Large vs Small Water Changes

[WorrBaller]

As a full time student, full time employee, and father I'm having a hard time getting into a rhythm of tank maintenance on my 40br. I do change the water but it is infrequent. Right now I change 10 gallons at a time about every 2 weeks.

 

What I was thinking of doing was keeping with the 2 (maybe 3) week intervals but do larger water changes, probably 15 - 20 gallons.

 

Or is it better to do smaller more frequent water changes? Like 5 gallons twice a week or 10 every week?

 

What are some consequences of infrequent, large water changes?

[gulfsurfer101]

On my 40br 5g every week did ok. I do 5g wc's on my 30g all in one tank and I see much more growth and better water conditions that were not present in my 40br with 20g sump. A good rule of thumb is 20% of your total water volume once a week. I know it can be tough, I'm a working dad of three and I work on average of 60hrs a week. I am only left with sunday to do my wc's but I knock them out pretty quickly now that I have a routine that allows me 15mins to do them in.

[WorrBaller]

Do you have to get your water or do you have an RO unit? Also do you premix your salt?

[jojoe972]

Your corals might not grow as well but I think you could get away with it. Ive known people who do water changes every two weeks to their tank. I use to do it in my 20 gallon tall and it did fine.

 

Now was it perfect? Probably Not! Did my tank look as good as someone who did it each week? who knows!

Wasnt able to observe this. Others might chime in and give you there opinion but I dont believe it is horrible.

 

Of course every week should be standard but everyone breaks rules.... right?

[skimlessinseattle]

I think changing 10g every 2 weeks on a 40B is fine.

 

I mix my saltwater up (24g) for the next weeks water changes the same day I do my waterchanges. That way, I always have fresh saltwater on hand in case of an emergency, and it has really helped me get into a rythmn. I have my own RO unit and would suggest any reefer have one.

[WorrBaller]

Ya I'm not looking at getting TOTM any time soon. I just want a healthy tank. I wish I could talk the wife into getting a RO unit, just not in the cards.

[1fishmonger]

Ya I'm not looking at getting TOTM any time soon. I just want a healthy tank. I wish I could talk the wife into getting a RO unit, just not in the cards.

 

 

Your water change schedule is fine. I know a TOTM that changed water once a month

[Seiryoku]

Haven't done a WC on my 30g cube in six months...everything is fine o_o

[brandon429]

its my opinion no water change percentage can be guessed although these tanks are versatile enough to run on all of them, and they do...the ideal water change percentage is always found by picking a parameter you want to attain, testing for it after whatever percentage and frequency you start with, and increasing or decreasing change volume and frequency relative to the desired parameter. On my picos I never test for anything, change 100% of the water weekly because its fast and small, because its harmless and it keeps the water at nsw levels nearly always. additionally, I don't feed in between water changes I only feed heavily hours before I take all that water right back out and it grows incredibly dense loads of coral.

 

to me, that was the key in solving the problem of overnutrification in the pico reef and undernutrification of the animals, again common in the pico reef.

[Scottynose]

I'm very new to saltwater, but not to fishkeeping. The absolute mandatory water change is a routine water change. Just like any animal or even humans routine is key. if that is 5gallons every week, or 10 gallons every 2 weeks, as long as you are religious with your change your fine. i have freshwater angles that didn't really respond well to new water every week, so i moved to bi-weekly and they are growing too fast. Find your balance would be my advise.

 

for giggles, i have a friend with a 30br and he does monthly changes.... imo doesn't really matter.

 

if your tank is also not depleting the necessary elements you shouldn't worry about weekly either.

[lakshwadeep]

This is a good article showing the effect of different sized water changes and different frequencies of water changes, which is often just as important. Figure 4 and Table 1 show that large percentage water changes remove more of the original "impurities". Note that the systems measured are reef tanks with probably many stony corals, which the graphs reflect by showing that some elements/compounds (like calcium and alkalinity) are difficult to replenish through water changes alone.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-10/rhf/index.php

[Spicer]

Buy one of your kids an rodi machine for xmas.

 

And get yourself a 40g bin.

Prepare 40g of water every month, and do 5g a week.

So easy when everything is prepared.

Get yourself an MJ1200 (With your syphon tube), so you dont even have to lift the bucket out of the water.