DKoKoMAN’s 305g Basement Reef

[DKoKoMan]

No one has really chimed in regarding WC volume and frequency for a larger tank. Obviously if NO3 and PO4 goes up it is time for a WC but this can be controlled by carbon dosing or specialized media. I’m looking more for replacement of of trace elements and general health of the reef. I am currently doing biweekly WC of 10% and overall everything is looking good. I was just wondering if I could get away with monthly WC to cut down the amount of time spent.

Please feel free to offer suggestions or feedback.

[smokinreefer]

WC is subjective, find a routine that works for your system.
If 10% biweekly is working out so far, adjust from there if you want to spread apart.

Try say 15-20% every 3 or 4 weeks. Do that for a while and see how the tank responds.

Some do WC few and far between, some do weekly changes religiously.

FWIW, way back my nicest sps dominant 180 got very random infrequent WC. And usually I would do 30G at a time.

Now having said that, on my new display which will be SPS dominant, I'm going to try aim for regular monthly WC of about 10-20%. (Probably 10% at 30G). This is probably on the lower end of the spectrum I'm guessing.

[DKoKoMan]

Originally Posted by smokinreefer

WC is subjective, find a routine that works for your system.
If 10% biweekly is working out so far, adjust from there if you want to spread apart.

Try say 15-20% every 3 or 4 weeks. Do that for a while and see how the tank responds.

Some do WC few and far between, some do weekly changes religiously.

FWIW, way back my nicest sps dominant 180 got very random infrequent WC. And usually I would do 30G at a time.

Now having said that, on my new display which will be SPS dominant, I'm going to try aim for regular monthly WC of about 10-20%. (Probably 10% at 30G). This is probably on the lower end of the spectrum I'm guessing.

Thanks for the information! I like 30g WC myself as it is quite easy to do in the new tank. I always bock at the idea of doing the 30g WC monthly but cave in shortly sticking to biweekly.

I have read a bunch of information that states small frequent WC really take the SPS to the peak in colour and growth. I guess I will just stick to what I have been doing for a couple months. I may brave stretching the WC out and see how he tank reacts. Everything is still settling in so I don’t want to rock the boat too much.

[e46er]

I did 50 G every 2weeks on my 250 with a 75G sump

Your tank looks good!

[DKoKoMan]

Originally Posted by e46er

I did 50 G every 2weeks on my 250 with a 75G sump

Your tank looks good!

Thanks for your input your tank was a bit larger than mine but very close. I’m not super lazy when it comes to WC, just wasn’t sure if it’s worse to do biweekly vs monthly.

Thanks for the compliment. The tank is coming along, since the setup all the sps have been showing great PE and growth. I will try to get some photos up of some of the mini colonies showing growth.

[DKoKoMan]

So today I ended up doing a 10% WC and decided to hook up one of the Aquamaxx media reactors to the manifold. I may hard plumb it in the future but for now I chose to use flexible hose. The ball valves make it easy to adjust the flow from the return pump in to the reactor chamber. I set this one up with GFO inside and it is throttled back to allow for a light tumble of the GFO. I may need to upgrade my return pump in the future when I add the other reactors.

[DKoKoMan]

I also installed my new clamp and grow bulb 💡 (ordered from amazon) on to the Fuge. This bulb is more of the red/purple spectrum and will hopefully boost the chaeto growth. I was looking at the Kessil H380 however the price point for a Fuge light is a little insane. I will try this light and see what happens. This has smd leds (red, blue, green and uv) compared to my old light which consisted of (red, blue, green and white). Here are a couple photos of the light and reflector clamp. I will try to get a shot when the bulb is lit at night.