Should I change the water?

[Reefer420]

Just added my 2nd half of LR to my tank- looks like the 'cycle' was almost non-existant again! I have question- its the 2nd day after adding it and ammonia and nitrates are at or near 0- should I still be changing some of the water every couple of days, or simply stick to my normal schedule and do my normal weekly water change (10% at most)? I would certainly change the water if anything was off- but I don't want to ruin my tank by changing water too often! Thanks!

btw- I have a fairly high bio-load for such a young tank- TBS rock comes with a ton of life on it already, and I just added the cleaning crew. No visible cycle either time- so I was wondering if the life on the rock (tons of macro algae, filter feeders, etc) help a lot with how quickly the water cycles?

 

[jhale]

all that life should help, but you have to be careful of the die off as well, sponges are notorious for fouling the water. just keep an eye on your water quality, like you are. if you see something wrong then do a water change, jmo.

 

[Deanos]

btw- I have a fairly high bio-load for such a young tank- TBS rock comes with a ton of life on it already, and I just added the cleaning crew. No visible cycle either time- so I was wondering if the life on the rock (tons of macro algae, filter feeders, etc) help a lot with how quickly the water cycles?

Reefer420, I understand TBS rock is famous for the life it retains during their shipment process. And thanks to the photos you've provided thus far, the variety of life ranges from macroalgae to small clams. But don't believe the hype about the bio-load. In a tank that size, 1 lonely damselfish will probably add more to your bio-load than all the rocklife and cleaning crew combined.

But to answer your question, if there was no major cycle, I'd keep the water changing schedule as is. Good luck and enjoy! I can't wait to see your tank stocked :bigeyes2:

 

[Josh]

From the looks of your live rock, there wasn't much die off, so no big cycle.

But it still is a new tank. Don't vary the water changes for at least 6 months, you will be better off if you are dilligent. Put a reminder in your online calendar to change the water every week. I do the same thing for my cat litter since I have a cat with a tendency toward UTIs. When that popup hits my screen I know it has been three days and I have no excuse not to change it.

 

[Reefer420]

Thanks- just wanted to make sure there wasn't a reason still to do daily changes for a week or so. I'll just do my weekly change from now on then.

Deanos- didn't know that. I figured all the worms, etc. on the rock would put out a fairly heavy bio-load- didn't think a single fish would do more! Thats good to hear anyway- I'm much more into inverts than I am fish- my ideal tank would just be hundreds of shrimp, snails, hermits, corals, etc.