Water Changes

[Pickles]

How often should I be doing water changes? Also how much of the water should I change? Do I ever do a total water change?

 

[loohunter]

i do 10% a week and thats it. over time you know if you need more

 

[Holygral]

I do about 15% every week to 10 days

 

[roscoe]

I do 30-40% on a 40b every sunday.

 

[Sascha D]

It really depends on your tank. I mostly do it out of habit to get new SW in there and to replenish minerals and such. However I have gone months without doing a wc.

Frequency depends on your bioload and chemistry
Amount is usually 15-20%
You should never have to do a full tank drain unless its leaking or you are taking it down completely.

Good luck

 

[Ed Hahn]

I would recommend at least 25 percent Monthly. If you had a accident, you would want to match salinity and temperature and Ph before introducing animals. Temperature and PH are the two most common killers of fish. I recommend doing as slow as possible changes to Ph or temperature. -

Just make sure you are premixing saltwater externally with powerhead, bringing it up to temperature of tank, and matching salinity to aquarium before introducing it to your tank.
Never mix salt inside aquarium.

 

[dnjan]

A lot depends upon tank size and bioload. In general, smaller tanks and tanks with higher bioloads (fish, etc. per gallon) tend to depend more heavily upon water changes for maintaining water quality. So a 25% change, weekly (or bi-weekly for a lighter loaded tank) would not be unreasonable for tanks in the 10-20 gal range. Larger tanks (hundreds of gallons) may be more like 10% monthly (especially if not heavily loaded).
Also, watch your tank inhabitants. If things seem to noticibly "perk up" after a water change, perhaps you should shorten your period between changes.

 

[warforged]

I agree too many variables ...

Would I be correct to advise he track his Nitrate build up in a journal between a water change to get an idea on how quickly his tank builds up on it? If you know you break the 20ppm mark in a week, then you know you should be doing weekly water changes.

To cut back my weekly I have a refugeium with plenty of micro algae eating up nitrates for me...keeping this a non issue for me. Maybe something to consider getting?

 

[NC2WA]

what type of skimmer do you have (if at all)..if no skimmer, than more frequent water changes are needed. I do 15% every two wks if a good skimmer is on the tank, otherwise I do 5-10% weekly.

 

[pledosophy]

I have a tank that gets a 30% WC weekly, another that gets a change about once every three or four months.

The first tank is a 65g and i do 20-25g's a week. The tank needs it. The nitrates climb to the 10ish range, there is stuff to be vacuumed, minerals and such to be replaced.

The second tank is a 34g. It hardy ever gets water changes and usually only when I have extra water from the 65g change. The tank is a planted tank. I do test both of my tanks twice a week and dose accordingly.

JME