Reef Tank Maintenance and Water Changes

ADVERTISING

LuxoGear Emergency Whistles with Lanyard

Shop now »

NOCO Genius GEN5X2, 2-Bank, 10A (5A/Bank) Smart Marine Battery Charger

Shop now »

RHINO USA Boat Trailer Transom Straps (2PK)

Shop now »

LUCKY Kayak Portable Fish Depth Finder

Shop now »

Seaview 180 V3 Full Face Snorkel Mask

Shop now »

Most popular comments
for Reef Tank Maintenance and Water Changes

Live comments
Comments on YouTube

Xaz371 - 6 years ago

Dear God, the hair. Glad its not like this anymore

Xaz371 - 6 years ago

A small price to pay for long glorious locks. lol

MileHighReefers - 6 years ago

Xaz371 Lol it had to be there to get here.

Dyn4mic Universe - 7 years ago

I have a 55 Gallon, I only do a 5 Gallon water change a year, don't listen to the weekly water change rule because it only messes up your water levels. I have the Marineland Penguin 350 filter and an internal overflow filter that's it. No sump, No skimmer. (edit) No videos on it but maybe I should, not sure.

Gavin redeemed - 7 years ago

I would love to see your tank. I have been contemplating reducing water changes also. But I run a skimmer. I took out my mechanical filter media and chemical media from my cannister filter it just runs with some marine pure balls. Also I run a barebottom tank. Right now it is just easier to do a water change than constantly having to test and chase the numbers which I have grown weary doing after one year. The tank is stable now anyways.

Man Cave Reef - 7 years ago

Good video thanks for the info

MileHighReefers - 7 years ago

Thanks!

Freeyourmind - 7 years ago

Do you enjoy your tank?

MileHighReefers - 7 years ago

I love it!

Christopher Flemming - 7 years ago

I love ur videos, but i am sorry i hate the way u say ur name at the beginning of ur vids.

MileHighReefers - 7 years ago

Thanks for the feed back. I'm looking at changing it up, but no plans yet.

Eric Miller - 7 years ago

YOU DO AN AWESOME JOB SCOTT

MileHighReefers - 7 years ago

Thanks! I really appreciate it.

Man Cave Reef - 7 years ago

I think I'm going to stop chasing numbers. Thanks Man

MileHighReefers - 7 years ago

It can defiantly be more difficult than its worth.

Franklin Michael - 8 years ago

I see you have a coral that is aout an inch under water, when you do water changes is it left exposed to air? if it is is it bad? How big is your refugium? Do the biopellets get disolved in the water after time or why do you have to top it off?

Franklin Michael - 8 years ago

+MileHighReefers Thanks, il definitely take that into account.

MileHighReefers - 8 years ago

I do the water changes in my sump so the coral aren't exposed to the air. My sump/refugium is about 80 gallons so there's alot of room to work. The bio pellets do dissolve in water so they have to be replenished over time. Since posting this video I had a bit of a tank crash from adding too many biopellets at once, so careful when topping up.

Jake Carpenter - 8 years ago

How many gallons do you have there? Very nice looking tank

MileHighReefers - 8 years ago

Thanks the tank has really done well. The Tank is 210 gallons, total water volume with the sump and frag tank is 450 gallons.

10. comment for Reef Tank Maintenance and Water Changes

Christopher Gilbert - 8 years ago

I haven't had a salt tank in years, there is a lot of techniques that have changed. I was surprised to see though, that water changes are still in most people's arsenal. I was sure by now they had come up with some new toy to reduce the need. It's refreshing to see this video. It is such a waste to put that much time and money into water, just to put it down the drain.

MileHighReefers - 8 years ago

+Christopher Gilbert Thanks! I agree water changes have there place but a lot of the time we just end up putting some very expensive salt down the drain.

Marek Tustin - 8 years ago

Hi,
My friend recommend me using 24 hours UV light for my reef and fishes 130 gallons fish tank. Do you use one? I will really appreciate your answer.

Marek Tustin - 8 years ago

Thank you for your opinion. I hesitate to buy it or not. I see that people don't use UV and I am wondering why my friend (maybe not friend:) ) strongly recommend it for my fish tank. I wrote ,, friend" about man who has a fish shop 30 years and I am his customer. You know, I don't speak English very well, I came from Poland, and usually I get information from people who want help. Like you. Thank you one more time. On this moment I have only sock and protein skimmer in my sump. He told me that the strongest UV working 24 hours is the best solution for me. Maybe better to buy biopellets reactor first?
Best Regards from California.

MileHighReefers - 8 years ago

+Marek Tustin I don't use one and I think there benefits are moderate. They're great for stopping bacterial blooms and of some benefit for dealing with parasitic aliments like ich and marine velvet. The biggest problem is to see the full benefits of a UV sterilizer you have to buy a really powerful one and they are really expensive.

scorlin gonzalez - 8 years ago

how big is your tank bro ??

MileHighReefers - 8 years ago

+scorlin gonzalez 210 gallon display total system volume is about 450g.

Al Gaming - 9 years ago

Amigo,
On those big tanks how much water do you replace on evaporation a week, I am planning to go big but my concern is the evaporation per week I do not want a big water bill :)

Luis

MileHighReefers - 9 years ago

+blish killeen I lose 5-7 gallons a day. With my setup water loss is no big deal

Reid Smith - 9 years ago

if you do your WCs to remove debris, how do you deal with the detritus which gets trapped underneath your rock work?

