Water Changes

sostoudt · May 19, 2009

mscottring said: ↑

I dump everything, water, sand, rocks and fish, every three days, just to be sure. I call it the 100% tank change.
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it must be fun to have new animals twice a week it must really be like your at the reef

Jason McKenzie · May 19, 2009

ReefSparky said: ↑

I disagree. If you have stratification of water quality in your tank, then you have insufficient water movement. Ideally, your water should be completely homogenous from tank to sump.

Also, I think PharmrJohn and Jason both have valid points--the point of contention is accumulated junk and past habits. If you have an established sand bed, say a year or more old, and it's deeper than a few inches, then you are bound to have zones in your sand bed that contain sulphur compounds--and disturbing those oxygen-depleted layers would probably kick in a cycle, not to mention liberate compounds into the water column that have no business being there.

I think Jason is also correct, but his method carries with it the assumption you have been doing this since day one. If you're not cultivating a deep sand bed, or knockoff thereof (attempting to change nitrates to nitrogen gas via oxygen starved layers in the sand), then it would be beneficial to keep the sandbed stirred. The caveat here is that the practice be employed from day one.

IMO, the ideal scenario (if not instituting a DSB) would be to stir the sand bed periodically, i.e. at each water change, and allow the detritus to enter the sump where it can be mechanically filtered out and discarded. If not done manually, a decent CUC can do this for you.

As many have said--there's more than one way to achieve a healthy reef tank.
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Well Put, Thanks for clarifying my cluttered thoughts

Cat4wisson · May 19, 2009

mscottring said: ↑

I dump everything, water, sand, rocks and fish, every three days, just to be sure. I call it the 100% tank change.
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Wow that sound a bit drastic, on your next 100% tank change i'm sure some fellow reefers would love to get some of the fish/rock/sand you're dumping, that stuffs pretty expensive you know, Ha Ha Ha

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Water Changes

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Water Changes

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