In this study, four water exchange (0, 1/4, 1/2 and 3/4 per day, respectively) were used in sea cucumber Holothuria leucospilota hatchery. The water quality of the hatchery system and the larval survival, growth, and development of the H. leucospilota was tested to evaluate the optimum water renewal strategy. The results showed that the high water renewal rate could pose adverse impacts on larval survival and growth in the early stage. In contrast, the low water renewal rate correlated with high level of ammonia nitrogen (NH₃-N) and nitrite (NO₂^--N) in the hatchery system in the later stage, which could also pose adverse impacts on larval survival and growth. The biological toxicity experiments were carried out to test the effects of (NH₃-N) on mid- and late-auricularia larvae at water temperature of 27.99 °C and pH of 8.05. The results showed that both of the survival and development potential larvae were negatively correlated with the high NH₃-N concentration level. The 48 h-LC₅₀ of NH₃-N on mid- and late-auricularia were 2.66 and 6.22 mg/L, respectively. While the 48 h-LC₅₀ of un-ionized ammonia (NH₃) on mid- and late-auricularia were 0.19 and 0.45 mg/L, respectively. In summary, water quality was important for H. leucospilota hatchery and effective measure must be taken to control the concentration of NH₃-N in the culturing water. It is recommended that no water change should be carried out at the early-auricularia stage, moderate water renewal at the mid-auricularia stage and high water renewal at the late-auricularia stage.