Water change

[Lloydxmas]

I have a 75 gallon tank with 40 Breeder sump. 0ammomia 0 nitrites and <10 nitrates. All testing done with api test kits. I have been doing 25 gallon changes once a week. This seems like a lot to me.... Am I right or wrong? Any suggestions?

 

[dmolavi]

What is your goal? If it's to drive nitrates down, keep it up, reduce feeding and lighting if possible.

If it's a FOWLR tank, you should be OK with those params. You can try shifting to a smaller volume and see what happens. Taking into account displacement from rock/sand, you're probably at 25% a week, which is good.

 

[BigRedsReefs10]

Your lighting will not affect nitrate. 25% is what I do in my systems. I also feed only 3x a week with 1 large feeding for coral and fish the night before my wc

 

[Lloydxmas]

I'm just trying to see if what I'm doing is what I need to do or if I'm over killing it. I have 2 clowns and 2 cleaner shrimp and maybe 10 snails/blue leg hermits in total.

 

[BigRedsReefs10]

No 25% is fine for weekly wc's

 

[Big Tex]

I'm just trying to see if what I'm doing is what I need to do or if I'm over killing it. I have 2 clowns and 2 cleaner shrimp and maybe 10 snails/blue leg hermits in total.

there is no overkill with water changes unless its over 50%, i have a 75g future reef with a 30g long refugium and i plan on 20g-30g water changes because you have to take into account your total volume not just tank volume, anywhere from 20%-30% is suitable every 2wks for your setup since its so lightly stocked i would go with 20% and just watch your parameters and keep your nitrates under 15ppm maximum

 

[erichm20]

I have a 75 with a 20L sump and have been doing 10g changes weekly and it has kept everything stable no3 is undetectable and po4 is always less than .10. I have API as well so every so often I bring a sample to the lfs to be sure. My issue seems to be keeping ph above 8 so I add buffer.

 

[Lloydxmas]

Then should I be doing 25% changes every other week?

 

[Big Tex]

Then should I be doing 25% changes every other week?

25% every 2 wks sounds good, i do a 30% every 2 weeks so 30g water changes for me, but if that doesnt dop your parameters low enough, you can switch to 20% weekly, it all depends on your system.

 

[Callen]

I have a 75 with a wet dry sump so no more than 10 g there. I do a 30 gallon change every other week because that's what fits in my Brute. Nitrates always at or around 10 before the water change.

 

[dmolavi]

It depends on what's in the tank. If you don't have any coral, you can afford to let your nitrates creep up a little, and you should be able to get away with every other week changes. If you have a reef tank, you need to keep an eye on those 'trates, and you might have to change every week.

A good way to figure out if you have to do that is to take a nitrate reading every day, and see when they leave your "comfort zone" for what you'd like in the tank. That's your cue to do the change. Repeat this a couple of times and see if your nitrates rise consistently, ie every 10 days they get too high for comfort. In the long run, this will save you time and money.