How often to do water changes.

[R3verb]

Hey guys. So I have my tank running smoothly now and I have been doing 5-10 gal/week in water changes. Once my nitrates hit zero, how often should I change my water? I would like to get it down to where I dont have to do much in the way of water changes and instead, just add in trace elements to support my corals. Any thoughts? My tank is 90 gal and my skimmer is rated up to 225 gal. I am also installing a DIY Algae scrubber to my tank and I may even go to a bio pellet reactor from Reef Dynamics so I should have no problem keeping Nitrates at 0. Any thoughts? Thanks!

Casey

 

[ErinCahir]

You should still be doing either 10% every week or 20% every other week. I know there are people who do them much more sparingly, but they are usually super established systems. I would never dare try it.

 

[Smitty]

+1 Erin...once your tank had been setup for a few years, then maybe you could do the water changes sparingly, but for now just keep up with your schedule.

 

[marcah]

I do 20% waterchanges every two weeks and testing just before shows all readings at 0. I was thinking the same as far as stretching out the changes now but then I look in the tank and see the investment inside it and stay at the 20%...:D I agree with Erin I just dont dare try it and lose whats in the tank due to a mistake on my part..

 

[little_fish]

+1 Erin

Its a whole lot easier to just do water changes than to try and fix the imbalances by tossing in chemicals. You cant test for trace element the corals need and some are need at such small levels that is very difficult to add those back in in the correct proportions.

 

[lilyicu]

I am still doing 20% every other week. It makes my anemones happy.

 

[R3verb]

Ok new question, what kind of salt is everybody using? I have another 20lb bag that should last me a while and while it's just fish I am not super worried but once I start putting corals in, I'd like to have good salt. Any thoughts? I have heard good things about Red Sea.

 

[marcah]

I used Instant Ocean with no issues whatsoever for years.. When I went mainly SPS I switched over to Instant Ocean Reef Crystals...

 

[imdaring]

I do a 15-20 gal water change on my 90 gal tank every 3 weeks

 

[phastroh]

Reef Crystals