Low nutrients - do i have to do waterchange?

klavmaister

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Mar 13, 2023
Messages
333
Reaction score
99
Location
Norway
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Do I need to change the water when the values seem ok? probably 6 weeks ago last time. stays pretty stable.

1000008747.jpg
when to change water? Dont whant to crash the tank ,)

Nitrate 6.4ppm up 0.2 in 3 weeks
Phosphate 0.01ppm
salt 1,025
doses AFR 14ml per day/24 doses
Alk = 8.9

Uae refractometer and hanna checker
 

Ben's Pico Reefing

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Jul 23, 2019
Messages
1,337
Reaction score
2,014
Location
Brevard county
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Water change should be used either to replenish trace elements or lower nutrients. How ever, you can't crash a tank with a water change. I do 100 percent weekly. I also do not dose nor do I use any mechanical filtration other than a sock and that's just to protect the pump. If everything is happy leave it. You can test like your doing to see where things are out. Shoot for keeping numbers between certain points rather than exact.
 

maxberter

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
May 21, 2023
Messages
100
Reaction score
49
Location
Orange County
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Water change should be used either to replenish trace elements or lower nutrients. How ever, you can't crash a tank with a water change. I do 100 percent weekly. I also do not dose nor do I use any mechanical filtration other than a sock and that's just to protect the pump. If everything is happy leave it. You can test like your doing to see where things are out. Shoot for keeping numbers between certain points rather than exact.
Curious how big is your tank?
 

Ben's Pico Reefing

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Jul 23, 2019
Messages
1,337
Reaction score
2,014
Location
Brevard county
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
IMO, the primary benefits of water changes are unrelated to nutrients.
Not sure I agree. Maybe in certain aspects or if your just draining and adding water in the column. But even then, I consider ammonia and nitrate nutrients as well as any food or floating gunk waste, etc. By changing the water, you are lowering the nutrients available. If the nutrients are leaching from something or just sitting at the bottom then it's just a temporary fix and I can agree especially if only done in small percentage as levels will go back up and be negligible at small changes.

But, If you vacuum or syphon to clean the sand or bottom (actually attempting to remove things, you are removing nutrients even more effectively before it even breaks down.

Maybe I'm not understanding or missing something. Or I'm looking at nutrients differently as well. I have been known to not understand what a person meant a time or two lol.
 

Pod_01

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Jan 10, 2022
Messages
1,159
Reaction score
1,103
Location
Waterloo
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Reefmate 500 fleaceroller
I would bypass that or not use it for few weeks to see if PO4 goes up.

I have same tank gen1, 7 fish and I feed them 4 times a day with pellets.
I just use skimmer and bit of GAC. No fuge, fleece roller , socks etc…

I do 10% water change every two to three weeks. Just to export accumulated unknown things not for nutrients nor for trace elements. Also the fresh mix will dilute the unknown or maybe it does nothing.

Nutrients:
1715225166193.jpeg

Corals:
1715225255442.jpeg

1715225282650.jpeg

1715225406337.jpeg


Yup I would do water change.

Good luck,
 

Nano_Man

Anemone L
View Badges
Joined
Jan 7, 2023
Messages
5,891
Reaction score
25,260
Location
Usa
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
If you dose and replenish everything that’s getting consumed then no water change. But you could do water change to replenish everything
Your in a position that you could do either one
 

radfly

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Apr 29, 2022
Messages
222
Reaction score
158
Location
Charleston
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
If you were forced to take a bath in a tub every day, using the same water, you might appreciate someone changing out at least 10% once a week. There are bad things we cannot measure that build up in a tank… removing at least a little of it weekly will keep the bad things from taking over, or slow their progress.
 

Randy Holmes-Farley

Reef Chemist
View Badges
Joined
Sep 5, 2014
Messages
72,235
Reaction score
69,908
Location
Massachusetts, United States
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
What are the primary benefits ?

Water Changes in Reef Aquaria by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

Conclusion
Water changes are a good way to help control certain processes that serve to drive reef aquarium water away from its starting purity. Some things build up in certain situations (organics, certain metals, sodium, chloride, nitrate, phosphate, sulfate, etc.), and some things become depleted (calcium, magnesium, alkalinity, strontium, silica, etc.). Water changes can serve to help correct these imbalances, and in some cases may be the best way to deal with them. Water changes of 15-30% per month (whether carried out once a month, daily or continuously) have been shown in the graphs above to be useful in moderating the drift of these different seawater components from starting levels. For most reef aquaria, I recommend such changes as good aquarium husbandry. In general, the more the better, if carried out appropriately, and if the new salt water is of appropriate quality.

