Can I over do it with the water changes??

[Doan]

Hello all it's me agian and I am finding out I am a huge worry wart about this tank.. As alot of you know My wife with the help of the LFS (jagoff) guy got me a small cleaning crew which consists of 1 emerald crab 4 turbos and 2 moon snails. Well my tank has cycled in only a little over a week and has been stable now for almost a week. Everything seems to be going great.. I am getting coaraline I have glass littered and I mean littered with tiny little "bugs" Everyone in the tank seems ok and very active. I did a 10% waterchange last friday and was thinking about doing one tommrow.. The problem is I seem to be getting real LUCKY with how everything has turned out and to top it all off I am just using treated tap water cause that is all I have.. I do not however have a protein skimmer yet as that is my christmas present. I was gonna do another change again just to make sure everything keeps on moving in a postitve direction. Can I do that? I really want to keep this moving in a postive direction but would the water change be good or would it kill too many of the Bugs to be worth it.. what do you guys think..

 

[tkos]

It is easy with freshwater tanks to do more frequent water changes. But that doesn't mean it can't be easy for saltys as well. Just make sure that the new water matches all the params and things should be fine.This may be a lot more of a hassle once you start getting corals etc... as then you will constantly be trying to keep up with all of the additives. But for a new tank, water changes can help a lot in keeping things under control and not letting levels of ammonia, nitrites and nitrates get too high.

Tap water is okay as long as it doesn't have nitrates or phosphates in it. If it does you will end up with a lot of grief.

 

[Doan]

Thank you for the quick response..

 

[scuba_steve]

imo more the better !! but as for being all perfect on the new water isnt that big of a deal as long as your not dumping all of it in at one time!! afterreading i set my tanks up so everything stays running while i do my water changes !! using a 50 gallon sump i can pull out like 20 gallons before pumps hit air !! i change 5 gallons per day (200 gallon total system) and just use a airline to siphon out of the 5 gallon bucket into the sump takes an hour or so but no knot on the airline just straight flow !! imo the water is being mixed enough in the sump that the fish/coral cant even tell that new water was added

 

[Doan]

What do you mean keep your stuff on??? I always keep my stuff on during the changes it never even occurred to me to turn it off... why would I do that?? Am I supposed to be doing that? THe water goes down about a 1/2 inch past the input from the canister filter and it splashes around for about a minute before the new water covers it back up.. I mix mine 2 days prior to the change then let it run with a small heater and a tiny 100gph power head. I check it one day before taking it out to the tank with the hydrometer and make any last minute adjustments salt wise and teatment wise (I teat the tap water) then take it out to the living room the next day. I then just syphon out 5 gallons into an empty 5 gallon bucket then pick up the new water turn around the syphon and put 5 gallons of new water back in takes me about 10 minutes.. It is only a 55 gallon tank with 50 gallons in it..Is this the wrong way to do it??

Thanks

Doan

 

[scuba_steve]

no ya doing good then but running pump dry isnt good but if your checking your water and it matches then a few min prob wouldnt hurt any !! my point was that if ya have a fug/sump ya want ya sump to be big enough to handle water changes without powering everything down !!! and if ya did set up that way imo ya dont have to worry about adding perfect match water to ya system it will mix before it hits the tank

 

[Doan]

ahhhh ok yeah I have the intake real low so that never really comes into play.. The water coming out of the pump is where it is exposed for about a minute every 2 weeks and it just splashes a bit before I cover it back up..

Thanks

Doan

 

[SEABOX]

Hey,Doan ask your lfs if they sell ro water before i bought my ro system i had 2 - 5gal water jugs i would take there and get filled for 50 cents a gal. Its alot safer using ro then tap water. good luck!!