Large water change

abrooks12376 · 07/23/2017, 12:55 PM

Hey all, I've been a fw guy for years, planted tanks and delicate soft water cichlids. These tanks get a weekly 50% wc change. I've been doing a weekly 7% wc on my 45 gal mixed reef system as instructed. Is there any harm in doing a larger wc? Obviously getting sg dialed in. I have 20 gal mixed up and ready. Would a 25% wc be crazy?shock coral??

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heathlindner25 · 07/23/2017, 01:02 PM

Not at all.

abrooks12376 · 07/23/2017, 02:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by heathlindner25

Not at all.

Cool, just that whole "flush the toilet" analogy really stuck.

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billdogg · 07/23/2017, 02:44 PM

I routinely do a 35-40g water change on my 120. If something is seriously wrong, I've done up to about 80%. The suggested norm is 10% weekly or 20% every two weeks.

As long as the salinity, temp, and other parameters match up it will be fine. If you have stony corals, check your Calcium, Alkalinity, and Magnesium in both the tank and the make up water and adjust the new water to match.

hth

abrooks12376 · 07/23/2017, 02:48 PM

Sump is 15 gal and dt is 29, in going to simply drain the sump and refill..

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Valentini89 · 07/23/2017, 02:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by abrooks12376

Sump is 15 gal and dt is 29, in going to simply drain the sump and refill..

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That's not the best thing to do. You want to remove as much of the nasty water in the tank as well as vacuuming up after using a turkey baster on the rocks and sand.

abrooks12376 · 07/23/2017, 03:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Valentini89

That's not the best thing to do. You want to remove as much of the nasty water in the tank as well as vacuuming up after using a turkey baster on the rocks and sand.

I can do that to.

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der_wille_zur_macht · 07/23/2017, 03:19 PM

It really depends on the tank. I've had systems that benefited from actual vacuuming, since there would be obvious areas where detritus settled, or the rock would get gunky, or whatever. In my current tank, there's literally nothing to suck up, so I do usually just drain water from the sump since it's more convenient. Even blowing off the rockwork with a turkey baster pretty much does nothing. This is the benefit to a ton of flow, starting with clean rock, and good nutrient export for the amount of food I put in - the tank stays fairly clean on it's own.

If you've got older, dirty rockwork, or you have cyano blooming on your sand, or low enough flow that detritus settles out in the display, or some other visually obvious problem - then yes, absolutely, take advantage of the water change to suck that stuff out.

abrooks12376 · 07/24/2017, 07:43 PM

Did a big one, nothing died! Yet....

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07/23/2017, 12:55 PM	#1
abrooks12376 Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2016 Posts: 135	Large water change Hey all, I've been a fw guy for years, planted tanks and delicate soft water cichlids. These tanks get a weekly 50% wc change. I've been doing a weekly 7% wc on my 45 gal mixed reef system as instructed. Is there any harm in doing a larger wc? Obviously getting sg dialed in. I have 20 gal mixed up and ready. Would a 25% wc be crazy?shock coral?? Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using Tapatalk

07/23/2017, 02:44 PM	#4
billdogg Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Grove City, Ohio Posts: 10,806	I routinely do a 35-40g water change on my 120. If something is seriously wrong, I've done up to about 80%. The suggested norm is 10% weekly or 20% every two weeks. As long as the salinity, temp, and other parameters match up it will be fine. If you have stony corals, check your Calcium, Alkalinity, and Magnesium in both the tank and the make up water and adjust the new water to match. hth __________________ I'll try to be nice if you try to be smarter! I can't help that I grow older, but you can't make me grow up! Current Tank Info: 120 mixed reef with 40b sump, RO 150 skimmer, AI Sol Blue x 2, and a 60g Frag Tank with 100g rubbermaid sump. 2 x Kessil A360w lights, BM curve 5 skimmer

07/23/2017, 03:19 PM	#8
der_wille_zur_macht Team RC Member Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: NY Posts: 17,749	It really depends on the tank. I've had systems that benefited from actual vacuuming, since there would be obvious areas where detritus settled, or the rock would get gunky, or whatever. In my current tank, there's literally nothing to suck up, so I do usually just drain water from the sump since it's more convenient. Even blowing off the rockwork with a turkey baster pretty much does nothing. This is the benefit to a ton of flow, starting with clean rock, and good nutrient export for the amount of food I put in - the tank stays fairly clean on it's own. If you've got older, dirty rockwork, or you have cyano blooming on your sand, or low enough flow that detritus settles out in the display, or some other visually obvious problem - then yes, absolutely, take advantage of the water change to suck that stuff out. __________________ Inconveniencing marine life since 1992 "It is my personal belief that reef aquaria should be thriving communities of biodiversity, representative of their wild counterparts, and not merely collections of pretty specimens growing on tidy clean rock shelves covered in purple coralline algae." (Eric Borneman)

07/23/2017, 01:02 PM	#2
heathlindner25 Moved On Join Date: May 2012 Location: flowery branch georgia Posts: 3,644	Not at all.

07/23/2017, 02:48 PM	#5
abrooks12376 Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2016 Posts: 135	Sump is 15 gal and dt is 29, in going to simply drain the sump and refill.. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using Tapatalk

07/24/2017, 07:43 PM	#9
abrooks12376 Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2016 Posts: 135	Did a big one, nothing died! Yet.... Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using Tapatalk