yikes heavy nitrates reeked havic in my reef

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

When I've moved my tanks over & condensed them into the big reef, it amounted to at least 150g of new water or over 50% water change. The corals LOVED it. I've done 35-50% water changes in the past with no problems, as long as the temp & salinity was the same.

[michika]

....and now the post shows up....

[Snappy]

Originally Posted by michika

For those of you who do large water changes, how do you do it without exposing your corals, assuming the corals are placed high enough that a larger water change would expose them?

I do the water changes through my refugium and shut it off with valves from my main tank while I do the water change but I am not set up for any more water than I already do at one time.

[michika]

Hopefully your skimmer will take care of your nitrates, along with water changes I'm sure your tank will be back looking beautiful in now time.

I also just noticed that you said you were using Reefresh on your system. How did or didn't the product impact your system while you were skimmerless?

[Snappy]

Originally Posted by michika

Hopefully your skimmer will take care of your nitrates, along with water changes I'm sure your tank will be back looking beautiful in now time.

I also just noticed that you said you were using Reefresh on your system. How did or didn't the product impact your system while you were skimmerless?

I think it helped to keep things stable for quite a while. The more I think about it, my old aquamedic skimmer was not working well for months. Half an inch of skim mate in a week with my bioload isn't much. I know better and should have reacted much sooner but I guess I was in denial. Man, that's two summers in a row. Darn! I definately know better. If I ever buy another aqua medic product I want someone to just shoot me. And if I have the same problem again next summer, I think I'll just have to shoot myself.

[Delphinus]

I've done 100% water changes in the past on smaller tanks. Well, down to about 1" of water anyhow. Didn't have fish though to worry about in that particular tank. But, it sure cleared up a high nitrate buildup lickedy-split! Corals were fine through the ordeal. They slime up a bit, but, the slime sluffs off eventually.

In my experience, in general, larger (eg. 40-60%) water change volumes are not that bad as all that. Yeah, water is cloudy initially, but after a day and it's cleared up, everything just tends to look awesome for it. New water I guess just tastes better for everyone who has to live in it.

[michika]

The board ate my post....

For those of you who do larger water changes, how do you do so without exposing any corals placed high in the tank? Or do you just do as big of water change as your system can handle without exposing any corals, clams, etc.?

[marie]

Originally Posted by michika

The board ate my post....

For those of you who do larger water changes, how do you do so without exposing any corals placed high in the tank? Or do you just do as big of water change as your system can handle without exposing any corals, clams, etc.?

I have drained all the water out of my 175g tank (right down to the sand) to catch the fish. The corals were out of the water for approx. 3/4 hour with no ill effects.
I have also had my clam out of the water when doing a water change. Do you know they can spit water over 6 ft and very accurately got me square in the face

[michika]

Originally Posted by marie

I have also had my clam out of the water when doing a water change. Do you know they can spit water over 6 ft and very accurately got me square in the face

I also unfortunately know this first hand. Sadly mine got me while they were STILL in the water and I was draining my 230g.

[marie]

The ocean never worrys about corals being out of the water during a water change