Salt water changes

[Bazza7]

How often should you do a water change in a salt water aquarium. And should it be 10 %

 

[Flaxon-Waxon]

How often should you do a water change in a salt water aquarium. And should it be 10 %

I seem to see a lot of people doing 10% weekly, however every tank is different. The goal is to have your parameters in check, no ammonia, nitrites or nitrates. Some tanks require more, some less. It also depends on your livestock, as the trace elements that some corals require that are found in the salt will need to be replenished...

 

[Bazza7]

Thanks. I keep koi and nitrates not a problem with them. Is salt water different? My parameters are very stable with regards to ammonia and nitrite.

 

[mr_X]

What size tank is this, what are you keeping in it, and how much and how often do you feed? What filtration are you using? Protein skimmer? How much live rock?

 

[saltcreep1025]

The answer to that question varies from tank to tank. Answer mr_X's questions and you will be able to get a more specific answer.

 

[Live2Reef]

Also consistency is key!

 

[Bazza7]

Ok I've got a 10 gallon sump. About 20kg of live rock. Yes I've got a protein skimmer. 2 power heads and uv steriliser.

 

[mr_X]

Ok I've got a 10 gallon sump. About 20kg of live rock. Yes I've got a protein skimmer. 2 power heads and uv steriliser.

What size is the display? What protein skimmer do you have? the UV steriliser won't effect water changes. What is your current stock list and how large are the fish?

 

[TheTodd]

A lot depends on the tank, everything in it and what is filtering it. The same tank, lets say 90g, with a Chromis might need monthly water changes. Add a few more fish and you might be looking at every week or every other. Keep the fish the same, but change the filtration and times will vary as well. If your nitrates stay low, weekly changes are overkill, IMO.

Give specifics of what you have and you should get a good answer.

 

[Bazza7]

Ok. It's a 100 gallon inc sump. I'm using bubble magus mac 6. My stock is. Stars and stripe puffer about 3inches. A sailfin tang also 3 inches. A Picasso trigger, blue surgeon fish, a polka dot grouper all 3inches the same and a 6 inch pink tail trigger. Oh and 2 cleaner shrimp.

 

[TheTodd]

How big is the actual display tank?

 

[mr_X]

That sounds like a big bio load for a 100 gallon total system. I would say overstocked even.
I would be doing 20% a week at least. The 6" trigger should be re-homed ASAP.

 

[TheTodd]

That sounds like a big bio load for a 100 gallon total system. I would say overstocked even.
I would be doing 20% a week at least. The 6" trigger should be re-homed ASAP.

Absolutely agree.

The other possible concern is that almost every one of those will either outgrow the tank and/or experience health issues due to being in a small tank. If the story is "I plan to upgrade" (as almost everyone with this situation seems to say), I would be upgrading soon.

Great stock list, just not gonna work in that setup for long.

 

[TheTodd]

Also...how many tanks do you have? I looked at other posts and saw one back a few days ago talking about how all your fish are dying. Is this the same 90g?

 

[Bazza7]

Yes mate. Thought my tank was plenty big enough. :-(

 

[TheTodd]

The tricky thing that I've learned over the years is that the current size of the fish is not what you want to look at for both stocking choices and for bioload considerations. Fish will grow, which adds to bioload and some fish, even while small, need lots of room to be "happy". Stressed fish cause, and have, problems.

I use liveaquaria.com as a reference point whenever I am not sure. They tend to go a little larger for suggested minimum tank sizes, but I feel that a little larger can't hurt. A little smaller can cause problems.

Bioload depends a lot on the fish you have and your filtration. With excellent filtration, your number of fish will still vary based on how they eat and how much they eat. You want to plan based on eventual size as well.

 

[Bazza7]

Ok its 120 us gallons. 100 uk gallons.

 

[Bazza7]

I'm in England!!!

 

[Rmckoy]

This seams to be a very popular question as to how often and what percentage of water to change .
I have went from every week to every other week and changing about 20-25%
In my 70 gal
All parameters seam to stay consistent except for the actual water level and saline.
It generally stays at 1.024 and might go up to 1.025 over the period of a week .
I think I might try to find a good site to research this topic .

 

[Bazza7]

It's hard this marine lark. I've kept koi for years without problems. This is much harder