water changes necessary?

shogun1964 · Jul 22, 2017

I have a 60 gallon tank with only 2 fish and a CUC, no corals as of yet. All of my test read good excruciating my calcium is a little high. Do I need to make weekly water changes?

shogun1964 · Jul 22, 2017

I meant except

Lawlboom · Jul 22, 2017

Could you elaborate more on the setup? What is your equipment and filtration like? What are your nitrates? What is your Alkalinity? "All of my test read good" doesn't offer much info.

shogun1964 · Jul 22, 2017

Nitrates are 0, All is 8. I have about 60 pounds of live rock, 4 power heads and a canister filter, no protein skimmer.

shogun1964 · Jul 22, 2017

Alk is 8

Lawlboom · Jul 22, 2017

shogun1964 said:
Nitrates are 0, All is 8. I have about 60 pounds of live rock, 4 power heads and a canister filter, no protein skimmer.

Those levels look good to me. I don't do a WC on my tank until my nitrates bump over 1ppm or my Alk drops below 10. I have corals though.

shogun1964 · Jul 23, 2017

So it's a waste of time and salt when my water is that clean? I heard that you need 5ppm nitrates when you have corals, how do you raise it?

Lawlboom · Jul 23, 2017

shogun1964 said:
So it's a waste of time and salt when my water is that clean? I heard that you need 5ppm nitrates when you have corals, how do you raise it?

I wouldn't say a waste but probably not necessary at this moment. That is a very broad question. That depends on what type of corals you will keep. I'm a little too new to advise you on where you nitrate levels should be. I am still learning about that myself.

Reefrookie220 · Jul 23, 2017

Give it time, that canister filter will give you plenty of nitrates if you don't clean it and do water changes lol

shogun1964 · Jul 23, 2017

I heard that also

GoVols · Jul 23, 2017

shogun1964 said:
I heard that also

Shotgun,

If you don't mind.

How long has your tank been running and what does your ammonia and nitrates test to?
If your still cycling then I would not do a water change.
It would only slow down the cycle.

Long term you will be making water changes unless you go with something like "The Triton Method".

Regards, GoVols

shogun1964 · Jul 23, 2017

It's been up about 6 months, ammonia is0, nitrates is 0. Alk is 12, Calcium is 520, Ph is 8.2, Phosphate is .03, Silicate is 0. But I have the worst algae outbreak

Reefrookie220 · Jul 23, 2017

Can you shoot is some pics? Help us get an Id I the algae and we can help further

DSC reef · Jul 23, 2017

With no water changes how did your alk shoot up to 12 from 8? Water changes are good for many things and with a canister filter I believe it will become a necessity in the future.

shogun1964 · Jul 23, 2017

I did a 20% water change last Sunday, the algae is about 1/4" thick

DSC reef · Jul 23, 2017

Honestly, with a canister filter and no skimmer it's gonna be a lot of maintenance for proper nutrient export. Your tank is young and they all go through the ugly stage.