Water changes/additives

[byronious]

Some info first might help. 125 g. with 15 g in sump 7 soft corals. 1 LPS (Giant Green Polyp Duncan) plus some mushrooms on two pieces of live rock.

1 small Clown
2 Coral Beauty Angelfish
1 Pajama Cardinal
3 Blue Green Chromis
2 Yellowtail Damsels

5 Peppermint shrimp
Various snails & small hermits
1 short-spined urchin

Now my questions

LFS sold me two additives
Aquavitro's Reef Fuel
PhtyoFeast
I use these the Reef Fuel only once/week at 1/2 dose
I use the Phtyofeast at 1/4 dose twice a week.
Comments?

Water change. Is 30gal /week too much. I use Reef Crystals

 

[Dowtish]

I'm not sure what the question is about the additives. But as far as changing 30 gallons a week, I dont really see any harm in it at all, as long as the water is set to the same temp as the tank when you change it.

 

[Trex]

What is the purpose of adding those additives? From the information given, I can't see one.

Are you comfortable doing 30 gallons a week? Or is it becoming a chore? All 3 of my tanks get 5 gallons per week -- sure the 40 getting a bigger percentage change compared to the 75, but it is a manageable amount so I stay on top of it.

With what you have in your tank, I don't see the need for 30 gallons per week, but I don't see it causing any harm either, so if you are happy with the results, stick with it.

 

[Downbeach]

Are you using a skimmer? Are you changing that much water due to high nutrient issues? I think I'd do smaller, or less frequent changes, i.e. 15 gal. week or 30 gal. every other week.

 

[byronious]

The 30 gallons/week is a easy for me to do. I have a cheap Instant Ocean 150g skimmer. It produces some pretty dark stuff. Just not sure it's getting enough stuff out. Feel like good size WC would help.

Leaning towards stopping the PhytoFeast. Seems like it is just liquefied algae to me. Will say I am very pleased with the appearance of all my corals. With the excetion of my Yellow Toadstool Leather. It won't open ever since I got it. Not sure it's going to make it. :sad:

 

[Kano]

Dosing the food probably isn't needed. If everything looks fine it's not hurting it at least. I do 10-20% wc weekly on both of my tanks. You could try doing a smaller WC and see if you notice any difference. Save some time and $$ if you can do it either less often or smaller amounts. I've heard that the yellow toadstool leathers are a high light leather. I've seen them kept on the sandbed as well but try moving it around in your tank. Another option is that leathers sometimes close up for 1-6 weeks and then shed their skin, so yours might just be getting ready to shed. You can check the flesh for damage (which could be caused by leather eating nudis. They will typically discolor the flesh or eat a hole in it and blend in with the hole they made. A light toothbrushing should knock them off. Sounds like your tank is doing well and don't worry too much about the leather but keep an eye on it. I recently had my cabbage leather close up and look pretty bad for almost a month and a half or so and now it looks fine after shedding.

 

[azjohnny]

IMO the 25% weekly WCs the OP is doing is excessive, if you have to do that much in order to keep nitrates in check you have issues elsewhere. I will do about 15-20% every 3-4 weeks. I stop the return pump, let the water drain in the sump and change out the water that is in the sump. This stresses out the inhabitants the least