Water changes and parameters

[mattitheowl]

So I'm now 6 weeks in to my new favourite hobby and (touch wood) all is going well

 

But my question is about water changes and parameters.  So far my parameters are all holding nice and stable and everything is happy and growing.  I've been doing weekly water changes up until last week when I was busy and skipped it.  I've tested all my parameters and they are all still nice and healthy.  My question is this, if your parameters are stable, do you have to still do the water changes?  I'm concerned that changing my water when everything is stable, will in itself introduce instability.

[LogicalReefs]

What parameters are you speaking of? Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and phosphate? Or alkalinity, calcium, magnesium? Do you have corals? If you have corals then the elemental parameters need to be maintained by either dosing or water changes. If you don’t have corals and your other parameters are stable then just keep topping off. But I would vacuum the sand bed like once a month if you have one with a small water change. 

[mattitheowl]

1 hour ago, LogicalReefs said:

What parameters are you speaking of? Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and phosphate? Or alkalinity, calcium, magnesium? Do you have corals? If you have corals then the elemental parameters need to be maintained by either dosing or water changes. If you don’t have corals and your other parameters are stable then just keep topping off. But I would vacuum the sand bed like once a month if you have one with a small water change. 

 

I have corals but so far my Alk and Ca are stable and don't seem to be depleting.

[paulsz]

Note that there's things you have to remove from the water through water changes. Stuff like nitrates and phosphates. So keep an eye out for those. You don't want them to be at 0, but you also don't want them too be too high. If you have soft corals, nitrates up to 5-10 and phosphates of 0.03 is more than fine

 

 

[Clown79]

Testing in between waterchanges is the key to knowing if there is fluctuations.

Alk in particular needs monitoring if you have lps pr sps 

 

Your alk may not fluctuate at all if you only have softies or very few lps.

 

I sometimes do waterchanges every 2 weeks. It's not just to replenish elements but to remove detritus in the sandbed, back chambers, to switch out media as well. 

[LogicalReefs]

 

check out this video.

[DaveFason]

Personally I would keep doing the weekly water changes. With a tank being so young it won't hurt. 

 

Once you get aquatinted with the tank you can be the judge. Watch your corals and see how they react. 

 

-Dave