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Old 09-24-2009, 03:42 PM
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sphelps sphelps is offline
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While doing larger water changes less often is more efficient in lowering nutrients than smaller ones more often, stability is better with the smaller more often approach. This is why many people find better results with weekly changes over monthly ones. The question is, is there a line where too often becomes a problem? Is weekly really the most often you can go for best results? I don't personally think so, for a reef system I would promote more often as better, you'll just have to change a little more water each time to match the effectiveness of weekly or monthly changes.

I've setup a few systems including my own which use a similar principal but for different reasons. For automation or semi-automation smaller daily changes creates a simpler system and requires less water storage. Using this method I've always seen good results as stability is increased. Salt is either added manually or the top off water is has enough salt content to match the system requirements to maintain constant salinity. Using this method I've never noticed much change in skimming. I've also noticed my skimmer will stop working properly for about an hour after a standard 10% water change, so I don't see any real potential for a skimming problem.

As a final note I'll mention that public aquariums change water in their systems on a daily basis, I suspect they do this for two main reasons, 1 maintain low nutrients and good water quality and 2 maintain stability in reason 1.

Perhaps the loss in efficiency is outweighed by the gain in stability and simplicity. It makes much more sense to me to distribute a large water change into smaller ones, how often depends on how much water needs to be changed.
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