Water Changes?

[StephenA]

How often and how much water does everyone change? I change 20% of my water once a week. Every time I read about the Tank of The Month on RC. Most don't have a set water change.
This is from the current Tank of the Month:


"As I mentioned, we don't have a strict regime of regular water changes, although we're hoping to get into some sort of routine in the not too distant future, possibly changing about 30 gallons per month. "

I'm I wasting my time and money changing 20% every week?

[MikeP]

Stephen, for what it's worth I do 10% (30 gallons) a month on my reef and do smaller waterchanges on my other tanks maybe every 6 weeks or so.

[alexwolf]

heres another question, I changed 30 gallons on my 175 yesterday. Is it pointless to change another 30 today? Would i be pulling the good water out too? :?

[jng3]

I do 5% change per week with about 5% RO/DI added per week to replace evaporation.

[BA]

well not pointless alex, just not as effective, just like you said you will be pulling out most of the "dirty" water, but also some of the new water you just put in, so it's still beneficial

[adamRS80]

I would say that doing a 20% water change once a week is a little more than necessary. I usually change about 20% once a month, and do a random one every now and again in between. If you have a skimmer running well and your water tests well than I would just do a good sized water change one a month to replenish trace elements. You could probabl do it moer often tha once a month, but every week seems like quite a bit.

[obtusewit]

I do a 10-15% water change every month to 6 weeks. I use RO with DI to mix the saltwater about 2 days prior to the change and drop a limewood airstone in it. I see the shrooms and zoos perk up a bit about an hour after I finish doing the change. I tried weekly water changes for a few months, about 10% each week, but noticed that it took a day or two for them to fully extend after the change. I see about a 2% evap per day and replace the it with RO bypassing the DI. I have noticed that when I use the DI on make-up water, some of the critters kind of curl at the edges a bit. I have a 60 gpd Kent and just let it run right on into the sump straight from the unit, bypassing the DI.

I started keeping marine tanks in 1974, back when sterile was the word. About a year later I met Dr. Chen Eng and he gave an impromptu lecture on his "natural method" using only an airstone and letting the tank get a bit of age on it. After the shock of the first bit diatom bloom, I have never gone back to anything resembling really clean. My tanks seem to thrive a lot better with a bit of crud on the bottom and a little age on the water.

Just MHO but it has worked for me a long time.