Seeking Water Change Opinions (for article)

[PDR]

1) How much do you change? - 2% Total water volume - 1.5 gallons

2) How often? - Daily

3) What do you recommend for beginners new to reefkeeping? - 10% weekly is a great place to start.

4) Tell me how much experience you have with SW? - 4 years

5) Do you have a different opinion depending on size of tank? - Yes, if dealing with a smaller tank (20 gallons or less), I would do 10-15% weekly water changes. For larger aquariums (up to 200~ gallons), I prefer the smaller daily method. Larger than that and I would consider a method that reduces the need for regular water changes.

6) Do you heat the new water before adding it? - No, but I would if I were changing out more than 5% or if the temp was drastically different.

 

[Seawitch]

Thank you @PDR

 

[Seawitch]

To any of or all those who answered my questions here, could you please post here a nice photo of your tank?

 

[PDR]

Not the best pic but the most recent.

 

[Seawitch]

Not the best pic but the most recent.

Great pic! Will definitely use it before long.

 

[Crabs McJones]

 

[Salty Lemon]

1) How much do you change?
10-20%

2) How often?
On my 60 gal, I try weekly but it is generally about three times a month. I'm cycling my 210 gal right now. I'll still do frequent water changes, but I'm uncertain about how much or how often right now.

3) What do you recommend for beginners new to reefkeeping?
Read...a lot. After you get advice from your lfs or someone on R2R , look up the information from a reputable source and find out if their advice holds water (so-to-speak). I have felt like a fool when I have done or said something someone had told me to do with my tank only to find out that it was bad advice or misinformation. I'm relatively new to this -- so I trust that people with more experience than myself will give me the correct information. This isn't always so. People don't do this intentionally, it is just the way it works sometimes.

4) Tell me how much experience you have with SW?
Reef tanks in the nineties -- about two years
Reef tanks now -- about a year and a half.

5) Do you have a different opinion depending on size of tank?
Not really -- smaller tanks are easier to clean but larger tanks will take longer to crash.

6) Do you heat the new water before adding it?
Yes...but I just pour some RO water into a pot, heat it up on the stove and then pour it in the room-temperature water bucket until it gets close to the right temperature. I'm not claiming it is the best way -- but that is what I do.

 

[Hemmdog]

I like this daily thing I could do that. I always put off my monthly water change because I hate getting all the stuff out and mixing and it takes all afternoon. 1.5 gallons is so easy you don’t even need to turn your return off lol. Have you had good luck with this? What type of coral do you keep?

1) How much do you change? - 2% Total water volume - 1.5 gallons

2) How often? - Daily

3) What do you recommend for beginners new to reefkeeping? - 10% weekly is a great place to start.

4) Tell me how much experience you have with SW? - 4 years

5) Do you have a different opinion depending on size of tank? - Yes, if dealing with a smaller tank (20 gallons or less), I would do 10-15% weekly water changes. For larger aquariums (up to 200~ gallons), I prefer the smaller daily method. Larger than that and I would consider a method that reduces the need for regular water changes.

6) Do you heat the new water before adding it? - No, but I would if I were changing out more than 5% or if the temp was drastically different.

 

[Paul B]

I think a Noob tank should have more water changes than an old tank just because it takes a long time, maybe years for the bacteria to settle down and do what we pay them to do. In the beginning different strains of bacteria keep dominating which causes the problems with algae, ammonia, cyano etc.

As a tank matures, I feel less water changes are needed depending on what you are keeping. A tank full of moray eels, puffers and lionfish would require much more water changes only because the bacteria will not be able to keep up with the wastes. But a mainly coral tank with smaller fish needs and should have much less water changes. Changing to much water is IMO detrimental to coral tanks. Did you ever see a new tank with all new water look healthy? No you haven't. Fish and corals do not like new water unless it is NSW. Remember ASW is good, but it is still "Fake salt water".
Real seawater has things in there from dissolved metals, meteorites, land run off, and probably soap from Columbus wash water. These things may not be healthful but fish evolved in it.

I personally change about 20% every few months and maybe 100 gallons a year in my 125 gallon 47 year old reef. Now as of the last five months I use NSW but for most of the life of the tank it was mostly ASW.

I test the salinity and temperature before I use any water.

 

[PDR]

I like this daily thing I could do that. I always put off my monthly water change because I hate getting all the stuff out and mixing and it takes all afternoon. 1.5 gallons is so easy you don’t even need to turn your return off lol. Have you had good luck with this? What type of coral do you keep?

You're right, it has been a lot easier to be consistent with than biweekly or monthly changes. You also don't need to heat or circulate the water after initial mixing. There are a handful of salts that should not be used this way (reef crystals and any probiotic salt comes to mind), so just be aware of that.

I have kept primarily soft coral in the past, but have recently expanded to more lps, and as of a few weeks ago sps. Everything seems to be doing well except some of the sps, which is due to other reasons.

