Water change vs buffer advice

[cblack]

I've taken over a 10g nano reef, I've had it for about a week now. I have been doing topoffs with RO from the LFS and doing tests. Ammonia and Nitrites are all zero or the lowest range detected by my kit. pH is climbing towards 8.3, but was low early on (around 7.80). dKH was at 7 which was lower than recommended, but now it is 8+ in the "good range" according to my test kit instructions.

The previous owner used a two part buffer 2-3 times a week which I continued. After reading lots of posts/FAQs/etc on this and other sites I have come to the conclusion that I want to do as little "dosing" as possible. I am thinking about frequent water changes to maintain water quality and trace elements and such. I used Instant Ocean to mix the initial volume of water after the move and tried to match the previous owner's 1.025 sg.

It seems that the range of water volume changes is pretty wide. I am willing to do weekly water changes, but I don't know if that is the best for my setup.

Currently the tank only has corals and a cleanup crew (as well as some tiny shrimp shooting around). My aim with this tank is to get one or two fish, some more corals, and perhaps a pistol shrimp. I don't know if that'll work, but that is for another thread

 

Any recommendations on water changes and whether I should do frequent water changes instead of the buffer? How large and frequent should my water changes be? Should I change with lower salinity water to bring the sg down (I read for livestock such as fish a lower sg is desired).

 

Thanks in advance!

[ross76053]

cblack? The famous country singer, Clint Black? I knew the reefing hobby would suck you in sooner or later. Cutting CDs & making millions has to be getting old by now...

 

Seriously, water changes & adding buffer are two different things. We do water changes to replace trace minerals & for nutrient export, or do "dilute" the water of crap (I love the word "crap" lately - reminds me of the dad on "Everybody Loves Raymond").

 

We add two-part buffers to the water column to keep alkalinity & calcium in check - and buffers also add trace minerals.

 

Any recommendations on water changes and whether I should do frequent water changes instead of the buffer?

You need to do water changes, period - not as a replacement for the buffer or vice-versa. The amount of buffer you add depends on what corals you're keeping. If you keep a large amount of LPS and/or SPS corals, you'll definitely need a way to dose calcium into your tank, as these corals will suck it out of the water quickly.

 

If you're only keeping, say, shrooms & softies, a buffer may not be necessary, however some folks use buffer (& alot of it) just to promote coralline algae growth.

 

HTH,

Ross

[cblack]

Ok, I will continue with the 2-part buffer regimen. Do you have any recommendations for how often and how large my water changes should be? Also, should I be doing water changes with slightly lower salinity water to slowly lower it to prepare for livestock in the coming months? Right now there are a few soft corals, a single hard one, and a cleanup crew of snails and hermit crabs.

[Fant]

Start with 10% weekly changes.. As for your salinity remarks. the Measurement scale you are using IE the 1.025, etc.. is not salinity, it is a unitless measurement of Specific Gravity. You could lower it to 1.023 so when ur tank evaporates it doesnt creep too high.