Water changes?

[jerky48183]

I have been doing fresh water tanks since I was a kid and always wanted a salt one. Well about 5 monthes ago I took the plunge
and like everyone else here im addicted to it. At first I was doing 5 percent water changes about every 2 weeks as my tank got fuller I started doing them every week. I have a 54 gallon bow shaped corner tank with 5 fish a bunch of crabs, snails ,a couple of cleaner shirmp and about 4 pieces of coral. I have 70 lbs of live rock and also have live sand im running a wet dry sump with a protien skimmer and a turbo uv sterilizer light. Being new to the hobby im not sure how often is to much or to little. Like everyone else here I have alot of money invested (worth every penny) just want to make sure im doing things right so all my tank mates are happy and healthy.

 

[wysiwyg]

when i first started i was doing 10% weekly changes i know do 20% changes every other week

 

[SeahorseKeeper]

when i first started i was doing 10% weekly changes i know do 20% changes every other week

This is exactly what I do. Every so often, I up the percent to 40 if my corals aren't looking too happy. It has been working well for me.

 

[caudill187]

+1 20% every two weeks. This is my goal but I fall short at times

 

[BarbH]

I have been doing 15-20% waterchange biweekly.

 

[jerky48183]

Ok after doing some math I do 10 percent a week my last tank was 100 gallon and forgot 5 gallons is ten percent in a 54 gallon tank. Thanks for the advice I think I'm on the right path.

 

[BarbH]

Missed it earlier but welcome to r2r :welcome:

 

[jerky48183]

Thanks barbh I checked your link out your tank looks real nice a little bigger than mine. My bow shaped only has 3 pieces of glass I have a 100 gallon tank with stand and everything someone would need for a fresh water one in storage right now. After moving into my condo I missed having a tank and got mine it's amazing how a different shape takes up so much less space. I went threw some hiccups too when I got mine I put together my wet dry sump wrong and it over flowed lol. But once the mistakes are corrected man it makes a room look great. Being a fresh water guy for years it's big difference going to salt and way better.

 

[BarbH]

Thanks barbh I checked your link out your tank looks real nice a little bigger than mine. My bow shaped only has 3 pieces of glass I have a 100 gallon tank with stand and everything someone would need for a fresh water one in storage right now. After moving into my condo I missed having a tank and got mine it's amazing how a different shape takes up so much less space. I went threw some hiccups too when I got mine I put together my wet dry sump wrong and it over flowed lol. But once the mistakes are corrected man it makes a room look great. Being a fresh water guy for years it's big difference going to salt and way better.

I am a freshwater convert myself, just starting with the saltwater side of things looking foward to adding my first corals hopefully by the end of the summer. It is funny how a different shaped tank can seem to take room up differently, with my bowfront even with it being 4 feet long it does not seem to be as long as my 50 gal long that I had been running as a freshwater. Would love to see pictures of your tank if you have any

 

[jerky48183]

I'll add some pics soon what kind of fish do you have so far? I have a clown who is a clown real strange he cracks me up finds water flowing and rides it. I have a damsel who was a jerk untill I got bigger ones I have a coral beauty angel also. But my favorite fish are my scooter who reminds me of a dog, my spoted cardinal who is so ugly and slow and my yellow tang who bosses around the tank.

 

[BarbH]

I'll add some pics soon what kind of fish do you have so far? I have a clown who is a clown real strange he cracks me up finds water flowing and rides it. I have a damsel who was a jerk untill I got bigger ones I have a coral beauty angel also. But my favorite fish are my scooter who reminds me of a dog, my spoted cardinal who is so ugly and slow and my yellow tang who bosses around the tank.

Currently I have a trio of Blue Green Chromis and a pair of Clarkii Clowns. Been going slow on adding things, currently working on building up my pod population and thinking of making some changes to my setup, eventually I want to add a Mandarian Dragonet. Also thinking of doing a Kole Tang and a dwarf angel. It has defintly been a slow build but trying to make sure I do things right.

 

[jerky48183]

I would love to get a mandarin dragonet they are so pretty I added copapods to mine about a month ago plus when I got my live rock when I brought it home in a cooler I had a lot there. But I'm afraid if I got one it wouldn't do good my fish are always eating things from the sand and rock so I probly would have enough for one. But being new Im sticking to easier stuff im going slow too.

 

[Mr. D]

Hi Jerkass48183,

Ha, a bit funny typing out your name.

I'm new to the forum, but have been maintaining s.w. aquariums for ~6 or 7 years now.

