Water change frequency if dosing

[Davidman]

The reason we do water change is to remove nitrate and replenish calcium, etc.

if I dose 2 parts, magnesium, and some trace elements. Also have refugium for macro algae to consume nitrate and phosphate.

Then why do we need to do weekly water change? How often people do water change if dosing and have means to remove nitrate?

i have seen people do water change every 3 months. Wow.

by the way, I hate water change.

 

[bg2311]

On a newer tank, regular water changes are enough to replenish your alk/calc/mag/trace elements. This also removes excess nutrients, toxins, unwanted chemicals/medicines etc. As time goes on your alk/calc/mag consumption will go up as your tank inhabitants grow so you will likely start dosing to replenish them between water changes. You may find eventually that you need to do these changes less frequently as your tanks biofilter, nutrient export (like your refugium) and other equipment you may add makes them necessary less frequently. Water changes are the sledgehammer method of getting parameters back in line (to or towards a known good value) and removing unwanted nutrients/toxins. The larger the water change the more expensive they become.

 

[dball711]

In my opinion water changes are a necessary part of reef keeping, period. In my 65 gallon tanks I change 10 gallons weekly. I dose a 2 part to keep CAL and ALK stable. Water changes also keep trace elements in check, I dose those too. Water changes also help dilute concentrations of anything that might build up over time.

An aquarium is a closed system and really benefits from removing some of the old water and replenishing it with fresh water. My tanks are heavy stocked with corals, mainly SPS. I have taken my Fuge offline and have to dose nitrate to keep my nitrate level at 5mg.

 

[Davidman]

You dose nitrate to SPS tank? I thought they like low nitrate (clean water)

 

[dball711]

Yes I have to dose 35mg of nitrate daily to maintain a reading of 4-5mg.

 

[dball711]

It has nothing to do with "dirty water", the water is clean and Nitrate is nutrition for the corals. They can not survive on zero nitrates.

 

[sharis100]

Automate your water changes and then just monitor to make sure your levels are on target with your expectations
We use our apex to do auto water changes on all our systems.

 

[Davidman]

I can use a PMUP to pump saltwater from saltwater reservoir in the basement. But it take ages for 15 gallon (3/8 ID line with about 10 feet lift.

what do you do as far as pumping water into display tank?

 

[sharis100]

I can use a PMUP to pump saltwater from saltwater reservoir in the basement. But it take ages for 15 gallon (3/8 ID line with about 10 feet lift.

what do you do as far as pumping water into display tank?

We use Apex with dos units set to schedule to move water in and out of system. IE 50 gallons per week spread out evenly over all the days of the week pumping in basement sump/frag system and out to drain in sink. With automatic changes the amount per hour is very small and spread out overtime and our system is hooked up to our basement sump. So we never pull water directly out of DT with this method. We can pull water rapidly in case of emergency, but not for routine water scheduled changes.

 

[ichthyoid]

Also,
If you really hate water changes, the Reef Moonshiner’s method was developed to try & eliminate or minimize them. Some have reported success with it -

Reef Moonshiner's Dosing Calculator Rev.7

Reef Moonshiner's Elements Dosing Calculator

andremueller.e-junkie.com