I am hoping this is a good sign

[ckwatson]

well I thought I was having some problems with my skimmer. But I think it is doing its job my only question is should I be getting stuff this dark with only 3 chromis in a 45 gal tank. I also have 4 corals

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[purplegorilla]

That's pretty dark for just 3 chromis. How old is that and how often do you feed your fish?

 

[ckwatson]

I feed once a day frozen brine. I is maybe a week. I have done a 4 or 5 small water changes may be 1 or 2 gallons at a time. tank has been up for about two and a half to 3 months.

 

[jetchris]

I wouldnt worry about it, those coralife skimmers are actually pretty good as long as the water level is consitent.

 

[dakota9]

ckwatson;107134 wrote: I feed once a day frozen brine. I is maybe a week. I have done a 4 or 5 small water changes may be 1 or 2 gallons at a time. tank has been up for about two and a half to 3 months.

I'd do waterchanges less frequently, but step up the amount of water changed to atleast 15 to 20 percent.

 

[xyzpdq0121]

There is some good things to be said about doing many smaller water changes rather then one big water change. Many would argue it is much better for the system. I used to know a guy that would do 1 gallon water change on his tank every day granted his tank was a 20 gallon, but it was one of the best looking and cleanest tanks that Ihave ever seen.

 

[cameron]

That is quite a bit of skimmate for those inhabitants in that time frame from a skimmer than isn't known for its super skimming ability. Just looking at that I would guess you are over feeding and/or your clean up crew isn't doing a good enough job.

The rule of thumb for me is two water changes a month and 10%-30%. I fall right in the middle with 20% water changes. I think the number of water changes you have done is good, but the amount is low. You should probably be doing 5-10 gallons per change at that rate.

I know some people get away with no water changes, but I tried that approach and it caused numerous problems in my tank that I am still trying to work out. I do not recommend no water changes and frequent water changes tend to burn out the person doing them. 1 or 2 a month is enough to get a benefit and is easy enough to do especially with a smaller tank.

 

[glxtrix]

I do 25g's a week on my 140. Definately a fan of the more frequent smaller water changes. Parms stay constant more and things usually dont go wrong...at least for me.