water changing
- Thread starter TRe
- Start date
I guess it depends on the livestock you have. I don't have much...like 6 corals and 2 fishes ( oh boy i'm poor ) on a 4 feet 55 gallons. I do a 5.5 gallons water change ( approx. ) every week. It may be excessive, but i had lot of po4 in my tank before, now i used ro/di water and MH light and i could change less water. I think if your skimmer sucks, you should change more water too.
A good sign to see if it's time to change the water is looking at the waterline. If you see a oily texture, or opacity at the top, you should do a water change. I prefer to do this weekly than bi-weekly or monthly, because i think the salinity/temp/trace elements will be much more balanced than on a huge shift.
Anyways...i have corals in high areas on the live rock, so even if i wanted to drain 20% of my tank, i would remove them from the top and they wouldn't like that.
check this out :
http://reefcentral.com/calc/RODICalc.php
Pretty useful
*SUPERSMIL
A good sign to see if it's time to change the water is looking at the waterline. If you see a oily texture, or opacity at the top, you should do a water change. I prefer to do this weekly than bi-weekly or monthly, because i think the salinity/temp/trace elements will be much more balanced than on a huge shift.
Anyways...i have corals in high areas on the live rock, so even if i wanted to drain 20% of my tank, i would remove them from the top and they wouldn't like that.
check this out :
http://reefcentral.com/calc/RODICalc.php
Pretty useful
*SUPERSMIL
I do a weekly change and I have very little live stock on a 40 gallon, mostly corals, but yes you should be doing 5-7 gallons per week because you have no skimmer that means you really need to stay ontop of your water quality, I cant believe you dont have a skimmer on either of those tanks, I would make that one of your top priorities, just below getting a bigger tank
I do about 20% weekly in my tank. Also when doing your water changes take into consideration the actual volume of water inside the tank. I have a 40gl tank but factor in the substrate, LR and other inhabitants and I would than probaly only have about 30-35gl of water actual in the tank, so calculate accordingly.
yes indeed. the LR takes a lot of space...therefore, less water ..unless you have a sump.
When i started not so long ago ( september ) , i wanted to save money and neglect skimming and lighting. Well i did buy a skimmer and now i can say it's vital..all this junk collected in the cup would still be in my tank...or transformed
When i started not so long ago ( september ) , i wanted to save money and neglect skimming and lighting. Well i did buy a skimmer and now i can say it's vital..all this junk collected in the cup would still be in my tank...or transformed
i have a 55 with about 15g more in the sump and i do 10ish gallons every other week...but i do have a skimmer and i do not feed much at all...plus i have the xenia nutrient absorption system 
i think at least 10% a week is in order for you considering you are not skimming and you are heavily (dare i say "over") stocked
i think at least 10% a week is in order for you considering you are not skimming and you are heavily (dare i say "over") stocked
the aquac remora is a good hob, there is also an aqua medic turboflotor hob, cpr bakpak, i think precision marine makes a pretty big hob which might be good for you b/c you will be getting a larger tank, and of course the notoriously crappy red sea berlin prizm which probably doesn't have enough kick for you
most of these are in the $200-$300 range but i don't know where they will be cheapest online, you will have to do some "leg"work
most of these are in the $200-$300 range but i don't know where they will be cheapest online, you will have to do some "leg"work