Need Water Change Advice

125gSW

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Hey everyone,

I have a 125gal DT and probably a 10-15 gal sump. I plan on doing a 10 gal water change from the DT but I have a feeling that its too little. It is currently a FOWLR system with 2 snails, 3 shrimps, and 12 fish. Would it be bad if I did 10 gal changes every 2-3 days to get nitrates lowered? Or should I stick to 10 gal weekly change? Or do more than 10gals? Nitrates rose heavily under friend's supervision while I was away

Thanks
 

dbl

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You could do a few larger water changes until the nitrates come down, then go back to your regular routine. Out of curiosity, where are your nitrates at?
 
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125gSW

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You could do a few larger water changes until the nitrates come down, then go back to your regular routine. Out of curiosity, where are your nitrates at?
20 Gallons? or something more? Would it be bad if I did 20 Gallons twice in 1 week?

Nitrates are around 30-35ppm based from the color from API test kit
 

dbl

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You could try a couple 20-30 gallon changes over the week and see if that brings them down. Don't panic with the 30-35 reading (assuming that is correct) in your FOWLR. Just try some larger than normal water changes until it comes back to your "normal" range.
 

amps

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If you're real goal is to cut your nitrates down by a lot, do the bigger changes. Otherwise you'll get less bang for your buck by doing many smaller changes. Each time you change the water, you also remove some of the new water you just added and you wind up diluting your dilutions.
 
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125gSW

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If you're real goal is to cut your nitrates down by a lot, do the bigger changes. Otherwise you'll get less bang for your buck by doing many smaller changes. Each time you change the water, you also remove some of the new water you just added and you wind up diluting your dilutions.
You could try a couple 20-30 gallon changes over the week and see if that brings them down. Don't panic with the 30-35 reading (assuming that is correct) in your FOWLR. Just try some larger than normal water changes until it comes back to your "normal" range.

True, I will be doing a 20 gal water change today. Dumb question, but will my pH be affected? If I do two 20 gal water changes over the week?
 

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