Water changes...

[JohnAndrr]

Hey!
If I keep only a couple of corals in a nano reef (5 gallons) do I need to do water changes?
I mean if I supplement calcium, alkalinity etc
Thanks in advance.

 

[Dr. Reef Verified Sponsor]

Personally i would rather change water than suppliments. Due to simple fact of nitrates and phos buildup. WC will export all the nasty and most likely keep up with alk and calcium demand.

 

[sweendog87]

+1 also WC will elevate all the other trace and minor elements in a stable manor
And will remove any undesirable elements

I was having trouble with most of my corals all perameters tested perfect and couldn't figure out what was happening a WC helped dramatically and I noticed while doin the water change I had a Rusty nail had fallen in the tank somehow and would never had found it if not for the WC lesson learner

 

[Jesterrace]

Water changes are super crucial on a nano. I would be doing a minimum of a gallon a week on a tank like that.

 

[JonPhillips]

WC

 

[sheepdog76]

Yes I do water changes on all my nano and pico systems. With the smaller volume stuff can build fast and go south on you if you dont keep it straight. Water changes on a 5gal as so small anyway it isn't an issue and if you are using a good reef salt you shouldn't need to dose the tank unless you have some crazy SPS going in it.With that little volume keep in mind It can be very easy to over dose.
What kind of filter are you running?
Are your corals all softies?

 

[Crabs McJones]

I'll add to the above that if you have any chemical warfare going in between corals, wc will help with exporting that as well

 

[tiggs]

In the nano/pico world, water changes are your best friend. Remember, in most cases, we don't have a skimmer (or at least one that does much of anything) or refugium or really any type of other solid nutrient export. Personally, I've always gone the 20% wc weekly + increased biological filtration (I'm big on Prodibio products, so I run the entire reef kit that includes Biodigest/Bioptim). In most cases, you can even avoid dosing if you keep up with the water changes, assuming you have a very light coral bioload.

The best part is with a 5 gallon tank, you can change 1 gallon per week in only a minutes and that would equate to approx 22-25% change of total volume.

 

[sheepdog76]

I'll add to the above that if you have any chemical warfare going in between corals, wc will help with exporting that as well

Yes I do WC in my 15gal because it has multiple Anemones which can cause that very issue