Reefs best freind ?

[pritchard]

10% water change weekly has been my best freind for nearly 4 years now ! Soft coral reef and all I dose is iodine !

 

[pritchard]

And I'm now using bright well aquatics neo-marine salt !



Top results !

 

[molliwopp]

10%? Is that all. Im glad that its working for you. I wouldnt of thought 10% weekly would be enough.

 

[MarinaClown]

10%? Is that all. Im glad that its working for you. I wouldnt of thought 10% weekly would be enough.

That's 40% monthly...plenty in my view unless it's a really small system.

 

[molliwopp]

Well considering i do 30% every second day its not alot to me but then i have FW malawis and salties are much more sensitive to changes in water chemistry.

 

[Animal-Chin]

100% a week? Ya us reefers couldn't afford that...lol Yikes...

 

[Terrance]

That's 40% monthly...plenty in my view unless it's a really small system.

Its not really 40%. Probably an average of a little more than 10% per month after considering dilution for every 10% water change.

 

[MarinaClown]

Its not really 40%. Probably an average of a little more than 10% per month after considering dilution for every 10% water change.

Explain dilution and how you came up with 10% monthly water change. What formula are you using?

 

[mr_X]

Because the 10% new water mixes with the 90% old water, and then when you pull 10% more out, you are taking some of last week's change along with some of the oldest water...and on, and on...
To the OP- you do not need to be adding iodine to your tank. It's already in your salt mix.

 

[MarinaClown]

Because the 10% new water mixes with the 90% old water, and then when you pull 10% more out, you are taking some of last week's change along with some of the oldest water...and on, and on... To the OP- you do not need to be adding iodine to your tank. It's already in your salt mix.

Edit: to sound nicer
What you are saying is doing a 10% weekly water change is the same as doing 10% monthly. We shouldn't ignore the fact that more water volume goes in per month doing weekly water changes.

 

[melosu58]

Im glad you are doing PWC`s. As mentioned above you should not have to dose iodine as its in your SW mix. Never dose anything you are not testing for.

 

[mr_X]

Edit: to sound nicer
What you are saying is doing a 10% weekly water change is the same as doing 10% monthly. We shouldn't ignore the fact that more water volume goes in per month doing weekly water changes.

What I'm saying? I'm saying exactly what I said above. You asked for an explanation of the dilution. I have no idea what percentages are, nor do I even care.

 

[TheTodd]

Exactly right. 10% a week is nowhere near 40% a month, as you are going to be getting some newer and some older water. With a single 40% change, you are taking out 40% old and putting in 40% new.

IMO, the Bottom line is that water changes are important, as they both replenish nutrients and extract nitrates. The exact percentage does not matter, as long as everything is healthy and levels stay in check. My 240g with one, ten or twenty fish is going need adjusted changes as the stock increases.

 

[MarinaClown]

I am actually indifferent to what percentage it is also.

To Mr. X: I questioned another poster's reply that provided no basis whatsoever for his or her claim. Your reply started with the word Because which led me to understand that you were trying to explain the same exact point I was questioning.
To The Todd: I also don't quiet understand a claim that states "10% a week is nowhere near 40% a month" without any explanation which in my view could only be mathematical as well as chemical to some degree. I understand you said "some newer and older water" in your reference to dilution. But as a mathematically challenged person I don't find it persuasive. Sorry.
I don't really have a problem with either one of you personally as both of you have contributed to my earlier threads in a positive way. I just wish there were more data in your answers to support your claims.
I can explain my statement by the following reasoning which is by no means perfect mathematically as dilution is definitely an important part of the process. When I do a 10% water change on 10 gallons, I am putting 4 gallons of new water per month which constitutes a 40% change.
But like TheTodd said "water changes are important, as they both replenish nutrients and extract nitrates."

 

[molliwopp]

Let me have ago at explaining it. Im using easier numbers to make it simpler to understand but the underlying princible is still there.

Example:
Ok so lets say you do a 10% change daily. And i do 70% weekly. 10% × 7days = 70% right? or so you thought.

Lets say both tanks have equal amounts of nitrates of 100ppm and lets say our fishes produce 5ppm of nitrate daily.

Your first change 1.) : 10% of 100ppm is 10ppm so now you have 90ppm +5 (fish production) 95ppm.

2.) 10% of 95ppm is 9.5ppm, 95 - 9.5 = 85.5 +5 =90.5ppm
3.) 10% of 90.5 = 9.05, 90.5 - 9.05 = 81.45 +5 = 86.45
4.) 10% of 86.45 = 8.645, 86.45 - 8.645= 77.805 + 5 = 82.805.
5.) 10% of 82.805 = 8.2805, 82.805 - 8.2805 = 74.5245 +5 = 79.5245
6.) 10% of 79.5245 = 7.95245, 79.5245 - 7.95245 = 71.57205 + 5 = 76.57205
7.) 10% of 76.57205 = 7.657205, 76.57205 - 7.657205 = 68.914845 +5 = 73.914845.

Right now for my 70% 100ppm + 6days worth with 5ppm added to the total on day 7. Exactly like i did at the end of day 7 with yours. production is 30ppm +100 = 130ppm, 70% of 130 = 91ppm removed leaving 30% old water containing the other 39ppm + the day 7. 5ppm = 44ppm

73.9ppm vs 44ppm
30ppm more left over after doing 10% daily compared to the large single change.

It will be less dramatic with one 40% vs 4 10% I chose the numbers carefully to stop them becoming to big to type and an even bigger mess to read.

 

[TheTodd]

I probably can not explain it properly in mathematical terms. I do know that four 10% does not equal a net 40% change. It just can't.

If you have a 100 gallon tank and change 10 gallons today, you have done 10%. If a week from today, you do another 10 gallons, that is 10%, but some of the water you took out was some of the new that you added last week, so maybe its more like 8% net (who knows?). Continue losing 2% for weeks 3 and 4 and you are probably closer to a net monthly change of 33-35%. That is not taking into account that smaller changes do less to bring things like nitrates down. I'm a bigger fan of doing changes as needed and I typically do 30-40% at once. If my nitrates get high after three weeks, i do a change. If they stay low for 6 weeks, then I will change when they creep up. I am talking for FOWLR, so for reef, the nutrient replacement probably needs to occur more on a schedule.

 

[Mebbid]

Wow guys... This is really just arguing semantics and is kind of ridiculous.

 

[pritchard]

All I'm saying is 10% weekly works wonders for me ! Lol

 

[pritchard]

The way I see it is just weekly replenishment of trace elements !

 

[LKemp712]

Dosing iodine? What levels? I just started a coral tank and was contemplating calcium and magnesium to start.