Water Changes

[njreejer]

So I have a 90 gallon tank & I’m going to be adding bio spira bacteria to it to get it cycled & then I’ll be adding two clownfish. I will have this relatively low bio load for a while. Might add a few corals but not too many as of now especially cause I’m just starting out. I bought the autoaqua auto water change + top off & I was wondering how many gallons I should setup for daily water changes? In regards to my filtration I have a 20gal sump with chaeto & a skimmer, 80lbs of dry rock that will eventually turn to live rock & 60lbs of sand (40lbs dry & 20lbs live). I read online a good recommendation would be 5% daily water change which would be 35% per week (31.5 gallons). Is that a good recommendation for me or would I be fine doing less & if so how much?

 

[Spare time]

If your skimmer is good and you have a good refugium light, you don't need to do a water change as long as your nitrate and phosphate are not high and you run carbon. You can replenish elements with additives which is much more cost effective. I have done I think 3 water changes on my 75 and those were only because my macroalgae died from a lack of trace elements (I was not dosing trace elements enough) and the other time from when some bad food was fed and fish got sick and died.

 

[Dr. Phil]

I would recommend making sure that your tank is fully cycled before adding fish or corals.

Info on best practices for that can be found here:

Cycling an Aquarium

Cycling a new aquarium. One of the earliest topics a new aquarium hobbyist needs to learn is how to properly cycle their aquarium. There is a ton of information on this process and many different methods on how to accomplish it. There are many different chemical and biological cycles our tank...

www.reef2reef.com

Best of luck!

 

[njreejer]

If your skimmer is good and you have a good refugium light, you don't need to do a water change as long as your nitrate and phosphate are not high and you run carbon. You can replenish elements with additives which is much more cost effective. I have done I think 3 water changes on my 75 and those were only because my macroalgae died from a lack of trace elements (I was not dosing trace elements enough) and the other time from when some bad food was fed and fish got sick and died.

I have an eshopps psk150 that’s rated for 100-150 gallons & a decent Amazon refugium light. I was thinking that using the AWC setup would be less of a hassle. I’m not really familiar with dosing trace elements & get a little overwhelmed with questions while thinking about it as I’m new to the hobby. Like to begin a few questions that pop up in my head are:
Which trace elements would I have to dose?
What do I dose them based upon?
How often would I need to check the levels?
What levels are the elements supposed to be at?
Would I be better off returning the AWC & going this route?
Also you said I’d have to run carbon. I’m not really familiar with anything regarding that either.
This hobby is too overwhelming lol

 

[njreejer]

I would recommend making sure that your tank is fully cycled before adding fish or corals.

Info on best practices for that can be found here:

Cycling an Aquarium

Cycling a new aquarium. One of the earliest topics a new aquarium hobbyist needs to learn is how to properly cycle their aquarium. There is a ton of information on this process and many different methods on how to accomplish it. There are many different chemical and biological cycles our tank...

www.reef2reef.com

Best of luck!

LFS said it shouldn’t be a problem adding 2 clowns in a 90 gal after adding bio spira because the bio load is very low. I won’t be adding corals for months except maybe zoas and/or some softies in a month or two. Gonna wait a while before adding any LPS or SPS

& thank you !

 

[Dr. Phil]

LFS said it shouldn’t be a problem adding 2 clowns in a 90 gal after adding bio spira because the bio load is very low. I won’t be adding corals for months except maybe zoas and/or some softies in a month or two. Gonna wait a while before adding any LPS or SPS

& thank you !

A fishless cycle will give you better results in the long run (speaking from experience). It is also less stressful for the fish.

 

[SPR1968]

As a basic guide, you should be doing water changes of around 10% in total per week, so just divide that into daily amounts if that’s what your doing.

The reason for 10% is that it will have little effect on the water chemistry in the tank, and the most important part of running an aquarium is stability of the water parameters.

But before you start doing this, I would let the tank settle. I didn’t start water changes until my new ‘big’ system was around 3 months old, but I was monitoring parameters

 

[K7BMG]

You need to cycle your tank before adding any livestock.
Oh and
You need to cycle your tank before adding any livestock.

Add your Biospira and a dead shrimp from the grocery store.
Read the threads here on reef2reef about the nitrogen cycle and fishless cycle and learn the right humane way.

