Water Changes - How often should they be done?

I'm just curiuos about what everyone thinks? I used to do weekly 10% water changes and everything seems great when I do that. Sometimes I have to leave for a month at a time, and all off my softies seem to be looking better when I get home. My mushrooms usually split when I am gone and look really healthy. The last time I was gone, my GSP made a full recovery.

Just looking to see what everyone thinks is all.

 

im not a big pwc guy.... that being said the golden rule is change it as often as it need to be changed

 

It really depends on the tank , no two are the same.
I do 10% every Sunday but that's just me, I have a friend who hasn't done one in years on his softie tank and it looks great.
You just need to find what works for you.

 

Yeah, I think my softies, shrooms, xenia even some of my LPS seem to do better when I stretch it out, but the SPS clams and for some reason My frogspawn seem to like it when I do them closer. But having 3 clams, I do a 10% weekly and its kept me from having to dose. I'd rather do the weekly wc than dose twice daily. IMO

 

Depends on how old your tank is, mines about 1.5 years old and its a 29g, i never do water changes, just let nature do it thing. Dont do water changes so much, it will take out bacteria and it will do more bad then good to your tank.

 

I aim for 10% about every other week,but i'm also lazy .Sometimes i even just let my corals tell me when as i've been known to be lazy at testing too :.However,if my trates creep up on me or things don't look right,i tend to step up my game with both testing and wc's.I am usually more conserned about keeping up the maint on my canister filter,letting it do it's job better as well as keeping my skimmer clean which can prolong how often wc's need to be done.

 

Best way to know for sure is to test your water. it will tell you when she needs to be changed. Tanks are like fingerprints as no 2 are alike, so listening to what sally does on her tank, and following her might work, then again it might not. cuz she may have more waste more fish more coral etc. and you may have less fish but more coral... catch my drift.

 

Seems like you all are saying the same thing lol. Everything you say is what I have been leaning towards. My only thought is about trace elements that are replenished during pwc's. If you don't/can't test for the trace elements, then I guess you would just watch your corals and let them tell you when they need them by how the look?

 

I was gonna say replenishing trace elements is just a by product of wc's. im not sure how to measure these, but coral reaction could be a good indication that they need more, hence doing a wc.

As long as your doing some sort of nutrient export and introducing replenished water, your tank should be just fine, but the period between is something your going to have to figure out on your own.

 

I can't believe you actually think your removing the beneficial bacteria from your tank by doing water changes. Did you make this up? If not, please find and post the facts because I for one would love to read it. The said bacteria lives NOT in the water column but within our LR and substrate. To tell someone NOT to do water changes and to just let nature takes its course, IMO well that's just plain bad advice. Especially if it's advice given solely on your own practices and not proven facts.