How often to do a water change
- Thread starter choward1980
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mcarroll
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A Water Change A Day...?
I do that because it's physically much easier and much much quicker in terms of time to do one water change.
I think what everyone has said is true.
A well-balanced tank (which isn't really all that common) may do well without water changes....or very minimal/infrequent ones.
When they are needed, your schedule should be anchored to alkalinity usage or nutrient accumulation - whichever you have more out-of-balance, as indicated by testing.
For example, in a low-bioload stony-coral reef, alkalinity will dictate your water change schedule (and eventually when you need to start dosing). On the other hand, if you don't keep stony corals but can't say no to too-many-fish, then nutrient accumulation will dictate your schedule.
How Much Water To Change?
The first consideration is whether you are keeping stony corals. If you are, I would do water changes no less than weekly. It is unlikely they will ever be very happy with less consistency than that.
After that, the amount of water you change - both frequency and quantity - will initially have to be dictated by results from regular testing.
If the bio-load is well-balanced for the tank and you don't end up with nutrient issues, then alkalinity will be what you watch.
If you do a water change and your target parameter isn't back into the correct range, than you know you need to perform more water changes. That means more frequent water changes, or more quantity per water change, or both! I would do no more than 20% or 30% per day if you can help it. As noted, smaller more frequent water changes might be a lot easier.
Stay on at least a weekly testing/water-changing schedule until you get the tank rolling and you have a better feel for what's needed.
Remember that EASY is important when it comes to water changes, so make sure you do anything you can to make them easy! Spring for an extra pump and long hose ($70 or so), or consider the "crazy" daily water changes schedule (super fast, easy and cheap).....think outside the box. Hard water changes will eventually not be done regularly.
-Matt
I do that because it's physically much easier and much much quicker in terms of time to do one water change.
I think what everyone has said is true.
A well-balanced tank (which isn't really all that common) may do well without water changes....or very minimal/infrequent ones.
When they are needed, your schedule should be anchored to alkalinity usage or nutrient accumulation - whichever you have more out-of-balance, as indicated by testing.
For example, in a low-bioload stony-coral reef, alkalinity will dictate your water change schedule (and eventually when you need to start dosing). On the other hand, if you don't keep stony corals but can't say no to too-many-fish, then nutrient accumulation will dictate your schedule.
How Much Water To Change?
The first consideration is whether you are keeping stony corals. If you are, I would do water changes no less than weekly. It is unlikely they will ever be very happy with less consistency than that.
After that, the amount of water you change - both frequency and quantity - will initially have to be dictated by results from regular testing.
- As a rule of thumb, nitrates are kept <10 ppm.
- As a rule of thumb, phosphates are kept <0.04 ppm.
- As a rule of thumb, alkalinity is kept >7 dKH (aka >3 meq/L; >150 ppm).
If the bio-load is well-balanced for the tank and you don't end up with nutrient issues, then alkalinity will be what you watch.
If you do a water change and your target parameter isn't back into the correct range, than you know you need to perform more water changes. That means more frequent water changes, or more quantity per water change, or both! I would do no more than 20% or 30% per day if you can help it. As noted, smaller more frequent water changes might be a lot easier.
Stay on at least a weekly testing/water-changing schedule until you get the tank rolling and you have a better feel for what's needed.
Remember that EASY is important when it comes to water changes, so make sure you do anything you can to make them easy! Spring for an extra pump and long hose ($70 or so), or consider the "crazy" daily water changes schedule (super fast, easy and cheap).....think outside the box. Hard water changes will eventually not be done regularly.
-Matt
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