 

[Copingwithpods]

I have an eshopps psk150 that’s rated for 100-150 gallons & a decent Amazon refugium light. I was thinking that using the AWC setup would be less of a hassle. I’m not really familiar with dosing trace elements & get a little overwhelmed with questions while thinking about it as I’m new to the hobby. Like to begin a few questions that pop up in my head are:
Which trace elements would I have to dose?
What do I dose them based upon?
How often would I need to check the levels?
What levels are the elements supposed to be at?
Would I be better off returning the AWC & going this route?
Also you said I’d have to run carbon. I’m not really familiar with anything regarding that either.
This hobby is too overwhelming lol

Forget about all that dosing stuff you can ease into it later. For now focus on getting the tank cycled, buying fishes and a cleanup crew and preparing for the ugly stages.

 

[Spare time]

I have an eshopps psk150 that’s rated for 100-150 gallons & a decent Amazon refugium light. I was thinking that using the AWC setup would be less of a hassle. I’m not really familiar with dosing trace elements & get a little overwhelmed with questions while thinking about it as I’m new to the hobby. Like to begin a few questions that pop up in my head are:
Which trace elements would I have to dose?
What do I dose them based upon?
How often would I need to check the levels?
What levels are the elements supposed to be at?
Would I be better off returning the AWC & going this route?
Also you said I’d have to run carbon. I’m not really familiar with anything regarding that either.
This hobby is too overwhelming lol

You don't need to worry about dosing now.

The elements won't matter till you get corals (particularly stony corals) (although macro algae will take some an its a good idea to dose if you don't do water changes like me). There are tons of brands with the major and minor elements in their series. Red sea has you dose 1ml per 10ml of calcium (just an example).

Also, carbon just takes out things in the water that build up over time (which could make the water look dirty and such). You just put it in a bag (after rinsing it) and put it in an area of flow in the sump. Most people will have some sort of carbon to keep their water looking clean and to adsorb unwanted things.


I highly recommend watching bulk reef supply 5 minute guides on setting up a tank. They are great

 

[zoomonster]

LFS said it shouldn’t be a problem adding 2 clowns in a 90 gal after adding bio spira because the bio load is very low. I won’t be adding corals for months except maybe zoas and/or some softies in a month or two. Gonna wait a while before adding any LPS or SPS

& thank you !

Your LFS is full of crap... wait at least a couple weeks for the tank to cycle and for the brown algae that will grow to turn green. Even things like biospira, Dr Tims etc take time to work. Thats all assuming you have suitable rock and/or substrate for the bacteria to populate and start working. Your LFS just wants to sell you more fish when those die. Patience will pay off...

 

[LiveWire]

@njreejer In theory you could dose BioSpira heavily (2-3 times the recommended) and add two clowns to a 90 and most likely they would be fine. But with that being said I'm sure it would stress them and that alone would cause them to most likely cause them issues down the road with possible diseases or parasite and could even take time off of their lives. And hurrying will only cause algae blooms and such down the road.

Your best bet is to cycle tank fish less and let things take their time. You don't need to skim, change water, add things, or anything else besides testing your ammonia, nitrite and then nitrate and keep topping off the water that evaporates each day. Taking your time and being patient in this hobby is the key to success. So I would recommend doing just that. Sit back, take your time, and enjoy it. You will be glad you did in the long run.

 

[Spare time]

Just put some pellets in or something after adding bio spira and wait to add the clowns once you detect 0 ammonia.

 

[Lucas815]

I'm pretty new as well, dont even have a tank yet, but I've read a lot about water changes, and seems like 10% per week should be the target. Smaller, more frequent water changes is better.

Let us know about the AutoAqua smart AWC, it's on my purchase list !

 

[njreejer]

I had done my research & came to the same conclusion as you guys and was planning on ghost feeding after adding the bio spira. My LFS basically told me that’s a dumb idea & I can just add the clowns without any harm. Guess I can’t trust my LFS lol

 

[njreejer]

@njreejer In theory you could dose BioSpira heavily (2-3 times the recommended) and add two clowns to a 90 and most likely they would be fine. But with that being said I'm sure it would stress them and that alone would cause them to most likely cause them issues down the road with possible diseases or parasite and could even take time off of their lives. And hurrying will only cause algae blooms and such down the road.

Your best bet is to cycle tank fish less and let things take their time. You don't need to skim, change water, add things, or anything else besides testing your ammonia, nitrite and then nitrate and keep topping off the water that evaporates each day. Taking your time and being patient in this hobby is the key to success. So I would recommend doing just that. Sit back, take your time, and enjoy it. You will be glad you did in the long run.

I’m just going to ghost feed the bio spira instead of putting in live fish
When do I begin skimming & doing water changes?