Water changes
- Thread starter esaone
- Start date
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If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
austinsdad
Aquarium Advice Addict
5.0 is real good IMO. Some folks die for that.
Bi-weekly I'm thinking. Reef tank? How old is the tank now?
Bi-weekly I'm thinking. Reef tank? How old is the tank now?
I think it's about 3 months old now.
I haven't change in 3 weeks and I just tested nitrate at 5.0
No Reef.
CluelessInNY
Aquarium Advice Activist
so how is NitrAte 2.5? Is that okay for the fish to llive in?
mr_X
Aquarium Advice Addict
yes, nitrates aren't so toxic like nitrite and ammonia. a barely noticable presence won't hurt them.
ryshark
Aquarium Advice Addict
Hypothetically, if after 1-month without doing a pwc the water parameters are still pristine (nitrate-5, ammonia/nitrite-0, all trace elements still good etc) is it still a necessity to do a water change? Of course I always do, but I have wondered about this. My guess is that the pwc has something to do with removing dissolved organics as well???
fijiwigi
Aquarium Advice Addict
Well how do you test for trace elements?
mr_X
Aquarium Advice Addict
i would say its not necessary. do you test for trace elements?
ryshark
Aquarium Advice Addict
In addition to the norm, I test for Calcium, Magnesium and Phosphate.
mr_X
Aquarium Advice Addict
i don't test for anything anymore. i haven't tested my water in about 8 months. i do weekly waterchanges though.
cmor1701d
Aquarium Advice Addict
There is a lot more in the water than the items we can test for. A regular pwc helps to remove items we don't want in the water column and add back the trace minerals we don't test for. Weekly, bi-monthly, or monthly, it should part of your routine maintenance. I do 20% every other week.
Skyrmir
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Nitrate is just the indicator used to detect all the processes going on in the tank that it would be too hard to test for. Kinda like a sniff test on a baby. If it don't smell right, it's probably best to change it. The bonus of a water change is you don't get the nasty surprise of actually finding out what's in the diaper.
And just like the diaper, you really don't want to bother checking the exact composition of the contents unless you really have to, since 90% of the time the solution is the same. Change it.
And just like the diaper, you really don't want to bother checking the exact composition of the contents unless you really have to, since 90% of the time the solution is the same. Change it.
CatatonicBug
Aquarium Advice FINatic
ROTFLOL!! I love the analogy! Nice way to look at it!
Ziggy953
Aquarium Advice Addict
I agree with Cmor, changing water is part of regular maintenance. I cange about 25% every other week and have since I started the tank. Remember that these are closed systems and refreshing the water is a good thing. Your fish and corals will be much happier.
One thing to remember is that PWC`s just are not for reducing excessive nutrients. They are also for adding trace elements that get used up during different processes in the tank whether it`s fish or coral. When you add new SW you are adding over 89 different salts that contribute to the many trace elements in the tank. Whether you have to do PWC`s every week or every month depends on what`s in the tank IMO.
