How often do I change my water and how much at a time

[me1newman]

I have a 75 gallon tank that I am SLOWLY working on putting together. I got the water and sand in Jan. I just put the live rock in it last week. I was just trying to see in a 75 gal. tank how much water should I change? How often should I change it?

[Wooster]

i as well as some others change out 15-25% at the end of every fortnight and some do so weekly up to the same ammount. but since it is a new tank, i am now wondering, are you going to do a "fishless cycle"? Because if you are, then there is no need to change any water until you have the tank fully cycled and then stocked. but if you are going to cycle it with fish in the tank you would want to do changes, however not too frequently as that may actually slow the cycle process.

[sirfishmaster]

i think a lot of people here believe in weekly water changes of 10%, me i evaluated my nitrates for 3 months and kinda got an idea of when i do mine...which is usualy 15% bi-weekly. Is it cycled? if not dont change any water till after the cycle unless its needed for the live stock



doug

[me1newman]

As far as me doing a fishless cycle... Yes that is what I am going to do. It will be a while before I do the fish. I am still wanting about 50 more lbs. of Live Rock first. And then that will have to cycle also. So it would be a while before I add Fish to this. So now i have another Question I guess you can tell I am new to all of this.
The Question is I guess it is best to you Distilled water and not Saltwater when adding to the tank right. I have been told this. But like I said I am new to all this and I have been adding the per mixed saltwater to the tank and my Salinity and Specific Gravity always show fine so do I need to change to Distilled Water since I dont have a RO. Thanks For your Help!!!!

[Jonathan G.]

are far as water changes i cycled my 75g out with 40lbs of live rock and experienced little to no cycle time at all, i made the mistake of adding my 2 baby O clowns too early so i got some bio-spira and it helped calm my tank down. make sure you test everything everyday and try to do it at the same time of day; in the morning when the light goes on, in the evening, then when the lights go off. once your tank has settled down wait a week or more to make sure your tank is ready to handle livestock. As far as water changes go i do it according to my trates and the level their at... but typical i do a 12g water change a week.

as for your second question i hear distilled water is better then RO but it depends on where you get the distilled water from, i guess some use copper pipes and if you dont know by now copper is not good for reef tanks. and for that last question im not sure if im reading it right but for your top-off you dont want to add salt to this, but for your water change you want the water to have the same SG and temp before you add it to your tank. i use a spare pump and heater in a bucket to accomplish this.

[Wooster]

that is correct, you do not want to add salt to your top offs due to the fact that salt does not eveporate with the water.

[Wooster]

sorry, double post-oops

[boardsurfer]

as for your second question i hear distilled water is better then RO but it depends on where you get the distilled water from,

RO/DI water is definitely better than distilled water, though.

[EJS4]

If you got live rock and your in no hurry why not get base rock and let it become live rock in your tank. Check out www.hirocks.com 60 lbs for $85. much cheaper then live rock.