 

[Hemmdog]

You're right, it has been a lot easier to be consistent with than biweekly or monthly changes. You also don't need to heat or circulate the water after initial mixing. There are a handful of salts that should not be used this way (reef crystals and any probiotic salt comes to mind), so just be aware of that.

I have kept primarily soft coral in the past, but have recently expanded to more lps, and as of a few weeks ago sps. Everything seems to be doing well.

Sweet, I use Red Sea coral pro

 

[Jdavison911]

1) How much do you change? 10% on 600 gallon system
2) How often? Weekly
3) What do you recommend for beginners new to reefkeeping? Establish good habits early in. Get use to testing, water changes ect and stay to it.
4) Tell me how much experience you have with SW? 10 plus years
5) Do you have a different opinion depending on size of tank? Not really. Smaller tanks are a little more of a challenge but less expensive to maintain. Larger tanks are a little more forgiving but way more expensive if something goes wrong.
6) Do you heat the new water before adding it? I don't. Reason being is I use a Mag 18 for mixing and it heats the water up to around 75 degrees and will not change my system temp by a tenth of a degree when doing the water change because of volume.

 

[Firemanreefkeeper]

75 gallon. 25 gallon sump.
1 and 2. I do a 5 gallon water change every 3 days because of how my work schedule is.
3. At least 10% a week to get a new reefer into a good habit of doing them since early on things can go south quickly if goods habits are not followed.
4. I've been in for 2 years. 1 year with this current tank.
5. Smaller tanks might need a bigger change since they have less volume and more elements can be depleted faster.
6. I live in a warm climate so I don't heat my water. I circulate my water for 6 hours or more before I do my water change to make sure it is well mixed and the heat from the pump usually brings the water up to temp.

 

[beaslbob]

For a beginner article, tell me what your opinions are about changing water:

1) How much do you change?

0%--no water changes

2) How often?

all the time. 0 water changes

3) What do you recommend for beginners new to reefkeeping?

starting the tank with macro algaes to balance out and stabilize the system so water changes are unnecessary. Best to use a refugium to protect the macros but that can just be a simple in tank partition.

4) Tell me how much experience you have with SW?

15-20 years with individual tanks running for 5-7 yes.

5) Do you have a different opinion depending on size of tank?

biggest you can afforc and have the space for.

6) Do you heat the new water before adding it?

no

Thank you

Welcome

and just my .02

 

[beaslbob]

double post.

 

[dwest]

For a beginner article, tell me what your opinions are about changing water:

1) How much do you change?

2) How often?

3) What do you recommend for beginners new to reefkeeping?

4) Tell me how much experience you have with SW?

5) Do you have a different opinion depending on size of tank?

6) Do you heat the new water before adding it?

Thank you

1. 1% daily, 1.8 gallons per day.
2. See above
3. 10% per week
4. 25 years
5. No
6. No

 

[Orko]

I have a 120 gallon display tank and a30 gallon sump I change 5 gallons every 2 weeks
U use RO water let it breath for a few days with a pump blowing air in it them mix in required salt then let it mix for a few more days.
Heating the water to the display tank temp is a good idea
Make sure the salinity is the same as your display tank.
Yes larger size larger water change however u do not want to do one so big it disrupts the ecosystem in the tank.
I have over 30 years with experience with marine aquariums.

 

[Rcpilot]

For a beginner article, tell me what your opinions are about changing water:

1) How much do you change?

2) How often?

3) What do you recommend for beginners new to reefkeeping?

4) Tell me how much experience you have with SW?

5) Do you have a different opinion depending on size of tank?

6) Do you heat the new water before adding it?

Thank you

1) How much do you change? Really depends on the type of saltwater system. Is it FOWLR or Mixed Reef or FO? For a mixed reef, I'm comfortable with 10-15% of system volume, for routine maintenance.



2) How often? Every 7--14 days, depending on how I'm reading the tank at that time.

3) What do you recommend for beginners new to reefkeeping? Change 10% every 2 weeks for the first year.

4) Tell me how much experience you have with SW? 25yrs with a 6-7yrs break from the hobby. Always been interested, just didn't always have a tank.

5) Do you have a different opinion depending on size of tank? I wouldn't be able to say. Not enough experience with large (180g +) tanks.

6) Do you heat the new water before adding it? Absolutely, and mix for at least 4-6hrs.

 

[biggie4jets]

1) 40 gallon breeder with 20 gallon sump. I change out 10% of the total system volume (around 6 gallons)

2)Weekly (usually sundays)

3)do consistent water changes. There is almost no problem that cannot be fixed with a water change

4) over 3 years experience

5)tank size makes no difference as king as you follow the 10% rule.

6) yes, fresh saltwater is heated to the same temperature as the tank it's going into.

Literally have the same setup and do the same thing and I never had a problem. “Knock on wood” lol