Make a tank journal. Show us and tell us about your system. You will get much better answers and insight.How often do we need to replace water in our main tank if we have all the latest filtration and chemical monitoring systems to maintain the cleanest tank water (including an Loaoi protien skimmer
Thanks Mike. We will have a rough draft of the system components in the next couple of days. I will post it ans aks again when done.Make a tank journal. Show us and tell us about your system. You will get much better answers and insight.
Thanks Casey, that sounds reasonable. We had a 55 gal marine tank over 25 years ago. It didn't have all the fancy filtration and monitoring equipment that's available today and as I recall I only drained about 5 gallons every 4-5 months. Our target is water changes every 4 months. So, our new 108 gallon Reefer XL 525 tank will have all the latest equipment (skimmer, Vortech MP40 pumps, Neptune APEX system) for the best filtration. Looks like its going to be a year of adjustments....The answer is, it depends. It'll really depend on fish load, types of coral you plan to keep, and maturity of your biological filtration. Some corals like and can handle higher nutrient levels, some need just a smidgen, too clean and it can be detrimental to coral, if you have fish only then there's a wide tolerance range. Lot of the people with zero or few water changes have highly mature systems which can take years to attain.
That being said, 20% water change monthly is a good start as you monitor your levels and determine what fits your system best. Definitely read up on the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate cycle as it's the foundation of the biological cycle.
Thanks I'm new to reefer tanks and not familiar to all the terminology. What is NSW?If the solution to pollution is dilution…
I like 30% or more water change every 7-10 days
I do use NSW that is brought to temp before use
I feed 5-7 times per day
I test NOTHING
I have some of the oldest fish in this club, if not the Bay Area
As notedThanks I'm new to reefer tanks and not familiar to all the terminology. What is NSW?
Thanks...As noted
NSW= natural sea water
Thanks, we are planning to set up the tank in our hallway which has limited space. Getting RODI or salt water to it is very difficult because of the walls and nearest water. So we are setting up the RODI system and salt water mixing station in our garage. We will have an auto refill system for the RODI water which will use the 5 galllon refill tank (inside the Red Sea cabinet) hooked up to a 15 gallon tank on the side of the cabinet, for 20 g total. We plan to manually refill these tanks every 1-2 weeks using a hose connected to the 32 gallon bucket/barrel of RODI water in our garage. We plan on having another container next to it to mix salt water and refill the main tank. Comments?With my 170g tank with a total system volume around 220g, I did a 40g water change every two weeks. I tried different intervals but once I just committed to doing it every two weeks, everything was happier. I can only assume it was a reliable replacement of trace minerals.
Since you're going the Apex route, consider setting up a DOS for an auto water change that just pulls a set amount out and replaces it every day.
IMHOThanks...
Thanks, we are planning to set up the tank in our hallway which has limited space. Getting RODI or salt water to it is very difficult because of the walls and nearest water. So we are setting up the RODI system and salt water mixing station in our garage. We will have an auto refill system for the RODI water which will use the 5 galllon refill tank (inside the Red Sea cabinet) hooked up to a 15 gallon tank on the side of the cabinet, for 20 g total. We plan to manually refill these tanks every 1-2 weeks using a hose connected to the 32 gallon bucket/barrel of RODI water in our garage. We plan on having another container next to it to mix salt water and refill the main tank. Comments?