Water Change Time?

R

RollTide15

Reefing newb
So I have 40 gallon all my specs are on another thread.

The tank has been up for 3 weeks and 4 days. My ammonia and nitrite are at 0. Ph and other parameters are also good (LFS checked it but I have Ammonia and Nitrite tests). I had my diatom bloom start this past Monday and my clean up crew is getting it under control. I image I am almost done with my cycle. Should I go ahead and do a 15-20% water change? I currently have clean up crew plus 2 Ocellaris clowns which have been in there since Sunday. They are doing great, getting along, swimming actively & are always together. They are also eating quite well now (the first 2 days they were real picky and not very hungry).

Do I need to take out all of my Livestock to do the water change?

Thanks

tank.jpg
 
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No, you should never have to remove any livestock to do a weekly water change. Wow, if that were true, I would never have done this hobby. LOL :D Just get the salinity balanced with your tank (are you using a refractometer?) and if the water is more than a few degrees colder than the display, I throw a heater in the bucket. You'll want to siphon out about 10% of your water volume and replace once a week. It is good practice to use a powerhead or turkey baster to blow out the rock every once in a while to remove more detritus from the system.
 
If you haven't done one since your tank cycled I would definitely do a water change. Leave your livestock in the tank for the water change. You are only doing 10-20% so they are fine.
 
haha, yeah... this is definitely NOT a cheap hobby. But a 10% change is not really all that much. Some people NEVER do a water change. Some people don't run skimmers.
But I would at least start off with 10% weekly changes for a while and then see how it goes. Well after your tank is cycled and stable, maybe try 15% every two weeks. Then 15-20 per month. Not only are you changing water to clean things out, you are adding back essential trace elements that get used up. So experiment later, but for now, suck it up. ;)

BTW, are you a member of MARSH here in Houston?
www.marsh-reef.org
 
d2mini said:
haha, yeah... this is definitely NOT a cheap hobby. But a 10% change is not really all that much. Some people NEVER do a water change. Some people don't run skimmers.
But I would at least start off with 10% weekly changes for a while and then see how it goes. Well after your tank is cycled and stable, maybe try 15% every two weeks. Then 15-20 per month. Not only are you changing water to clean things out, you are adding back essential trace elements that get used up. So experiment later, but for now, suck it up. ;)

BTW, are you a member of MARSH here in Houston?
Marine Aquarium and Reef Society of Houston - MARSH
Click to expand...

No I am not but thanks for the suggestion! Sounds like a good place to talk about LFS and buy/sell equipment. I am going to sell by T-5 Dual Lamp 780w light soon and get a decent LED set up. I have just spent so much money in the past month dropping another $350 on a light set up is gonna hurt ha.

Also btw your set up is ridiculous haha, hope you plan to stay in that home a while. Another question I have is about my light. It is an Aquatic Life T-5 HO Dual Lamp 36" 780w (might be 750w). Most of the LFS said that my light is ok for some hardy soft corals (like Zoan, hairy mushrooms, Frogspawn, etc) but I would have to upgrade to put in hard corals or the more finicky soft corals. Is this true? My tank is 40 gallons and I do not plan to go ape shit with the corals but will have some decent ones, what is a good LED set up that wont bankrupt me?
 
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If you stuck with T5's, i'd want at least two more over that size tank. At least two ATI Blue+ and then two others to help balance out the spectrum. The blue+ bulbs put out some crazy PAR. SPS and LPS corals shouldn't be a problem then. I think. It's been a while since I had T5.
 
Lastly I tested my Nitrates tonight and they are between 5-10 ppm. I do not have any corals right now so is this level safe? I plan to do my water change tomorrow. Since my tank is just over three weeks old will these come down by themselves?
 
reefnoob said:
I think that is fine for now, but make sure you do the water change tomorrow.
Click to expand...

Ok, I figured so. But will the Nitrate level naturally drop in the next couple of weeks? Like I said I am just over week 3 in the cycle and my Ammonia and Nitrite is at 0. My Ph and other parameters are fine as well.
 
Hmm well I am just trying to figure out why mine are at that level and how people with reef aquariums keep them low. I am guess that my Nitrate levels are at this level because I just cycled my tank and the bacteria have been eating alot of Ammonia and Nitrite. And since this is my first real water change from now on they should stay lower as long as I do bi-weekly water changes. Is this previous statement an accurate assessment?
 
It will depend on how you stock the system, how well your protein skimmer works and how good you are about doing water changes. For now, I would do 10% a week and test before the WC and a few hours after your WC to see how the levels were affected. Go from there.
 
Check out Kessil 350 or 350w, yes a little pricey $400 but it will last for years
you won't have to replace the bulbs every 6 months or so and you wont be restricted in what you can keep with this light
 
The last part of the cycle is the nitrate stage...If you dont do water changes or have another method to bring that down it just keeps going higher. Yes your first cycle is done but it continues on and on and on...most reef tanks have another method for nitrate removal.The most common is a refuguim with a macro algae or mangroves. The "plants" (for lack of a better term) eat nitrates, phosphates and such. However you still do water changes to get trates to 0 and replenish the trace elements the corals need for growth, like calcium and magnesium. There are a few other methods like algae scrubbers, deep sand beds, There is even a thing called a aquapure that is suppose to eliminate the need for water changes but I personally dont know of anyone who has one or if it even works... its like fishing lures...some catch fish some catch fishermen...the trick is finding which is which... The tried and true is what most of us use, Live rock, skimmer, refugium and partial water changes...
 

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