When to start performing water changes?

[lsamuel1976]

210 gallon display tank with about 50 gallon sump has been running for about a month now. Got some nuisance green hair algae on rocks and sandbed. Tank has been cycling well, got some happy fish, inverts, and a couple of coral frags (GSP, frogspawn, chalice). I haven't done any water changes yet, per the advice of LFS. I measured the following parameters this morning:

Nitrate: 1.12ppm
Phosphate: .90ppm
Alkalinity: 7.7dKH
Salinity: 1.023

Should I start doing 10-20% water changes now? Or is the tank still too early into the cycling phase? Thanks in advance

 

[lsamuel1976]

So your “cycle” is over when your Ammonia and Nitrites are zero. Your opening post made it sound like the tank was still cycling?

Cycle was complete. There were an acceptable amount of Nitrates when I started with a pair of clowns.

 

[lsamuel1976]

what are you running to reduce phosphate? GFO? Phosguard? Is your skimmer dialed in? With that much bioload and heavy feeding, you need heavy export.

Large water change will reduce phosphate. 10% will do nothing.

I'm not dosing anything yet. I turned the skimmer on for the first time a week ago and seems to be pulling waste fine.

 

[lsamuel1976]

People get hung up on phosphates binding to the rocks and then leaving back out. Yes, they do that, but if you never remove them via water change (or some other method) they will continue to rise.

Thanks!

 

[lsamuel1976]

Your 3 Hanna Checkers are great testers. Do you have some of the lesser/cheaper testers API or Salifert to test your tank while it cycling? If not, I’d head down to your lfs and grab one. Let us know.

My son has a Fluval test kit for ammonia. I just tested and it and ammonia seems fine.

 

[lsamuel1976]

But …. With that many fish . There should be a detectable level of ammonia
Either ammonia hasn’t been tested or faulty test kit

I just tested for ammonia with a Fluval test kit and it seems ok. Close to zero

 

[dwest]

If you have happy fish and corals, the cycle is done and I would do 10% weekly water changes.

 

[Little c big D]

I agree with 10%. I do weekly 10%. I have a week younger tank than you, smaller and less biology but cycled with some fish coral and inverts. I feel the WC helps keep the tank balanced and running smoothly. Routine is key, Also it does help with Po4, 10% doesn't do much however, especially weekly to bring down a high PO4

 

[ninjamyst]

I'm not dosing anything yet. I turned the skimmer on for the first time a week ago and seems to be pulling waste fine.

GFO and phosguard are not something you dose. They are chemical media that you put in your sump to suck up phosphate. You can do some research and see if you want to run them. Do as much research as you can to figure out how to export nutrients out of your tank.

 

[lsamuel1976]

GFO and phosguard are not something you dose. They are chemical media that you put in your sump to suck up phosphate. You can do some research and see if you want to run them. Do as much research as you can to figure out how to export nutrients out of your tank.

Roger that. Thank you!

 

[frizzayyyyreef]

what are you running to reduce phosphate? GFO? Phosguard? Is your skimmer dialed in? With that much bioload and heavy feeding, you need heavy export.

Large water change will reduce phosphate. 10% will do nothing.

what are you running to reduce phosphate? GFO? Phosguard? Is your skimmer dialed in? With that much bioload and heavy feeding, you need heavy export.

Large water change will reduce phosphate. 10% will do nothing.

I always have the skimmer running I think that’s what made my tank survive this long

 

[Gup]

210 gallon display tank with about 50 gallon sump has been running for about a month now. Got some nuisance green hair algae on rocks and sandbed. Tank has been cycling well, got some happy fish, inverts, and a couple of coral frags (GSP, frogspawn, chalice). I haven't done any water changes yet, per the advice of LFS. I measured the following parameters this morning:

Nitrate: 1.12ppm
Phosphate: .90ppm
Alkalinity: 7.7dKH
Salinity: 1.023

Should I start doing 10-20% water changes now? Or is the tank still too early into the cycling phase? Thanks in advance

No ammonia? Must have more to do with the size of your tank and the small amount of livestock.

I do a 20% water change every month. I have a 55 gallon with a 15 gallon sump

 

[Gup]

My son has a Fluval test kit for ammonia. I just tested and it and ammonia seems fine.

And what exactly was your ammonia reading that you consider fine? Just asking....

 

[Appoloreefer]

I have a 125 gallon that has a small foxface, medium lawnmower blenny, three small chromis, two damsels, 5 frags (zoa, DSP, toadstool, pulsing xenia, and red pompom) I was doing water changes every two weeks but when I did I noticed that the corals did not do as well until after about a week, I know soft corals like nutrients and all of my parameters are within good range. There are many stories that people do not do water changes in their tanks unless something starts to go wrong and I tend to agree that is a good thing depending on the corals and bioload you may have. All I have on my tank is a protein skimmer for a 150 gallon. It has about 130 pounds of live rock. The corals are doing fantastic and thriving. I have about 8 snails, 4 hermit crabs, 1 emerald crab and will be adding a pair goldstripe maroon clowns on Friday. the tank has been up and running for 5 months now. After it cycled I did a large water change and then like I said was doing them every two weeks 20%.

 

[Jax15]

It's a lot of fish, no harm from starting small, regular water changes. You need to feed a lot to keep all those chromis' from murdering each other, so keep up with frequent 3x day moderate feedings, and I'd suggest you start with 10% bi weekly water changes to help with nutrient export. I love schooling chromis, but man are they aggressive all together. With my tank I started with six, and they slowly diminished down to one - but that one has remained with me for years, and he's been a model citizen. The alpha!