Water Change in new 29 gallon reef tank

[BarryBlaze]

Hello,

So i am cycling my first ever reef tank and i am wondering when to do my first water change. I have in the tank currently:

30 lbs live sand
30 lbs rock, which was purchased dry
Tidal HOB 55 gal filter
Small Jaebo power head, i forgot which one

I have no algae at all present


I understand how the cycle works on a freshwater tank, but this reef and saltwater cycling is throwing me for a loop.

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

 

[Eagle_Steve]

Hello,

So i am cycling my first ever reef tank and i am wondering when to do my first water change. I have in the tank currently:

30 lbs live sand
30 lbs rock, which was purchased dry
Tidal HOB 55 gal filter
Small Jaebo power head, i forgot which one

I have no algae at all present


I understand how the cycle works on a freshwater tank, but this reef and saltwater cycling is throwing me for a loop.

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

I do my first water change when ammonia is 0, nitrite is 0 and nitrates are around 5-10. I do not do much, as I prefer some nitrates available.

 

[BarryBlaze]

I do my first water change when ammonia is 0, nitrite is 0 and nitrates are around 5-10. I do not do much, as I prefer some nitrates available.

So my stats are

Ammonia - 1.0 ppm
Nitrite - 5.0+ ppm
Nitrate - 80 ppm

 

[James_O]

So my stats are

Ammonia - 1.0 ppm
Nitrite - 5.0+ ppm
Nitrate - 80 ppm

I would do a small water change now, if those are your parameters. When I cycled my 29g, I did a water change after 1 week, which was when my nitrate was at 10ppm and my ammonia was at 1+ppm.

 

[BarryBlaze]

I would do a small water change now, if those are your parameters. When I cycled my 29g, I did a water change after 1 week, which was when my nitrate was at 10ppm and my ammonia was at 1+ppm.

Yes, those were my parameters last night at 11pm. When you say small, how much? 20%?

 

[James_O]

Yes, those were my parameters last night at 11pm. When you say small, how much? 20%?

I would do 10%-20%. You don’t want to do TOO big of a water change at this point, just a small one.

 

[homer1475]

You have FW experience, cycling a salt tank is no different. Follow what you know. I will say, unlike FW, NITRITES are not toxic to SW fish like they are in FW. We typically look for ammonia to be 0 after adding some, then your cycle is done in SW.

After the cycle, everything is different.

 

[BarryBlaze]

You have FW experience, cycling a salt tank is no different. Follow what you know. I will say, unlike FW, NITRITES are not toxic to SW fish like they are in FW. We typically look for ammonia to be 0 after adding some, then your cycle is done in SW.

After the cycle, everything is different.

So what your saying is wait till the ammonia drops to zero then do a small water change and re-test