water changes
 

i have a 30 gallon aquarium. saltwater reef

are water changes needed? i have not been doing any as I am new to the hobby and the pet store told me that they were not needed. they told me just to top up the evaporated water with fresh water and i would be fine.

my question is are:
- water changes needed in my tank?\

- what will happen if i dont do them?

-and when should i be doing them and how much each time.

Be wary of advise from your LFS. Some are great, but other not so much. Get different opinions before you decide who is "right". I would definitely recommend regular waterchanges. A good place to start would probably be 10-20% monthly.

what happens if i dont do them
\

so is adding fresh water to the evaporated water not the same?\

+1....especially if you are not running a skimmer on your tank. The corals in our tanks use various (can't think of right word...) uh, things, in our tanks that need to be replenished on a regular basis. The easiest way to do this is to do regular, frequent water changes.

Minerals!

Many things will dictate when and how much your water changes should be. Things like Skimmer, refugium, amount of live rock, bioload, feeding regiem, type of foods etc all contribute to a dirty tank. Topping up with fresh water does nothing for the quality of your water it only keeps your salinity stable. Evaporating water still leaves all the bad stuff behind. You may want to consider a new LFS as this one is leading you down a trail youll soon regret.

You need to remove water and not just top up in order to get rid of some of the pollutants in the water. You replenish the elements that your corals are using when you add new salt water. The reason you may be having problems with your corals could be high nitrates, or maybe low calcium and kH?

so how much of a water change should i do?

with a 30 gallon tank what are my typical time frames to be doing water changes. and how much..

i do have a protein skimmer....

Go about 10-15% once a week.

I would try 4 gal a week to start.

How much live rock do you have? What livestock are you keeping or planning on keeping? What are your parameters testing at?

+1 on 10-15% weekly

about 30 pounds of live rock.. just want a few fish... want to load the tank with leathers etc.

i do 5 gallons on my 34 bi mothly. i know some will frown upon this, but it works fine for me. everthing is happy.

Not sure if this was metioned below. when you do your top ups make sure you are using fresh water. the reason being that salt doesnt evap. just FYI

check out this thread for tank photos.

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/sho...d=1#post387476


please help. whats going wrong.

In your other thred you said that your wife overdosed the tank on Prime. That's what's going wrong.