water changes

How often should one do water changes on a 20 g tank? Is biweekly fr[STRIKE][/STRIKE]equent enough?

 

Too frequent IMO especially if you have a skimmer.

Consistency is the key to reefs. Bi-monthly or at the most weekly if you have OCD.

 

I do mine bi weekly

 

depends on a number of factors really

there are basically 2 main reasons to change water

1 - to reduce nutrients , by means of exporting water with parameter issues and importing new cleaner water

2 - to replenish elements lost or utilised by the tanks inhabitants

there is also a 3rd reason, and that is to replace elements/ ions that we cannot test for, and thus are unsure of the utilisation or otherwise by the inhabitants
not everyone agrees with this reason, but for some of us, it is reason enough to change water on a regular basis even when parameters measured indicate there is no need to


what are your current parameters?
what inhabitants does this 20 house?
do you have a skimmer?
do you run carbon, GFO or other chemical filter media?

if your parameters are OK, no nutrient issue, then changing 5% weekly or 10% every other week, would be a fine starting point IMO

Steve

 

Ive done two in the last two years.... one was last Saturday

That being said I dose and have an extremely small bioload up until feburary

 

I don't have anthing except for a handful of snails. Nitrates are 20, which is down from 40. I had a nitrate problem in my first setup from tap water use. I no longer use tap water. The tank cycled nearly a year ago, but I only recently turned the lights on. Diatoms have bloomed and have slowly subsided. I built a diy in tank fuge that houses caulerpa. I don't want to add anything until my nitrates approach 0. The easiest and most cost effective way to do that for a 20 g seems to be through water changes. But the caulerpa should provide a buffer of sorts.