Water changes for an 25 gallon system recommendations

[bellasdad0911]

Coming from a larger system of 150 gallons, I have always done a 20% water change weekly to by weekly. Last month I did started the same regimen on my Im marine 25 in doing 5 gallons of water weekly to every 10 days. This however created a negative effect in the tank which my water become sterile or nuitrient deprived and I lost some coral due to this. Zoanthids melted and closed for week and it actually caused my tank to recycle [emoji748]️ in which now in the last 2 week it has taken a turn back to the better after heavy feeding and tlc I now have skimmate production again and colors are all coming back and polyps are open and healthy and on the path of recovery. My only concern is trace element replenishment with water changes. So my question is what does everyone recommend for a water change regime for this type of reef? Is it safe to do 2-3 gallons a week? Could this happen again with just one water change? I am very nervous to do this again.

 

[Best Fish-Jake]

I do weekly 5g water changes on my 30g... tanks had no issues

 

[DLHDesign]

Smaller changes result in less shock. As such, I'd think a plan of smaller, more frequent water changes would be better than larger ones done less frequently. An automated system would be ideal, but failing that option just smaller water changes on a more frequent basis.
Another option (different school of thought) would be to dose in the micro-elements you need and just use water changes as a cleaning method (or not at all).

Whatever you choose, I think the key is stability of desired water parameters - which includes stability during a water change.

Nice looking colonies!

 

[Pongo]

Do you have an ATO you can put kalkwasser in?

You could then watch the Alk, Ca, Mg, Nitrates and PO4.
Maybe do water changes based on the Nitrate level and run a little Phosgard if the PO4 needed attention.

On a small system make small changes to try and keep things stable.
After a while that tank will tell you when to export something with water changes and the kalk should keep the Alk/Ca stable

 

[bellasdad0911]

Ok that is kind of what I was thinking, I am running a aqua maxx hob2 skimmer that rips out crap from the water table. Super dark nasty smelling skin mate and my water is absolutely crystal. I don't have a top off right now but I add about 4-5 gallons of fresh water to it weekly with kalk added to that. So it gets 5 new gallons of water weekly anyways from evaporating. I also run brs phosphate remover and phosguard 24/7 in my chambers.

I ran carbon with my water changes a month ago and I think between the carbon and the fresh water I literally stripped everything out as my skimmer was silent for weeks without skimmate and I only has 2 small clown in it at that point. Now I have many more inhabitants to create poop

 

[esolo16]

I do a one gallon water change each week in my fusion 20 and it seems to be working well (it's also super easy).