10% water changes?

Dr.DiSilicate

Great White Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
ex-officio
#1
I’m curious why and how much water does everyone change. Do you do weekly, monthly... what percentage and how large your system is. What got you into your routine...? Does it change ever??? What triggers the change in routine.
 

ReefCheif

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
Platinum Sponsor
#2
I do 50% every 6 weeks.
 

Bdk1786

Butterfly Fish
#3
I do 50% every 6 weeks.
Same with my 30G.

I do maybe a monthly water change of about 10% on my 70G. My nutrient export is excellent and element/trace is taken care of with Triton Core 7, so there is no real need for many water changes.

I started more drawn out water changes after switching from the basic BRS two part to more comprehensive dosing systems.
 

whyamisofly

Tang
M.A.S.C Club Member
#5
About a gallon per day through wet skimming - total system volume is about 140 gallons.
 

Cherub

Hey you
M.A.S.C Club Member
#6
I've done 2 water changes in 4 months and everything is amazing. I personally think they're over rated if you run carbon and a nice skimmer. Not saying do what I do, I'm sure everyone's tank is different but for me the water changes aren't essential unless the salt creep makes the salinity drop.
 

jda123

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#7
44 gallons. This is what my mix and formula adds up to. 1 50 gallon bag of IO in a 44G Brute with 20mls of Muratic Acid and 2 tbsp of dowflake. Perfect acropora water in a few days.

If I want to change more, then it is 88 gallons or other 44g increments.

I am a believer in water changes... out with anything bad that has accumulated, and in with the good.
 

ReefCheif

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
Platinum Sponsor
#8
44 gallons. This is what my mix and formula adds up to. 1 50 gallon bag of IO in a 44G Brute with 20mls of Muratic Acid and 2 tbsp of dowflake. Perfect acropora water in a few days.

If I want to change more, then it is 88 gallons or other 44g increments.

I am a believer in water changes... out with anything bad that has accumulated, and in with the good.
Wait...Muriatic Acid? In your saltwater? Please explain.
 

jda123

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#9
It lowers the alk. I want to be about 6.7, or so. It creates a bunch of CO2, so the PH drops for a day, or so... but it all blows off after you aerate it a while.

dKh drop * gallons * .123 is the number of mls of Muratic Acid to use.
 

TheRealChrisBrown

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
ex-officio
#10
44 gallons. This is what my mix and formula adds up to. 1 50 gallon bag of IO in a 44G Brute with 20mls of Muratic Acid and 2 tbsp of dowflake. Perfect acropora water in a few days.

If I want to change more, then it is 88 gallons or other 44g increments.

I am a believer in water changes... out with anything bad that has accumulated, and in with the good.
How often, and what's your total water volume?
 

zombie

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#11
I did biweekly 25% in my biocube (no skimmer) and any less would result in an algae bloom even several years into running it.

On my 65g with 26 gallon sump (total water volume about 70g) I do 1 gallon per day continuously and even though it's only a few months in, parameters are stable, nitrates stay low at 0.5 ppm nitrate and 0.16 ppm phosphate. I feed and skim heavily to keep pod population high and improve LPS growth rate.



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Dr.DiSilicate

Great White Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
ex-officio
#12
I do about 5-10 gallons each week depending on how things are going. If I see some algae or things don’t seem to be going well I do a bit more. I stir the sand and siphon detritus from the sump. I use straight up instant ocean that is mixed in a bruit trash can for a couple days. (Unless I find something else on sale... I actually liked the aqua Forrest stuff I used the last few times, but that may just me being home and watching things closely) I suppose dilution is my solution as well as replacing minor and trace elements. I’m pretty old school with most of my reef keeping practices with an open mind. Triton seems plausible and I am going to implement SOME of it but will not jump on the bandwagon entirely. I am planning on sending a sample of water off every 4-6 months to get a snapshot of where I am. I also am implementing a large fuge (which I haven’ In the past)

I’m actually considering 2 part with minor and trace elements added to the solutions. Kinda a European style experiment. Ha NOT selling the calcium reactor!
 

jda123

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#13
I also change water because I am cheap. A 200 gallon box was $32, or $8 a bag - now I bought a pallet in 2014 for that cheap, I am almost out of those boxes and the next batch will be about $40-41 a box. Where else can you do all of your routine maintenance for $8 a month? ...or $10 a month in 2018 dollars? It does not get any cheaper than this, IME.

Send in a few Triton tests and buy some of their supplements and I can change water for a few years in what some people spend in a quarter.
 

jda123

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#15
Mike - I will let you know. It might be a few months since I have a few boxes left. I was going to put an offer out to the group - I do not want to mess with one box here or there, but if people want a few, or even 20, that will bring the cost down.

I offered this once and got all kinds of flack for not selling individual bags. I guess that some folks do not understand bulk. :)
 

Andrew_bram

Tiger Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
#20
I do water changes when friends come over and do them for me because I'm out of town.

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