From what I have read about your tank, you should be perfectly fine, if not better than most in the way of set up. You have more live rock than is usually recommended which is always a good thing, a wet dry filtration etc. Your tank will be easy to maintain with everything you have.

To comment on water changes...that seems to be a matter of opinion with every hobbyist. Some believe that changing the water out with new water goes against natures way, and instead one should just add what evaporates with fresh water and dose the tank with the minerals that it needs as the corals use them up. I tend to agree with this, but I don't like dosing my tank all the time and my 12 gallon nano does great. That being said, doing water changes is the easy way to replenish what is needed for corals to survive for the majority...your live rock and other filtration should be keeping all other levels well below radar. In my opinion, once a week is too quick for a water change. Perhaps biweekly or once a month would be better depending on how quickly your corals use.

Since you don't have a lot of corals right now (and I'm assuming they're of the type that are easier to care for) the mineral levels won't be something you have to worry about for a while. So doing a water change twice a month to perhaps once a month should not hurt anything-again, in my opinion and in my experience. biweekly changes-15-20% and monthly-35-40% water changes.

The only other comment I have is on the UV sterilizer. I think that is best used depending on the types of corals you want to keep (i.e. corals that need/just like nutrient deplete water or softies which like "dirty" water). I choose to do softies and easier-to-maintain corals myself. The once a month water changes and no UV cause my zoas, candy canes etc. to grow really well compared to when I did weekly/bi weekly water changes.

You're set up is great. You seem to have more than what it needed for that size tank, which is what's recommended for s.w., so in the long run your fish and corals will be happy.

On the UV stuff above, there are many other people who are much more knowledgable than I am on that subject. That is what I have learned through various questions etc.

Hope that helps, and please correct me if someone sees something that is incorrect.

 

[jerky48183]

Thanks mr.d for the advice right now I'm just doing soft corals still learning so I choose to get fish and corals that are easier to take care of. Right now doing it once a week every time I test my water the ph, ammonia and nitrates always seem to test perfect. My biggest concern doing water changes is it seems to stress everyone out my corals close up and my fish seem stressed. I did one last night and accidentally killed a cleaner shrimp moved a rock he must have been under. I would like to keep my out out of the tank as much as possible so that way I'm not freaking every body out. I'm gonna start cutting it down and see how that works out with the water test and just watching the corals.im gonna start doing a bi weekly change at first and if everything still is going good maybe try a once a month thing. I haven't had to dose the tank yet other then phytoplankton and some reef builder stuff for calcium I really don't want to play with ph or iddine.

 

[Mr. D]

That sounds like a good plan. Trying out a biweekly change schedule won't hurt anything right off the bat, but it will be good to keep up with your testing for a bit.

 

[dirtysumpguy]

I don't really do consistent water changes - I stopped about 3 years after I started up the hobby. I may do 20% quarterly if that. I do skim heavy and always had a sump full of macro algaes, but thats about it

 

[Ace25]

As for water changes, I agree with the rest, 10-20% every week or every other week.

As for the Mandarin, I would never recommend or attempt (another) one myself until more is known about them, and I like challenging fish. My opinion, we don't know enough about them to give them the proper diet required for long term survival. Mine lasted 13 months, ate everything, thought it was going to be a long term fish, then all of the sudden one day it stopped eating and 3 days later it was dead. I have heard the same story from others countless times. We know they eat pods, and they will eat 1 pod every 5 seconds if given the chance, but I think there is also another critical piece to their diet that we haven't figured out yet. I can count on one hand the amount of success stories (lived longer than 2 years) and in the wild they can live over 10 years. So in my book, it is even questionable to be called an "expert" fish, certainly not a beginner fish.

If you only have soft corals there should be no need to dose calcium. Water changes will be more than enough. Alkalinity is something you may have to dose, but if you do it will be a very small amount, just a few milliliters. I don't think there is a need to dose Phytoplankton either. Soft corals normally won't eat it, it is mainly a clam food. Corals need food that is slightly bigger on the food scale, like rotifers, pods, etc. Corals are meat eaters primarily.

 

[Mr. D]

I can attest to Ace25's response about green madarins. I used to work for a place that would get shipments of them in 5-6 at a time. We could get them to eat a variety of foods, but they were very unpredictable and would die suddenly and without notice.

They are best left to very large and extremely well established systems.

 

[strange33w]

I do about 15-20% water change bi weakly but may cut that down once I start dosing more.