water change question

[Amadod2]

hi everyone i just have a general WC question, i was told today that the way i do water changes isn't the best for my SPS, i do a 30% water change every three weeks, and i was told to do less more often, in the past i was told to do more less ofter?! lol what works for you guys/gals out there? any input would help thanks

[ReefMadness]

I've never heard that so my ears are open as well.
my current schedule is to do 15 gallons every week (10% of total tank volume) as I was trying to eradicate some cyano due to bulbs past their prime. I will say that my corals have been looking more vibrant since changing over to that schedule.

[Myka]

With SPS in particular, stability is key. So the less more often schedule would theoretically be better. There are successful SPS reefs with all sorts of waterchange schedules, including things like 4 times per year. Crazy talk! Haha

[Dearth]

Go onto any salt water forum and you will find this is a hot button topic with many different answers and as far as I am concerned there is no right or wrong answer to this question. There are people who do a water change every 3 days to those who haven't done a water change in a year or more regardless of tank size

If what your doing for water changes is working for your tank then keep on trucking but if you want to try something different try 3-6 months of a different water change schedule and take pictures once or twice a month to compare to see if what your doing is working for you or not.

As with anything if you notice deterioration of corals stop and go back to what was working for you.

I made the decision not to have sps coral and went softie tank and I do one water change a month on average but it's what works for me.

Remember it's your tank do what you think is best for your tank all we do is provide guidelines or what works for us

[SoloSK71]

Originally Posted by Dearth

If what your doing for water changes is working for your tank then keep on

That is the definition successful reef keeping.

Charles

[Amadod2]

Well currently I'm trying to go back to the basics as I never successfully had an sps tank. That's why I'm gauging what everyone else is doing. I want to be able to get the best results

[tang daddy]

Keeping a successful sps tank is not easy, while some have no problems others struggle.

The general rule is weekly or biweekly water changes 10-20%.

Try that out while watching your sps and see if they are growing or not.
Test alk weekly to make sure it is stable while ca and mg too.

I find if I have high po4 my sps stop growing regardless of the big 3 being on the higher side.

It's a balance but sps like clean water, lots of flow and lots of food.

If you can keep your params stable long enough you will see faster growth.

[Galizio]

I think every tank is different, also the water volume can be a factor. Can't see a little 10/20 g tank going without water changes for long periods of time.
In my experience, I tried monthly WC before, now I do 5 or 10% weekly and sometimes 20%.
Have to say the weekly WC are easier imo, little and fast water changes, also I see my corals do better with this routine....
So I decided to base my WC just looking at how my corals do .
And tell you the truth I like it better also because I have bare bottom and is easier to pick up all the deposit every week, so the tank stay clean...



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[tang daddy]

Bare bottom here aswell 90g display I do 5g every 3-4 days to suck out detritous and every 2 weeks 25g. The 5g waterchange I use probiotic salt and 25g just regular IO.

[DKoKoMan]

I started with monthly water changes in my 75g. My phosphates got very high so I have been doing 20% water changes every 3 days for a while. Everything is back in check so I am planning on doing biweekly water changes. I hope this is able to maintain everything as I have a high bioload. I may end up doing weekly WC's if I have to. I'm thinking the monthly WC may be to long for me, but I May try this first before bi-weekly.