from what I understand.

 

[Reef.]

Thanks all. Thoughts on replacing the sand with an easier to clean substrate?

I wouldn’t advise it, it’s either sand or nothing, for a nano I would stay with the sand.