Calcium and alkalinity, being rapidly depleted in most reef aquaria, are not well controlled, or even significantly impacted by such small water changes. In order to maintain them with no other supplements, changes on the order of 30-50% PER DAY would be required. Nevertheless, that option may still be a good choice for very small aquaria, especially if the changes are slow and automatic.
 

Randy Holmes-Farley

Reef Chemist
View Badges
Joined
Sep 5, 2014
Messages
72,235
Reaction score
69,908
Location
Massachusetts, United States
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
If you dose and replenish everything that’s getting consumed then no water change. But you could do water change to replenish everything
Your in a position that you could do either one

Dosing can replace what is lost. What about accumulating materials?
 

Randy Holmes-Farley

Reef Chemist
View Badges
Joined
Sep 5, 2014
Messages
72,235
Reaction score
69,908
Location
Massachusetts, United States
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Not sure I agree. Maybe in certain aspects or if your just draining and adding water in the column. But even then, I consider ammonia and nitrate nutrients as well as any food or floating gunk waste, etc. By changing the water, you are lowering the nutrients available. If the nutrients are leaching from something or just sitting at the bottom then it's just a temporary fix and I can agree especially if only done in small percentage as levels will go back up and be negligible at small changes.

But, If you vacuum or syphon to clean the sand or bottom (actually attempting to remove things, you are removing nutrients even more effectively before it even breaks down.

Maybe I'm not understanding or missing something. Or I'm looking at nutrients differently as well. I have been known to not understand what a person meant a time or two lol.


I am a fan of water changes, and I'm certainly not saying that water changes cannot impact nutrients, but I think nutrient control is more readily accomplished in other ways. But other aspects of water changes can only be accomplished by water change. Lowering nutrients is often not a goal anyway. many folks dose nutrients such as ammonia, nitrate, or phosphate.
 

Dom

Full Time Reef Keeper
View Badges
Joined
Apr 29, 2016
Messages
6,457
Reaction score
6,949
Location
NY
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Do I need to change the water when the values seem ok? probably 6 weeks ago last time. stays pretty stable.

whe to change water? Dont whant to crash the tank ,)

Nitrate 6.4ppm up 0.2 in 3 weeks
Phosphate 0.01ppm
salt 1,025
doses AFR 14ml per day/24 doses
Alk = 8.9

Uae refractometer and hanna checker

Water changes serve two purposes:

1. The export of excess nutrient from the tank.

2. Replenish the elements consumed by the tank.

Faithful, weekly 20% water changes will help to keep all parameters at acceptable levels.
 

Ben's Pico Reefing

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Jul 23, 2019
Messages
1,337
Reaction score
2,014
Location
Brevard county
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I am a fan of water changes, and I'm certainly not saying that water changes cannot impact nutrients, but I think nutrient control is more readily accomplished in other ways. But other aspects of water changes can only be accomplished by water change. Lowering nutrients is often not a goal anyway. many folks dose nutrients such as ammonia, nitrate, or phosphate.
Ok thank you. And yes I agree, most people don't look at water changes as nutrient control. I do due to my setup and so think differently than those that as you stated don't. Love your examples and analogies as well in linked thread which made me look slightly different about how just because something works or kills something, doesn't mean it is or isn't the cause due to differences in setup, husbandry, etc. I have same thought but not quite that deep in thought of it.
 

Dom

Full Time Reef Keeper
View Badges
Joined
Apr 29, 2016
Messages
6,457
Reaction score
6,949
Location
NY
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
If everything is happy leave it.

I used to subscribe to this philosophy.

Sometimes, it can be weeks before poor parameters are reflected in the look of the tank.

If you act only when things look un-"happy", it may be that you are well into the problem, and not just seeing the beginning if it.
 
Last edited:

TOP 10 Trending Threads

WHICH OF THESE CREEPY REEF CRITTERS IS MOST LIKELY TO GIVE YOU NIGHTMARES? (PICTURED IN THE THREAD)

  • The Bobbit Worm

    Votes: 52 67.5%
  • The Goblin Shark

    Votes: 4 5.2%
  • The Sea Wolf

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Giant Spider Crabs

    Votes: 1 1.3%
  • The Stargazer Fish

    Votes: 5 6.5%
  • The Giant Isopod

    Votes: 9 11.7%
  • The Giant Squid

    Votes: 1 1.3%
  • Other (Please explain!)

    Votes: 5 6.5%
Back
Top