Frequent Water Changes. Bad?

[darren24]

I work from home and have my tank in my home office. I am somewhat obsessive complusive so about every other day (on my lunch hour) I do like a 5 gallon water change. The tank is a 60 cube with an Eshops sump. Is there any downside from doing this? Thanks in advance.

 

[silver surfer]

IMO if the water you are using matches your tank water, you can't over do water changes. Now 100% everyday might be too much.

But the real question is, how are your corals responding? They will let you know how things are going.

 

[darren24]

Everything seems to be fine. I have not seen any ill effects but in the past I would only do bi-weekly water changes so just making sure.

 

[jef4y]

Small frequent changes like 1 gal/day are not really an issue, but when you start getting bigger, you can stress the fish & corals out a bit.

Really it depends on how you do it. Do you shut off all the flow? etc? That will add stress to the tank.

and 5g every other day on a 60g tank is a bit of overkill IMHO. I was doing 15 every 2-3 weeks on my 60, and that was still a bit much.

 

[heathlindner25]

wow I think you even beat me in ocd, I do 2 water changes a week ,5 gallons each in a 36 and I thought I did a lot. My corals love it.

 

[darren24]

Thanks folks. One thing I have noticed is that I do not have any algae issues to speak of. Not sure if the 2 are related but just an observation.

 

[glxtrix]

To me...seems a little costly...however the idea is not bad. Think of liter meters, that's what they were designed for. I think you could drop down to 1g a day if you're really into changing water.

 

[darren24]

Lee you are correct. I am going through some Reef Crystals....

 

[heathlindner25]

my reasoning is I want to provide the best possible environment for my animals, and I think it's 1 of the cheapest ways to ensure that.

 

[merkywater]

Small frequent water changes are actually better Darren, than bi weekly large. Less stress on corals from what I have read.

 

[darren24]

Great thanks for the input folks.

 

[heathlindner25]

merkywater;816800 wrote: small frequent water changes are actually better darren, than bi weekly large. Less stress on corals from what i have read.

+1

 

[acroholic]

Frequent water changes aren't bad at all, as far as I have ever been able to see. You might get less skimmate from your protein skimmer.

 

[enderg60]

As long as you arnt causing swings in temp or parameters then its all good.

My tank is setup to do a 2g water change every day.

 

[heathlindner25]

Acroholic;816815 wrote: Frequent water changes aren't bad at all, as far as I have ever been able to see. You might get less skimmate from your protein skimmer.

that's a good thing right?

 

[mcphock]

Frequent Water Changes. Bad?

No. Good.

 

[snowmansnow]

ASSUMING your water quality IS good.... then a lot of water changes can cause instability. Like my 120 tank... the parameters in that particular tank as far as trace elements / alk / ca... are more in line with what I want then freshly made water.

B

 

[superclown]

I was doing a bi weekly 5 gallon water change and I was having phosphate issues even with running a cheato a phosban reactor Skimmer and carbon in a sock.

I have started doing weekly changes of 2 gallons and my tank is doing better. I am contemplating switching over to a 1 gallon change twice a week it seems more frequent changes do better than larger volume less often. My skimmer is skimming even less than usual with doing this

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

 

[heathlindner25]

I realize every tank is different, but I experienced more instability when I did less water changes say every week instead of twice a week. my tank is very small though 36 gallon and with the two water changes a week plus adding alkalinity to my top of water I've never had it more stable. and I love my phosphates at 0.03, with only a hang on the back skimmer and I hang on the back fuge! and it's an SPS tank.

 

[eagle9252]

i guess if you wanted more changes instead of ATO in the DT you could do it in the SW mix tank and you could have a timer that would come on and put more sw in the dt. this means you would need an overflow for the extra water to leave the tank. then the ATO would keep the sw mix where it needed to be at.

that sounds like a lot of stuff to do for a small tank. i have heard of some people running a real wet skim and have the hose exiting the tank.