When should I do my first water change and how much?

[Reef Devils]

My tank is 1.5 months old. Got 2 clownfish and that’s it. The tanks is probably clean still but when should I do my water change and how much water do I take out? What do the parameters need to be until I do one?

 

[Reef.]

Water changes are good for a few reasons so even if your nitrate and po5 were low it’s a good idea to do water changes.

I would concentrate on your nitrate to judge when to do a water change, as water changes are probably the best way to lower nitrate.
If you are aiming for nitrates to be lower than 10ppm but they are 20ppm a 50% water change would get you back to 10ppm, obviously you don’t really want to be doing a 50% change as that will affect the tank too much so you could do say 2 or 3 over a few days.

So the short answer is, do a water change when you want to bring your nitrates down

Po4 is not so much affected with water changes, will help but not the best method so just concentrate on nitrates for your water changes

 

[Reef Devils]

Water changes are good for a few reasons so even if your nitrate and po5 were low it’s a good idea to do water changes.

I would concentrate on your nitrate to judge when to do a water change, as water changes are probably the best way to lower nitrate.
If you are aiming for nitrates to be lower than 10ppm but they are 20ppm a 50% water change would get you back to 10ppm, obviously you don’t really want to be doing a 50% change as that will affect the tank too much so you could do say 2 or 3 over a few days.

So the short answer is, do a water change when you want to bring your nitrates down

Po4 is not so much affected with water changes, will help but not the best method so just concentrate on nitrates for your water changes

Ok good to know what should I keep my nitrates? And when they get to 15-20ppm I should do a water change? What is po4 and po5

 

[Dbichler]

Pretty sure po5 was a typo he means phosphates po4. I’ve never had issues with large water changes as long as salinity and ph match.

 

[Reef Devils]

Pretty sure po5 was a typo he means phosphates po4. I’ve never had issues with large water changes as long as salinity and ph match.

Ok so po4 is phosphate what should my phosphates be?

 

[Jjmg]

I do 10% weekly unless my nitrates drop below 5 and then I'll skip a week. I think it's mostly owner preference. I feel the corals react well after I do it. For fish only, I still do the same 19% but I'm not sure it's required, it just makes me feel better.

 

[Reef Devils]

I do 10% weekly unless my nitrates drop below 5 and then I'll skip a week. I think it's mostly owner preference. I feel the corals react well after I do it. For fish only, I still do the same 19% but I'm not sure it's required, it just makes me feel better.

Ok thanks for the help

 

[Dbichler]

Ok so po4 is phosphate what should my phosphates be?

I aim for .05 -.1

 

[douglasbnyhof]

My tank is 1.5 months old. Got 2 clownfish and that’s it. The tanks is probably clean still but when should I do my water change and how much water do I take out? What do the parameters need to be until I do one?

You should have already made a couple water changes by now. You should do a 10% weekly until your ugly stage is complete.

 

[Reef Devils]

You should have already made a couple water changes by now. You should do a 10% weekly until your ugly stage is complete.

But I have no nitrates or phosphate

 

[Supa]

Do it as needed in the beginning… then try to jump on a stable schedule as the tank matures some…. Maybe 10% weekly or 20% bi weekly or something. But mine tends to get too clean if I do WC every week. Cyano may appear if your waters are too clean combined with the new tank.