Water changes, how often should I really be doing them

My tank is now almost 4 months old and as soon as the long cycle was done I have been doing a 5 gallon water changes once a week. I've been reading that most people don't do water changes. But is that for the older more established tanks rather than a young one?

Should I keep doing what in doing or change?

 

i think most people do water changes. at least most people here.

if my nitrates were not consistently 0 i would be doing water changes too. so until you get that squared away (took my tank about 3 months) I would continue weekly.

and at that point, you need to continue doing WC to keep your Ca/Mg etc up. So you will have to come up with some sort of dosing solution if you want to attempt no water changes.

and at that point if you do try it, still continue to test weekly for some time to make sure all is genuinely stable.

 

ok i think i will still continue to do my weekly changes, i haven't tested for a while because i finally decided that my test kits are bad. yesterday i bought the api test kit off of ebay so soon i'll be able to see what my parameters really are. Everything has been doing fine though, i was worried about nitrates because my current tests were showing them, but i haven't lost any inverts or fish.

 

I used to do regular water changes every 2 weeks, about 30 gallons for my 120g tank.

Now i do water changes in the process of cleaning up the tank. Once a month I do a cleaning of any macro/unwanted algae and some detrius so i end up doing a water change because of that.

Other than that im too lazy to do them anymore

 

well i dont really do water changes.. i only do them if my params are not perfect.
or if its been too long then i do a 15% water change.

 

I've always been a supporter of the rule of thumb

10% every other week

J

 

I alternate the amounts. I do 14 gallons one week and then 7 the next. Doing this cycle everyweek. I hardly ever test for nitrates and ammonia.

I feel an obligation to maintain pristine water conditions in order to maximize the potential of my tank (that sounds sophisticated )

 

I use a Kalkwasser in my ro/di top off water so I only do water changes once a month. It's not the norm but im lazy and so far everything looks satisfactory for me. I keep SPS, Clams and nems in my tank with zero issues.

 

I do water changes every week of 10%. My tanks, like yours are 4 months old. I do this to keep the water as pristine as possible. Doing a water change is much easier then trying to correct a problem. An ounce of prevention is better then a pound of cure type thing.
so far knock on wood eveything and everyone in the tank is doing well including corals so I will keep this type of prevention up. it does not take long or cost very much.

Just my $.02.

Tony "G"

 

I have been doing 15% every other week since the end of my cycle-(just passed a year old now). I have never missed, and tank has stayed very healthy. I do 30 gal on my 150. It only takes about 10 min. There are alot of opinions here on this subject. Do what works for you. There is no wrong or right, if it is working for your tank. BTW. I never have to dose anything either, and all my params stay perfect.