Water changes?

[mbty22]

Being new to the reef tank I was wondering if it 's harmful not to do water changes biweekly ?I'm adding at least a gallon of water a day because of evaporation.My tank is a 72 bow... and everything seems to be doing great !!
All of your opinions please

[Rick O]

I can't say it's harmful not to do them but IMO you should do them. Evaporation does not remove toxins.

I used to not be very regular with my water changes but lately I have been doing 10% water changes bi-weekly without fail. I can say that my water is definately clearer. Used to be that when I did a water change the old water was noticably yellower in the white bucket. Now it's barely tinted. Much better than before.

[Freckles]

I need to get back in the habit of doing weekly water changes on my 20, instead of every 2 weeks. I notice if I go 2 weeks before doing another one, the water is more dirtier & the corals just dont look as nice. I did my water change today (2 gallons) and the water is sooooooo nice looking now, and everything is brighter.

[Casey]

I agree with Rick completly they are important.

[grazhopr]

with my fish only i used to do biweekly water changes, even monthly (fish and some inverts tend to withstand higher nutrient levels, though i had to scrape the tank glass almost every three-four days to remove microalgae). Some people suggest small water changes on a weekly basis (4-5 gal) if your intention is to keep corals, though, i guess, personal experience, and if you're starting your system, continuous testing (at least weekly) will give you a lot of information about your particular system's maintenance needs and design your own routines. Your system will dictate how much time and effort you'll have to invest on maintenance.

[grazhopr]

....and i totally agree. Water Changes is to a reef tank as motor oil is to an engine.

[ckreef]

Seems to me that the frequency of water changes has to do with the amount of bio-load and amount of feeding compared to the size and type of filtration used.

A light bio-load and light feeding along with a refugium and lrg skimmer would mean less frequent water changes. A lrg bio-load and lrg feeding along with no refugium and sm skimmer would mean more frequent water changes.

You didn't give us much to go on about your setup/bio-load.

[galleon]

Water changes are crucial to a non-Jaubert system. Algae harvests and water changes are the only major way to dilute/remove phosphate. Any pelagic bacteria levels can be diluted through water changes moreso than they already are with UV. Bacterial endotoxins are most effectively diluted through water changes. Most importantly, wild corals get a 100% water change with fresh, oligotrophic western boundary current water on the average of twice a day (incoming tide).

[Doug1]

Getting back to the original post, water added to replace evaporation, only serves to maintain a semi relatively stable specific gravity. Chemical composition will change over time due to salt loss from salt creep, utilization of calcium etc by organisms and other factors.
I think getting the parameters in the range you want and then doing small frequent water changes to keep them there is a good thing. The solution to pollution is dilution, as Chris pointed out the water on a reef is constantly being changed by virtue of ocean motion and sheer volume