Nitrate Reductor Question

[ILLdose13]

I have a AquaMedic Nitrate Reductor 1000 with an mV computer coming in next week. My question is: If I keep my nitrates really low, how often do you think I should do water changes (to remove all the other crap) and why?

 

[jizon82]

i do water changes at least once a week

 

[geeimatree]

i do water changes every week
even if you have really low nitrates adn everything, it doesnt hurt to have really clean sparkly water

 

[frasertheking]

i would still do water changes once to twice a month to replace used minerals.

 

[sailing_derrick]

I do water changes twice a week/ 3 times every 2 weeks depending on how busy i am, i have very hungry oscars and clown knives who leave behind loads of waste. i mainly do them the vacume up the poop and keep the tank looking clean. In doing that i keep the water quality up too... i dont gravel vac on every water change tho cause it disturbs the bacteria in th UG filter...

 

[ILLdose13]

You guys would still do weekly water changes even if you had a nitrate reductor?

 

[ILLdose13]

i would still do water changes once to twice a month to replace used minerals.

Yeah I was thinking that once or twice a month would be a great choice. My nitrates would be stable at very low levels, and I just need to do a water change to replace minerals and remove other chemicals like hormones.

 

[West1]

You guys would still do weekly water changes even if you had a nitrate reductor?

I do water changes on my 300gl every 4-5 days. I do 40-50% everytime.

With that reducer, Id prob go to 50% once a week. JMO

I dont think we can ever run away from H2o changes

Even those who have 24/7 H2o systems still do water weekly changes

 

[rba718]

Once a week, if I'm too lazy or just can't, once every two weeks then.

 

[duanes]

I try to do at least 3 per week of @ 20% each on each bank of tanks, even though my nitrates test between 2-4 ppm.
Nitrates are just the tip of the iceburg in the chemical soup our fish live in. DOCs, hormone production, amino acids, to name just a few of the metabolic processes going on. If water changes were just for nitrates, life would be a lot easier.