Daily water changes?

[boscoT]

I just happened along a brsTV water change short.  It talks about nano tanks will crash within the first year unless you do a daily water change.  
 

They showed an example of a 5 gallon tank where they took out and added 2 cups a day.  They say mix a bucket and don’t worry about heating it.  Replace everyday 

 

it got me thinking…

 

I have a 24 gal capacity that I estimate to be 20gal of water after substrate and rock. If I did 18% a week that would work out to approximately .5 gallons a day.  Would the same principals apply for the larger volume on daily changes?  
 

 

[Aquarium Expert]

Yes, the same principles apply for daily water changes on a larger volume tank. However, it is not necessary to do daily water changes on a 20-gallon tank. A weekly 25% water change is sufficient for most 20-gallon tanks.

If you are concerned about your tank crashing, you can do daily water changes, but it is not necessary. Just be sure to use dechlorinated water and to match the temperature of the new water to the temperature of the tank water. 

[TheKleinReef]

it should yeah, the more water you remove at once will have a greater impact on temperature.

that's why BRS tries to sell the bageezus out of the auto water change systems since the change happens so slow over time that temperature isn't affected.

I might set up an AWC but I haven't committed.

[boscoT]

36 minutes ago, TheKleinReef said:

it should yeah, the more water you remove at once will have a greater impact on temperature.

that's why BRS tries to sell the bageezus out of the auto water change systems since the change happens so slow over time that temperature isn't affected.

I might set up an AWC but I haven't committed.

I wouldn’t have the room for it.  But 2qts a day would put me right at 18% a week.  I think I can handle that no problem. 

[Rhetoric]

I do a 25% water change every 2 weeks on my 20 gallon.

 

People over think everything in this hobby.  Find a schedule that works for you and stick with it.

 

I like a lot of the BRS content, but make no mistake they are trying to sell you something.

[TheKleinReef]

21 minutes ago, boscoT said:

I wouldn’t have the room for it.  But 2qts a day would put me right at 18% a week.  I think I can handle that no problem. 

if you're not gonna automate it, i would just do 20% every 2 weeks or so if that. manually removing water daily is just adding unnecessary extra work.

15 minutes ago, Rhetoric said:

I like a lot of the BRS content, but make no mistake they are trying to sell you something.

1042% this

[seabass]

3 hours ago, boscoT said:

It talks about nano tanks will crash within the first year unless you do a daily water change.

Wow, did they actually say that, or is does this misrepresent what they actually said?  A broad statement like this should normally be questioned.  However, I can assure you that it is simply not true as stated.

 

Weekly and even monthly water changes usually suffice.  However, I have personally kept nano tanks where I didn't change any water at all (although I wouldn't necessarily say that this is what most people should do).  While we can usually make some generalizations, the truth is that there are a number of variables which can affect what it required to maintain a nano tank.  Set water change volumes (percentages) and frequencies are often stated higher than what's actually required.

 

Water changes can remove excess nutrients and/or excess organics in the water, they can also dilute toxins, or help to replenish elements and trace elements.  Therefore, it might be beneficial to change some water.  I usually recommend that we replace water removed during weekly tank maintenance (and not just replace water for the sake of replacing it).

[boscoT]

29 minutes ago, seabass said:

Wow, did they actually say that, or is does this misrepresent what they actually said?  A broad statement like this should normally be questioned.  However, I can assure you that it is simply not true as stated.

95% guarantee in a small nano

 

 

[seabass]

  That's just ridiculous.  Is there some benefit to changing out some water (whether it's daily or weekly, or even monthly), sure.  I wonder what he considers are the vast majority of first year problems that changing out water will solve.  Are they bryopsis, dinos, etc?  He never actually says "crash", and never defines failure or success.  And is he suggesting that these water changes can replace other maintenance or equipment?  This whole video could be replaced by the statement that regular water changes are often beneficial, and they might improve your chance of succeeding.

[Elizabeth94]

23 minutes ago, boscoT said:

95% guarantee in a small nano

 

 

I like most of their videos but have never seen a claim like this from them yet. 
 

I like the idea of daily water changes if I had a big system and an automatic water changer. But my little 10gal did just fine with 50% changes every week or two for quite a while. 
 

[mitten_reef]

28 minutes ago, boscoT said:

95% guarantee in a small nano

 

 

that was THE STUPIDEST claim to date. 

 

PS. I never liked the content created by that guy since he came on to the scene with marine depot as a "beginner hobbyist".  this just proved that it seems to have gotten worse....

[TheKleinReef]

9 minutes ago, mitten_reef said:

I never liked the content created by that guy since he came on to the scene with marine depot as a "beginner hobbyist".  this just proved that it seems to have gotten worse....

 

i like BRS, but i 100% agree  with this.

[mcarroll]

8 hours ago, boscoT said:

I just happened along a brsTV water change short.  It talks about nano tanks will crash within the first year unless you do a daily water change.

When I think of all the things I've heard folks mention from videos over the years...  🤷‍♂️

 

(If water changes are all that's keeping your tank from crashing, you're doing something else pretty wrong.)

 

8 hours ago, boscoT said:

I have a 24 gal capacity that I estimate to be 20gal of water after substrate and rock. If I did 18% a week that would work out to approximately .5 gallons a day.  Would the same principals apply for the larger volume on daily changes?

There are perfectly practical and logical reasons for doing (or not doing) water changes every day...no special principles involved, and can be applied the same to all tank sizes.  

 

I did them for a while and more or less detailed the reasons I had at the time...you can read about it on this old thread.  My system definitely responded well, but that wasn't very surprising. 😉 

 

BTW, https://www.hamzasreef.com/Contents/Calculators/ – they have (at least) a couple of calculators on there specific to the effects of water changes.

 

Per one of the calcs, changing .5 gallons a day on a 20 gallon system for one month would effectively be a 53% water change.  For reference, I think I was doing daily 5% water changes in my case...just because that quantity was the most convenient.  It was very fast.

[TheKleinReef]

54 minutes ago, mcarroll said:

My system definitely responded well, but that wasn't very surprising. 😉 

 

you can't say stuff like this and then refuse to post pictures proving your anecdotes actually amount to something. lol

can someone mcarrol didn't hide ask him to post proof cause this is absolutely absurd and exhausting.

[seabass]

So I've been thinking some more about this video.  It's obvious that the claim which states that daily water changes improves your chances of succeeding from 5 to 95%, is made up (especially when you compare it against doing weekly water changes).

 

But if the point is that smaller water changes which are done more frequently, can be just as useful as larger water changes which are done less frequently, then I might agree.  However, I still would argue that replacing clear water from the water column isn't nearly as effective as siphoning out detritus along with some water, and replacing that dirty water with new saltwater.  The actual percentage changed usually isn't as important as performing regular maintenance (and then replacing the water that was removed with new saltwater).

 

IMO, that's the problem with auto water changers too (you're typically just replacing clean water with new water).  Sure, it's replenishing some consumed elements, and it's diluting: nutrients, organics, and possibly toxins.  However, reducing nutrients might not always be beneficial for your photosynthetic animals (corals), depending on the levels of nutrients currently in the water.