Water changes

[The Aquatic Arsenal]

So there are many, many different ways to maintain are aquariums and be successful. There are people that do water changes religiously or when they remember. There are also people that have automated them as well. And of course there are those that do them at all.

What I am curious about though, is those of you that do water changes, and what your methodology is behind why you so them the way that you do.

Do you do them as part of tour routine whether it be weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, etc. Why do you do it this way?

Do you watch your parameters and let the chemistry tell you when to do water changes? Why if you don't mind?

Have you automated this process for a particular reason? Why?

Every salt mix mixes with different parameters that we find ideal or we use it that brand for other reasons, so what works for one person may not work for another. Mainly I am just looking for reasons and methods behind water changes. I think this could bring about some conversations as well.

 

[BloopFish]

I try to do it routinely, but I also go by how the tank looks. If the tank looks not as great as usual, I do a water change. I'm curious to know about the thoughts of people who do automated water changes though.

 

[kados]

I go with the monthly 20% water change using Instant Ocean. I run a FOWLR setup these days so I don't have to be too crazy with monitoring parameters but I like to keep nutrients in check to prevent/minimize nuisance algae breakouts.

 

[Auquanut]

I'm sure this thread will get a lot of traction. @revhtree, why didn't you think of this as the question of the day?
I recently went from a slowly declining regular WC schedule to an AWC system. As my reef has matured, I've noticed that the need for weekly, or even bi-weekly water changes has diminished. By doing small daily water changes, I feel that I can maintain the water quality that I feel comfortable with and reduce the physical labor involved. So far, the response in the tank has been favorable.

One last note. No matter how closely I matched parameters and temp, my corals always seemed unhappy immediately after a manual water change. That is not an issue now.

 

[SPR1968]

I’ve gone to fully automated water changes on both my tanks using Apex DOS and doing small daily changes at around 10% per week. By doing the small changes the water parameters remain stable.

On my S650 which is nearly 4 years old, I did no water changes for 6 months (additives and trace elements were replenished) recently while designing a new system. To be honest, It didn’t look any different and water parameters remained stable primarily due to the bio/mechanical filtration in place to maintain nutrient levels. Water changes have recommenced at 10% per week but I’ll drop to around 5% in a month or so when I’ve caught up so to speak.

I resumed water changes because I believe in the long term it’s required to maintain water quality and a healthy environment for the inhabitants in my care.

For those who haven't tried automated water changes, it’s well worth designing this at the outset if you have room, because it makes the hobby so much easier and enjoyable.

 

[El_Guapo13]

I do a 25% to 33% water change bi-weekly, and a 50% about every 3rd water change. In between water changes, I dose about two to three times a two part dosing solutions. That said, been testing lately as I noticed some of my corals had slown down their growth, and I think I need to start dosing calcium more often, as it was below 320 for a while. Alll other parameters were testing in the appropriate ranges, just calcium was low. Gonna test again tomorrow. Didn't test today because I went Aiptasia murder happy and squirted Aiptasia X on every little $*%^@&@ I could find. So that probably would have changed my calcium readings.

 

[Dempsey941]

So my 40b I do ~10 gallons every week, mostly for replenishing my elements/nutrient export. Now however, I have a dos actively dosing my tank instead of me doing it manually. So once I get my Dos calibrated for my parameter stability I would like to reduce my wcs to every other week or 2x a month, but it all kinda depends on what my nitrates and phosphates are telling me.

 

[X-37B]

I did 3 gallons every week on my 25 nano. Then stopped and dosed 2 part and trace elements for 1.5 years. Now run my 120 currently at 6 months since startup with no water changes. Dosing trace elements daily and now running a Carx. Was dosing 2 part for 6 months.
So far good growth and no issues. Planning to send out icp test soom to see where im at.

 

[Daddy-o]

On my 200 gallon SPS system I do 5 gallons a day. It is a bit of work but I figure it keeps everything a bit more stable. There is no depletion or sudden spikes in major, minor, or trace elements. And for the most part has eliminated my need to test or dose elements but Kalk.
Cheers! Mark

 

[TheOne]

I was performing 20 gallon water changes every other week on my 160g display. Now my Apex DOS does awc at 1 gallon a day. I have noticed a big difference in the overall health of my tank. Before I was basically shocking the system because I wasn't taking the time to match my water change with my tank. Now it's more stable as the 1 gallon a day doesn't have the rapid swings as the 20 gallons did. This has resulted in a major difference.

