90% Water change

[bpitts4]

Is it a bad idea to change out that much water volume on an already established tank? Will this has a negative effect on the fish and corals? Should I add some live bacteria to the water like bio spira or something. Everything else remains the same meaning sand and live rock. What are your thoughts before I pull the trigger and do the change.

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[acroholic]

It seems a bit extreme to me, unless you have some type of dire need, like some contaminant in the water.

If you have to, I would make sure the specific gravity, temperature, and alkalinity are the same as the water you are pulling out.

 

[bpitts4]

It is extreme. I have considered all of the items that you have mentioned and will make sure they are as closely match ex as possible. My reason for the high volume change is a nitrate issue. I was on travel for 3 months and relied on my wife and son to take care of my tank. All is normal except for my nitrates which are through the roof and I can see a clear difference in my coral health. I have tried smaller changes but it doesn't seem to be working.

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[cbj25]

For nitrates why not 2 40% water changes 3 days apart?

 

[raz0945]

+1 you will shock your coral and fish with large changes! Do small- 30% waters changes x3, 3-4 days apart then get back on your weekly change schedule.

 

[mcphock]

PS: No need for bacterial stimulants. The bacteria that make tanks habitable live on your rocks, et al... not in the water column.

 

[ralph atl]

Acroholic;912211 wrote: It seems a bit extreme to me, unless you have some type of dire need, like some contaminant in the water.

If you have to, I would make sure the specific gravity, temperature, and alkalinity are the same as the water you are pulling out.

agree here, otherwise I would do 40% to 50% water changes 2 to 3 times a week until you have what you want accomplshed. (even then, you will need to match Temp, Alk, Salinity)

 

[jbdreefs]

I recently read a blog on high nitrates where water changes didnt seem to affect the level, or at least with any lasting effect. This person had not been vacuuming the substrate bed and found that the bottom of his tank was nothing but fish poop. Any chance you have a similar issue?

 

[enderg60]

Done it many times on many tanks. Its no big deal. Just get your parameters adjusted so its similar to the old water.

Also if youre doing it for high nitrates be careful. Large drops in nitrate can be toxic to fish odd as it sounds, but its large drops. Like going from 150 to 30. 40 to zero isnt a big deal.

 

[bulkrate]

Another vote for smaller, frequent 30-50% water changes if you're fighting a parameter being out of whack. The higher percentage you go, the more carefully you have to match between the new water and the existing tank's and sometime ANY change (even for the "better") can shock the inhabitants.

I usually change out 2-4 gallons a week on my 9 gallon cube. Water's mixed up and stored in 1-gallon bottles in the garage... I just allow one to come to normal house temp and verify the salinity's where I want it and then go. Takes all of 15 minutes, tank temp rarely dips even a degree and my corals have never looked better plus don't have that "pissed off" look for a couple of hours following a change, anymore.

 

[jdavid]

Also, you can use seachem prime every coupe of days to detoxify nitrates.

Edit: From the Seachem website:

Q: How does Prime make a difference in reducing Nitrates?

A: The detoxification of nitrite and nitrate by Prime (when used at elevated levels) is not well understood from a mechanistic standpoint. The most likely explanation is that the nitrite and nitrate is removed in a manner similar to the way ammonia is removed; i.e. it is bound and held in a inert state until such time that bacteria in the biological filter are able to take a hold of it, break it apart and use it. Two other possible scenarios are reduction to nitrogen (N2) gas or conversion into a benign organic nitrogen compound.
I wish we had some more "concrete" explanation, but the end result is the same, it does actually detoxify nitrite and nitrate. This was unexpected chemically and thus initially we were not even aware of this, however we received numerous reports from customers stating that when they overdosed with Prime they were able to reduce or eliminate the high death rates they experienced when their nitrite and nitrate levels were high. We have received enough reports to date to ensure that this is no fluke and is in fact a verifiable function of the product.

 

[jennm]

Nothing good ever happens fast in a reef tank.

What are your nitrates at, and what did you use to test with?

While the solution to pollution is dilution, as others have mentioned, you are going to be better off changing a small amount of water, more often, to bring them down. Small, frequent changes actually change more net water over time, and are less of a disruption.

Do a huge water change, you'll get a diatom bloom as the tank's equilibrium will be thrown off. No need to cause a new problem to fix an old one, IMO.

Prime won't "remove" the nitrate but it will make it less toxic, so it's a decent "band aid" solution until you can effect the proper correction.

Jenn

 

[snowmansnow]

what kinda live stuff is in the tank now?

 

[bpitts4]

All,

Thanks for the valuable feedback. I have the tank stocked with everything. Fish, hard and soft corals and anemones. The tanks is 180 gallons and I have decided to change out 50 gallons every 2 or 3 days until I achieve the desired results. Is 50g a reasonable volume of water on that time schedule? Again thanks for all of the feedback. And I also don't think I have an issue with build up of nitrates in the sand bed because I have a horseshoe crab that keeps the sand bed pretty spotless.

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