Weekly vs. daily water changes

[JayM]

I switched to daily 1.5 gallon w/c about a month ago. Previous to that I was doing 10 gallons weekly. I’ve been noticing a downward trend in NO3 (mid 20’s down to high teens as of today) and PO4 (.33 down to .11 today) No changes to feeding, AFR dosing, etc.

Is this something expected, or at least not unexpected with small daily water changes? Or is something else going on coincidentally?

 

[smitten with ocean life]

interesting! @Randy Holmes-Farley ?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

No, there’s not much difference in what is exported in 10x 1% vs one 10% change.

 

[dvgyfresh]

I would say you are removing more organic waste by doing it daily , not letting it break down into N/P compared to weekly

 

[Blue Ring Octopus]

It is kinda like a toilet, flush every time or save water and flush once a week. In the end for at least one moment everything is the same.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I would say you are removing more organic waste by doing it daily , not letting it break down into N/P compared to weekly

I don’t see it that way. But true or not, at 1% daily the effect each day is very small.

Your analysis assumes the water change is at the end of a week. Suppose instead you think of it as the beginning of a week, preventing breakdown after the bigger change. lol

 

[dvgyfresh]

I don’t see it that way. But true or not, at 1% daily the effect each day is very small.

Your analysis assumes the water change is at the end of a week. Suppose instead you think of it as the beginning of a week, preventing breakdown after the bigger change. lol

True lol I think a little too linear at times

 

[JayM]

I guess I'm gonna need to chalk it up as coincidence. Fingers crossed that things don't continue to drop too much more.

I did think of something else that was changed, though I don't really think it could be a contributing factor. About 2 weeks ago I replaced my lighting. I was running 2 Prime 16HD's and swapped them out for a 48" Photon V2 that I got from Adam over at Battlecorals. The Primes were running a slightly modified Saxby, and the V2 is running whatever it is that Adam had programmed. The V2 is definitely more white, and PAR is roughly 25-30% higher than the Primes.