 

[TheShrimpNibbler]

I usually try to do them every 2 weeks or so. If something in my tank doesn’t look right, I’ll also do a water change. Sometimes if my tank is looking better, I’ll let it go a little longer without a change. I try to never go more than a month without a change though.

 

[ingchr1]

I've been thinking about posting the same type thread. There seams to be no real basis on when to perform a routine water change and how much volume. There's recommendations out there (e.g. 10% weekly) but what is that based off of? Does my water really need to be changed at that frequency and volume? Am I just spending time and resources on something I don't need to? Also water changes are chance to create a stability issue, mistakes happen.

I see the options as:

Time Based - What determines the proper frequency and volume?
Constant - What determines the proper volume? Is this efficient? Is "good" water that we just added being drained off in the process?
Parameter Based - What parameters should it be base off of? Can we test all the parameters that would determine a water change is necessary at home or do we need to send a sample out?
None - Add elements back to water. How do we make sure we are adding all the proper elements back at the proper quantities?

My tank has been fishless for the past three months (had flukes). I just added fish back this week. I haven't done a water change in two months. Had what I'm fairly certain was dinos. Cleared that up. Part of that involved siphoning the water through a filter sock and pumping back to the tank. I siphoned the sand and rocks pretty good on several occasions during this time. My parameters (NO2, NO3, PO4, Alk, Ca, Mg) are all within range. My coral (4 frags soft and LPS) appear to be healthy and growing.

I plan on doing a ~15% water change tomorrow, but I have no real basis other than I feel it's needed since I haven't done one in two months. I have a 7 gallon bucket that I fill to 5 gallons and my tank has 31 gallons of water. So that's what's determining the water change volume.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I changed water at about 1% daily to gently tug everything back to starting levels, whether they are things one might measure (e.g. potassium) or things one cannot (e.g. accumulating organics).

The article below shows exactly what can be accomplished with different size water changes:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-10/rhf/index.php

 

[Phildago]

I try not to. When I do, I do it by look or feel. It's difficult to describe, but I know when it's time to do a change. It usually turns out to be around month or so, but is sometimes significantly shorter than that and sometimes longer. It's very unscientific, but it works.

 

[Crabs McJones]

Routinely. My whole family knows that Sunday is tank day. I start making my water friday night, let it mix all day saturday. And then sunday morning starts the job. Pull old water out, put new water in, replace filter sock, clean skimmer cup, and trim refugium as needed and clean up any salt creep or messes that may have occurred during the week. I haven't missed a sunday in almost 5 years. Still do it old school too with buckets and everything. What i'd really like to do is get plumbing from the basement to the tank upstairs and do water changes that way. Not confident enough to drill through my floors to run the lines though :S
The reason I change weekly (~10%) is to replenish minor and trace elements. I dose BRS 2 part during the week to keep alk and calcium up, and let water changes replace the minor and trace.

 

[mfinn]

I do water changes every 2 weeks.
It's been my weekend/Sunday routine for decades.

 

[ingchr1]

...The reason I change weekly (~10%) is to replenish minor and trace elements. I dose BRS 2 part during the week to keep alk and calcium up, and let water changes replace the minor and trace.

This is the question I have with the time based approach.

Are those minor and trace elements in need of replenishment on a weekly basis and is the 10% water change replenishing them to where they need to be?

Every tank is going to be different and the same tank is going to change over time. Would one have to periodically send out samples for analysis to determine if what they are doing is enough or maybe extend out water change frequency?

 

[Crabs McJones]

This is the question I have with the time based approach.

Are those minor and trace elements in need of replenishment on a weekly basis and is the 10% water change replenishing them to where they need to be?

Every tank is going to be different and the same tank is going to change over time. Would one have to periodically send out samples for analysis to determine if what they are doing is enough or maybe extend out water change frequency?

That is a great question of which the answer I don't exactly know as I don't have a way to test for minor and trace elements. I assume (bad I know) that the elements get replenished to the level they need to be with regular water changes, but i'm not sure. But another big reason I forgot to mention above is the weekly 10% is also for nutrient export to keep nitrate and phosphate down along with a refugium and a skimmer I keep my levels pretty low as my stocking is pretty high.

 

[Huff747]

Both automated and routinely. I have the DOS doing small daily changes and on Sunday I do a slightly larger water change because I vacuum junk out of the sump and sand.

 

[ca1ore]

Automated water changes. I’m all for minimizing the time spent of drudgerous husbandry tasks.