Water change in 12-gal tank

[Jeanne]

Have a high nitrate content in nano-reef cause not doing water changes correctly. 12-gal tank. 8lbs live rock. Local reef shop suggested a 5-gal water change. Is that ok to do all at once, or should it be done over a period of 2-5 days? Worried it will affect biological balance of tank. Can't ask them cause shop now closed. I was thinking it might be better to do a 1-2 gal a day change, but then not getting the nasties out all at once. Just don't want to shock my tank? Any ideas or suggestions greatly appreciated.

[WhiteRat]

A Few questions:

 

1) Has your tank cycled? If so, how old is it?

2) Have you added any new LR recently or anything else? Do you know where the nitrates are coming from?

3) Do you have any macroalgae in your tank? I use a stand of caulerpa to help control free nitrates.

4) What are your other parameters, including salinity, Ph, ammonia, nitrite?

 

In a 12-gallon tank, for maintenance purposes, I'd probably change a gallon and a half a week, but I know a lot of people don't bother.

 

As for an EMERGENCY water change, a 25% water change will reduce your nitrate level by 25%. More than 25% is usually difficult to do because of rock and such that you don't want the water level to drop beneath.

 

If your nitrates are at an emergency level (20 or more mg/L for most inverts) then I recommend that you go ahead and do a 25% change today, and a 25% change tomorrow, and then take a reading on Wednesday and see what it's like. The 5g the LFS is recommending is only a little over 25%, so that's reasonably in-line for an LFS.

 

I recently tried Two Little Fishies 'Marine Snow' plankton and have been making a fair number of water changes because it caused a cyano outbreak. =P

 

Water changes are just a thing you get used to doing, either more or less often. A gallon or two just for good luck, or 25% for emergencies.

 

Good luck with it!

 

Ratty

 

 

Ratty's Reef

[Jeanne]

Thanks, Ratty at Ratty's Reef.

 

Have had tank for close to year. Overall successful. Lost a few but maroon clown recovering well from "ich"?, starfish growing two legs back, feather duster, red legged hermit crab fine. Think the nitrate problem started when sebae anemone died and I couldn't get him out - impaled part of himself on a dead gorgonian. Also a emerald crab tortured a snail, then both died. Nitrates, I was told, were over 140. Corals have been shrinking.

I have not added any live rock lately. Took one average piece out two months ago because of build-up of aptasia. Not a lot of algae growth in tank.

 

I figure if it is a 12-gal tank with 8 pounds of live rock, then surely there must only be about 8 gals of water in there. So that seemed like more than 50% change if I took out 5 gals.

 

Also, I just learned that I should be adding iodine and some calcium. Salinity was a tad low. Everything else according to reef shop was ok.

 

Thanks for your help. I like this tank, just trying to get it back to snuff again.

 

Jeanne

[WhiteRat]

Ouch. In a twelve gallon tank, that's significant die-off. The clown will be getting ich if it's stressed...And water quality will stress a fish. Get as much of the sebae anemone off the gorg as you can...Even if it means clipping a small branch off of the gorg. Definitely do water changes or your corals WILL die. I would do three to four gallons today, and another three to four gallons tomorrow, and repeat until 24 hours after last change the nitrate reading is 20 or less. 140 is definitely FAR too much for corals, it will kill many kinds of fish. Your clown is probably not happy.

 

I also recommend getting a small clump of caulerpa or halimeda. This macro-algae will look attractive, will feed on nitrates in your tank, and you can trim it as it grows to remove those stored nitrates from your system. That's a long-range solution, though. Right now, the short-range solution is water change, water change, water change!

 

Make sure your replacement water is of appropriate salinity, has set for a few hours, and is heated to the same temperature as the tank, then dip out the old water and replace it with the new.

 

Key to remember is that if you change 25% of the tank's water volume, that will reduce overall nitrates by 25%. So if you're at 140, one 25% water change will bring you down to 105...Still too high!!! Your next water change will bring you down to ~76, the next one to about 57, the next one to about 43...Then 31, then 23, then 18...By that point everything should start looking happier.

 

Do your best to never let nitrates go >20. This is commonly accepted as the level at which they begin to have a negative effect on invertebrates (coral, anemones, gorgonians, snails, crabs, et al.). Fish tend to be okay to about 110.

 

Don't change more than 25% of your tank's water every twelve hours. You don't want to chemically shock your critters.

 

Ratty

[Jeanne]

Thanks, Ratty, I think I'm on the right track now and it will take some time. In future, I will know more about what to look for and how to test it correctly.

 

Thanks again.

[Jeanne]

Ratty - started the water change yesterday. So far, so good. On another vein, have been thinking about getting a smart-lite retrofit kit for this tank. What would be its benefits? May decide to keep this a low-lite tank, cause setting up another 10g soon.

Right now I have the original fl bulb that came with the marine.

[WhiteRat]

I'm sorry, Jeanne, but you'll have to ask someone else about this, as I have no experience with that upgrade (I run a PSL 175w10K MH and 2x55w50-50PC on mine).

 

Probably you would be wise to start a new topic with this lighting question, after running a search for 'smart-lite' and 'smart-light' and 'retrofit' (etc.). If you don't start a new topic, folks who don't want to discuss water changes won't see that now you're talking about lighting.

 

If you do start the new topic, I do suggest you run those searches first. There are many people here who don't like to repeat the same thing over and over, and some of them can be a bit, ah, abrupt (is that a good word for Dave?) about it.

 

Another good place is to look at the Members Nano-Reefs page and look at tanks using similar lighting systems to what you would like to use. If you've got questions about installation and such, private messaging that member might be a good way to go.

 

Hope your tank does well. Start checking nitrates tomorrow, assuming you're doing 2x25% w/c a day.

 

Be well.

 

Ratty

Ratty's Reef

[Jeanne]

Ratty,

 

Thanks for the advice - as a first-time user of this site, appreciate the info.