Quote:
Originally Posted by Wheelman76
I can see smaller more frequent water changes being better as far as replenishing elements and keeping the tank a little more stable. When it comes to reducing nitrates though larger water changes are obviously better as you are removing more at once , as opposed to smaller more frequent water changes where you keep replacing some of the new water that was just changed. Simple math and I'm pretty sure this topic has been beaten to death on here many times lol.
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I dunno.
All due respect, as I've seen your tanks.
I think I'll stick with Fenner on this one.
I've never seen this topic being discussed before, I'll do a search and see what has been said.
Again from wet web media...
"Frequent water changes allow the aquarist to help dilute and reduce the concentration of waste products from the system before they begin to accumulate as nutrients."
So it's not just simple math...
Hoping to see some of the articles Reefwars was talking about...maybe you can reference a few?
Here is an awesome read on water changes and Nitrate reduction...
In this study, they actually find that there is virtually no difference from smaller regular changes to larger monthly changes, so long as the total changed volume is the same...
Water changes are a good way to help control certain processes that serve to drive reef aquarium water away from its starting purity. Some things build up in certain situations (organics, certain metals, sodium, chloride, nitrate, phosphate, sulfate, etc.), and some things become depleted (calcium, magnesium, alkalinity, strontium, silica, etc.). Water changes can serve to help correct these imbalances, and in some cases may be the best way to deal with them. Water changes of 15-30% per month (whether carried out once a month, daily or continuously) have been shown in the graphs above to be useful in moderating the drift of these different seawater components from starting levels. For most reef aquaria, I recommend such changes as good aquarium husbandry. In general, the more the better, if carried out appropriately, and if the new salt water is of appropriate quality.
Calcium and alkalinity, being rapidly depleted in most reef aquaria, are not well controlled, or even significantly impacted by such small water changes. In order to maintain them with no other supplements, changes on the order of 30-50% PER DAY would be required. Nevertheless, that option may still be a good choice for very small aquaria, especially if the changes are slow and automatic.
Happy Reefing!
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-10/rhf/#5