MileHighReefers - 9 years ago

+Reid Smith So far it hasn't been a problem. After my recent rescape when I pulled all the rocks out I found that it was very clean under the rocks. I attribute this to the brittle and serpent stars.

Reid Smith - 9 years ago

are you a physics teacher?

MileHighReefers - 9 years ago

+Reid Smith No I just play one on TV :)

Grant Stewart - 9 years ago

whats with the oil looking layer on the top of your water?

Grant Stewart - 8 years ago

lol yeah i figured

2019freddie - 9 years ago

+Grant Stewart; diesel oil...

Sam POH - 9 years ago

i put my sea anenome for my clownfish but after a day the water changes to pinkish water

MileHighReefers - 9 years ago

+Sam POH That's odd, I really don't know what that is.

Jv N - 9 years ago

What kind of lighting on your main tank???thanks.

datauk64 - 9 years ago

beautifull marine set up im jelous lol

20. comment for Reef Tank Maintenance and Water Changes

jedimaster8691 - 9 years ago

Beautiful set up!! Whatever you're doing, keep doing it. Anyone who disagrees with this advice, wake up! LOL!

Buddy Sheroka - 9 years ago

I disagree with you the reason why is because we can't always look at water changes as a way of nutrient export even though we are removing some nutrients from the system when we do a water change I look at water changes as a way as a safe way to replace all those minor and major trace elements that we cannot test for unless we send a sample of our water to the lab so I would never recommend dosing minor and major trace elements to the system because they are easily overdosed or underdosed so wate changes are the most effective way of replacing those minor and major trace elements and the Safeway in those minor and major trace elements are vital absolutely essential to the health of the fish and corals me personally I have a weekly water change schedule of 10% weekly and all of my printer stay dead on they do not fluctuate this is just my opinion do you have an amazingly beautiful reef tank keep up the good work

Joshua Limaye - 9 years ago

Nice video. Although each system is different, I'd have to disagree with your stance on water changes. Yes, nitrate levels typically aren't reduced significantly by water changes but thats also all relevant to the overall volume of your system. Thats when you introduce the question of stability, assuming you choose to change more water. I agree with you that stability is important, but only truly important for a handful of parameters. Steady temp should be maintained, and especially your dKH. Fluctuating dKH slows calcification, even if its within an appropriate range. Aside from that, fluctuation unless significant, in other parameters is relatively harmless. On top of that, water changes aren't just good for nitrate removal but they replenish all your minor, and even major elements. Most of us have systems in place or dose for major elements, but not many dose for all minor elements which still play their roll in maintaining a healthy ecosystem. If it works for you, thats great but as a general rule of thumb water changes are most definitely recommended in my opinion.

Buddy Sheroka - 9 years ago

I agree with you on that I do disagree with him to a point doing water changes I find very important for the simple fact that we're replacing a lot of minor trace elements that we cannot test for so I wouldn't recommend dosing those because you don't want to overdose then so doing water changes is the safe and most effective way of replacing those minor trace elements that are key to the health of the fish and corals so I agree with your statement a 100% percent well put

brsund06 - 9 years ago

Looks like in the battle of good algae vs bad algae the bad algae won. It still filters the tank just like an algae scrubber but caulerpa is the most effective plant filter. Chaeto has a hard time beating nuisance algae unless you buy a giant chunk to give it a head start from my experience. But your also running GFO and pellets probably staved the chaeto while it was trying to compete for nutrients if your not dosing iron/iodine. Either way it works, nice review. You could always scrub out the hair algae and put in a big chunk of caulerpa 1 dry gram takes out 20ppm nitrate in a 40 gallon tank. I feel like calcium reactors are a time bomb waiting to go off I don't trust them long term. Do you seed your pellets?

Martins Reef - 9 years ago

Enjoyed your vid liking your sump set up. Stability is key if is not broken and is working don't try and fix it.
Martin

TheRick2325 - 9 years ago

Nicely done video. I have one of those nano tanks and I do have to work more and be on my water changes

ReeferGil - 9 years ago

Absolutely agree. We have to stop chasing numbers when our system is stable. STABILITY is key.

Erica Miller - 9 years ago

I Agree totally. often the Cure is worse the the illness.... If its working Leave it alone

MileHighReefers - 9 years ago

Thanks Gil, well worded stability is key.

PRFishGirl - 9 years ago

Great system

mnelson10000 - 9 years ago

Your calcium may be low because your alkalinity is so high...

mnelson10000 - 9 years ago

Could it be your source water...? Healthy tank or not, that would drive me crazy because SPS wouldn't deal with that. Carbon dosing + high alk = burnt SPS

MileHighReefers - 9 years ago

I tried several times to bring the alk down and the calcium up. And each time the tank quickly goes back to high alk and low ca. Tanks healthy so I'm not worried.

Agr414 - 9 years ago

Thanks for providing insight on your aquarium husbandry. I'm surprised how little maintenance you do for such a large system. I guess that's what you get with great planning.

MileHighReefers - 9 years ago

with a well planned filtration system these tanks are easy to maintain.