Water changes questions

Hi I'm new to 3reef but been doing saltwater for about 3 years now and just now getting the tank and water ect to where it needs to be. What I'm looking into a bit is how often people change the water when all your levels are good? Do you let it go if its good or do you change it anyways? I have a 210 gallon non-drilled tank with a 6' mh light, coralife 220 skimmer, 4 power heads, fx5 canister also a phosban 550 reactor with some Corals but I also have a red sea max 130 full of lots and lots of mushrooms and 1 large toadstool with 2 power heads in it and everything else is stock. ( for now ). Thanks and hope to get lots of feed back.

 

Your going to find/get a lot of different opinions on the subject of water changes. What works for one may not for another. Some swear ( like myself ) that nothing takes the place of a good regular WC. While others do so once a year there are just to many variables to say what's right for your tank and what's not.

 

Could not have said it better..
as for me...I am from the school of 20% every 6 weeks need it or not.8)

 

Yea that's how I feel. I do the wc on my red sea every week. 5 gallons and change the phosban 1 time a month and on my 210 is about 4-6 weeks and phosban every month as well. I'm just working now on the 210 to get it just right to fill it up with Corals. I started backwards with that one. So I had to go back and redo everything from the lights to the skimmer. I wasted lots of money and got no where. So I got what I need now. Just getting the water right so I can start adding Corals and letting the fill the tank up.

 

In my nano to keep up with everything so I'm not dosing I do a 2-3g change every week. It keeps the water pristine and my corals and inverts happy.

The gotcha with not doing water changes is that over time some things in your water can be depleted and if you aren't dosing you will hit that point eventually. For instance if you never change eventually crabs, shrimp, ect can deplete the iodine in your water. Then when they molt they will either die or be susceptible to having complications. Not to mention calcium levels especially if you have a lot of coraline growth or stony corals or any kind. I do my weekly changes with a good salt and it has not done me wrong yet.