Currently i am doing partial water changes of 15% every two weeks. i only have one fish right now so my nitrAtes stay at zero.i have heard that partials were only necessary to remove nitrates are there other beneficial factors to doing them? Can i stop doing them until i get readable levels of nitrates?
PWC and when to do them?
- Thread starter grimes135
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roka64
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PWCs will replenish your depleted trace elements. They are VERY important. Don't wait till you have problems to do a PWC. I like to premix mine for at least 24 hours. This is my schedule:
Fri-add salt/water/heater/ph
Sat-test water/add salt/water if needed
Sun-remove old water/clean equip in old SW/pump new water into tank
This premixing will allow you to adjust your premixed water to your main's parameters, especially pH, salinity and temp.
There are more critters in your tank that you can't see and water that is out of whack can cause even more problems. It is also a great to practice measuring salt/water combo, especially if you need emergency PWCs. I would also invest in a QT. I would hate to see that 135 gal get wiped out by ich or poor water qualities.
Fri-add salt/water/heater/ph
Sat-test water/add salt/water if needed
Sun-remove old water/clean equip in old SW/pump new water into tank
This premixing will allow you to adjust your premixed water to your main's parameters, especially pH, salinity and temp.
There are more critters in your tank that you can't see and water that is out of whack can cause even more problems. It is also a great to practice measuring salt/water combo, especially if you need emergency PWCs. I would also invest in a QT. I would hate to see that 135 gal get wiped out by ich or poor water qualities.
roka64
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I do mine every three weeks, unless I have a problems, like the hair algae I am having now. As mel said, I think I have some DOCs, from my source water. I have ordered a TDS meter and an RO/DI unit.
lando
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15% every two weeks a great maintanance schedule. With a small bioload and no detectable NO3, you may be able to stretch it out to 3-4 weeks at most. I would not go beyound that. As mentioned, PWC bring much more to the party then excess nutrient removal.
plecoperson
Aquarium Advice Addict
~~~EDIT: I'm a moron-my tanks are FRESHwater! Please ignore completely.~~~
I do 50% a week, but sometimes I think my tanks have more fish than water in them....
I do 50% a week, but sometimes I think my tanks have more fish than water in them....
Doing pwc greater then 30% in SW is fairly risky due to all the levels that can change drastically like ph/sg/temp/alk and can have a very adverse affect on inverts. If fish only and you match ph/sg/temp very accurately it's usually not an issue though. I'd seriously reduce your bio-load if having to do that large of a pwc each week.plecoperson said:
plecoperson
Aquarium Advice Addict
The risky bit is that I didn't pay attention to this being the SALTwater forum! Mea culpa--
I noticed you mostly post in FW 
I figured you were thinking about FW pwc where 40+ no3 ppm and 50% pwc are much more common and pose little risk.
I only warned about it to keep new SW owners from doing such large pwc without knowing the risks involved.
I figured you were thinking about FW pwc where 40+ no3 ppm and 50% pwc are much more common and pose little risk. I only warned about it to keep new SW owners from doing such large pwc without knowing the risks involved.
squawkbert
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grimes135 said:
I read the "moron" part too - -
If 15% is comfortable in terms of amount of water moved etc, keep it up. If you're comfortable moving more water, you could stretch it out some (try 25%/month)
With a 135 gal tank 25% is roughly 33 gal. My back hurts just thinking about having to move that much water
grimes, I hope you bought a good 30+ gal storage tank (or trashcan) and pump/hose to reduce all that heavy lifting.
grimes, I hope you bought a good 30+ gal storage tank (or trashcan) and pump/hose to reduce all that heavy lifting.
roka64
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I use a dolley to move my water, but I'm just lazy!
Wow thanks for all the responses. i have a 40 gal trashcan with two powerheads that i use for circulation and a heater. i am always very careful about making sure that the ph temp and salinity are correct before i do it. And yes i have a ten gal quarantine set up. i had the lfs quarantine my first fish for me for about 3 weeks (i know the owner). i believe kent or someone make trace elements additives. does any one have any experince with these? is there any test that you can do to determine the levels of these trace eleents? sorry about all the questions. i love this hobby and my new fish, he is doing GREAT! so i dont want to mess that up. thanks
Doing pwc will provide most of your trace element replacement needs. You could spend a couple of hundred (maybe thousands) on Salifert test kits to test the majority of trace elements but really the only ones you really want to keep an eye on are ca, mg, alk, and that's only if keeping ca loving corals.
The main rule to follow is to never add any additives you don't test for to keep from overdosing.
Only thing I ever add is C-Balance to keep my ca at 400 ppm.
The main rule to follow is to never add any additives you don't test for to keep from overdosing.
Only thing I ever add is C-Balance to keep my ca at 400 ppm.
thanks for the advice, makes sense to make sure that you can test for what you are adding so you dont overdose. now i hope that i am not opening up a can of worms here but when using RODI water like i am are all of the trace elements still in the water or have they been removed in the filtration process? Thousands of dollars for testing supplies are a little out of my price range. since i am not doing corals would you still recommend a calcium additive? thanks again
ro/di is for filtering tap water before you add your salt so the only thing it removes is any impurities from the tap. Tap water has minerals but most are harmful not helpful to aquariums.
Trace elements are blended in with salt mixes.
The common brands are fine for fo/fowlr like
Instant Ocean, Oceanic, & Red Sea.
Higher quality salts recommend for reef tanks like Tropic Marine Salt, Kent Sea Salt, & Crystal Sea Marinemix are better formulated to more closely mimic the ocean's true trace elements.
If fowlr I'd still keep your ca at 400 ppm which helps coralline algae and some inverts.
Trace elements are blended in with salt mixes.
The common brands are fine for fo/fowlr like
Instant Ocean, Oceanic, & Red Sea.
Higher quality salts recommend for reef tanks like Tropic Marine Salt, Kent Sea Salt, & Crystal Sea Marinemix are better formulated to more closely mimic the ocean's true trace elements.
If fowlr I'd still keep your ca at 400 ppm which helps coralline algae and some inverts.
roka64
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I wouldn't worry about calcium, if you are not doing reef. I also think folks may add that, possibly since their coral bioload depletes the natural calcium in their tank, rather quickly.
ok that makes sense about the coral depleting that calcium in the tank. i will get a calcium test kit regardless, so i can keep an eye on it.
What is the optimal amount and frequency of partial water changes? i assume that there is no optimal level but if you could just give your opinion or what you do. Please ignore constrains and things like time it takes to do water changes and production time of RO water. I am just trying to understand the theory behind it so i can do the best job that i can. thanks
What is the optimal amount and frequency of partial water changes? i assume that there is no optimal level but if you could just give your opinion or what you do. Please ignore constrains and things like time it takes to do water changes and production time of RO water. I am just trying to understand the theory behind it so i can do the best job that i can. thanks
That mostly depends on how much of a bio-load (size/amount of fish/coral/inverts) is in the tank.grimes135 said:
A lightly stocked tank can get away with 10%-15% pwc a month where as a heavily stocked tank could require 20+% pwc weekly.
Other factors like feedings, clean up crews, and filtration methods also need to be considered.
For an average stocked tank I'd recommend 10-15% pwc weekly to dilute pollution and replenish trace elements and for overall tank health.
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