Weekly Water Change????

[idgy]

If I take a nitrate test and I come up with zero nitrates should I do a weekly water change? I have been doing a weekly change, is that bad or good for the tank and its creatures?

 

[Elmo18]

Hi Idgy. I do weekly water changes as well.

My nitrates are zero, as well. It does not hurt to do this. It replenishes other minerals, and dilutes other impurities if you have them.

New water is usually always a good thing, and as always if it is the same params as the old water that is replaced (temp, pH...calc, alk, etc).

- Ilham

 

[Scooterman]

Yep it is a good thing, It'll help keep a constant which is a good thing in your tank.

 

[Krish]

I agree with both Scooter and Elmo. I do mine every week regardless.

 

[oldsaint]

I'm weekly also. 20% in the reef and 30% in my FOWLR.

Here's a great article.

 

[idgy]

CalxMax 2 pt Calcium / Alkalinity Buffer which I use everytime I do a water change. Should I continue to use on weekly water changes? Also should I also use Kalkwasser every week with water changes and with the CalxMax 2 pt Calcium / Alkalinity Buffer?

Thanks!

 

[spongebob lover]

Idgy you should do your water changes no matter what, no joke.
i do 3 and sometimes 4 galls of water every sunday at 2 or at 6 in the morning soemtines, no joke i even try having a schedual for that.
i only use the ph buffer and well my tank is pretty much stable.

 

[Angelscrx]

I would say depending on the size of the tank and the stability of the parameters can help determine if water changes that often are necessary. I do water changes once a month in my tank and all I do is top off and dose the rest oif the time. My params are steady and things are healthy. Not ot say that weekly is bad either. I do 20% once a month. Just my 2 cents!

 

[DonW]

Do as little or as much as you feel comfortable doing. I'd say 10% weekly minimum and 100% maximum.


Don

 

[Porkfat]

I hear that doing too much of a water change at a time can be bad for your fish/inverts. Granted you can get the params pretty close temp/sg/alk/ph/cal but doing 100% don? I dunno might not be that bad a thing, just what I've heard.

I try to get 20-25% at least once every other week, but usually once a week. I don't ever go more then 60% and if I need to do more, I wait at least a couple of days in between.

~Brandon

 

[Scooterman]

http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10470&highlight=boomer

Read the attached article in the first post of this link.

 

[Porkfat]

Didn't get to finish it yet but so far it's an awsome article scooter, thanks!

 

[DonW]

The biggest draw back to doing many and/or big waterchanges is having to fix the salt. I end up waterchanging the mg out of the tank For me this last bucket of IO is needing 4 tbls calcium chloride and 250ml of kent tech-m. This varies by salt and bucket but it gets expensive.

Don

 

[spongebob lover]

i agree with you Don it does get kind of expensive .

 

[snobanker]

Doesn't the WC help replentish desirable elements to the water too?. That is why I do mine, even though I have 0 trates too....

 

[FishBoyNB]

I'm actually a little afraid to say this, but I have never done a water change on my 55 reef tank. It has been up now for 18 months, is stable, and everything is seems happy. I lose about .5 - 1 liter a day in evap which I replenish w/ RO/DI. I check the salt about once a week, and add supplements as needed.

Dan

 

[aquariumdebacle]

Micronutrients are still disappearing and adding trace elements can lead to overdosing. although I don't practice it I still preach waterchanges. Unless your system is over a couple hundred gallons there really is not any good reason to avoid water changes.