water change

ive got a question everyone tells me to do water change every month, i have 80 gallon tank with it filled with live rock, have never done a water change, seems like iam always having to add 5 gallons ever two weeks. My tank seems to be doing good have a light flim on top of water is that normal

Thanks

 

The light film is protein and normal but not wanted. Point your water circulation devices toward the surface to break the film up. An overflow works best to remove the film.

 

Most people do about a 10%WC every-other week. 5g top-off for an 80g(evry2 weeks) sounds about rite. You could set up an ATO bucket so you don't have to top-off yourself anymore.

 

+1 on 2in10. Also, I hope that you're topping off those 5 gallons with plain water, not mixed salt water. Otherwise, you're going to have your salinity slowly climb higher to dangerous levels.

 

To keep your salinity stable you should top off more often than once every two weeks. Topping off every few days is much better for your tank.

 

thanks for your help will top off every other day thats problelly why my colt coral was looking to bad water level dropped to low

 

Yes, that would probably be why. As your water level goes down, Specific Gravity goes up.

 

I believe your original query was about water changes. Some never do them, some every other week, some once a month and some like myself go every 6 weeks. It depends on your particular set up and whether you have the appropriate filtration for the water change (or lack of it) schedule you wish to employ.

 

Doing water changes is really up to you. I do them when I feel like it or when I am adding something to the tank. You need good filtration to do less WC's IMPO. I would recommend topping off everyday. The more stable you can make the tank the better it will do IMPO.