The right way of doin' a water change?

[Geoff]

Does anybody have a trick way of doing water changes besides the old make water, drain water, refill water?

i guess what is everyones method for doing water changes.

G~

[Junkzoo]

Hey G,,, the same way i still do it,,only i went from mixing a 5 gal bucket,,adding salt and reading it right away(temp/salinity)x5 or so,,,(WAY ol' days)since my move to another home , and getting a RO/DI,and a 55 g rubbermaid container, i now make up water and let it set up b4 i do the w/c,,still have to do the trek up the basement stairs to bring up new water(180 FO-75 reef)when i get my 200 reef tank set up in the basement , and get the 180 and the soon to be frag 75 tank down there on the same level, i hope/plan to do the pump out old water(into another container) and wheel the new water over to the tank and pump the new into the tanks thing happening,,,i tend to stick to hard labor , and think of things many years after,,,,not much help here,just sharing,,,

[Doug1]

Premix it up in a trash can, transfer to IO bucket, move into other room by tank.
Have a 402 powerhead to pump new SW into sump. Open divert valve on sump drain line and match in and out flows

[Rick O]

I tried all the fancy plumbing to make this job easier but in the end the fastest way was to mix it in a trash can in the garage and haul in and out in 6 gal buckets. I can do a 12 gal water change in about 15 minutes now.

[icebear]

i'll do anything to avoid sucking hoses.....


that said, i have a small tank (46g) so water changes for me are like, 5-15 gallons at a time. HUGE hassle *smirk*

i just keep 4 of those5 gallon pails, fill 3 of them with water, throw a water pump in there to mix, take the 4th bucket and siphon the old water into it, dump it out and use an assortment of modified milk jugs and rubbermaid pitchers to put the new stuff into the tank....

i use a Python for my freshwater tank cleaning.

[Alice]

Most people do approximately the same volume in a water change most of the time. Drain out how much water you normally do, say 20 gallons. Measure the outgoing water in the same containters from which you will be drawing the incoming water so that you come up with equal amounts. Once you've drained the appropriate amount, draw a line with a permanent marker on the sump or side of the tank. Next time you need to do a water change, hook up a powerhead to a long hose (long enough to reach somewhere that won't be affected by the old saltwater, like the driveway) turn on the pump and let it run until it goes down to the mark. Then plop that powerhead and hose in the buckets of new SW and pump into the tank.

Works for me and I can do a water change lickety-split this way.

Alice

[Big Dave]

You mean we're supposed to do water changes!?!?!

I pretty much do the same as Alice. I have an empty trash can right next to my new water, and just match the levels in the cans, well just short of even anyways.

The other thing I like to do right before a wc is turkey baste my rocks and my one dead spot where a little detrius collects. The corals love the storm and it gets rid of some extra junk in the hidey-holes.

-Big Dave

[aquaticsdeptleader]

could you rig something with float valves ex

you know how much you lose from evap so put a float in the tank that would open a hole in sump to drain more water sencond float valve connects to premaid saltwater basin that replenishs drained out saltwater then just need one more container for top off

or skip all the valves and just open and close by hand

[Minnreefer]

I live with a reefer so I am lucky

We mix up a 32 gallon can near the tank we then drain out the old water into another 32 gallon can and pump in the new water. It takes about 18 hours for our water to heat up to tank temp with a 200 watt heater so we have the cans sitting there for about a day. I use a large extra pump to pump the water into the tank and a hose to suck the old water out.

HTH

Jon

[rsaund]

I have a really great automatic setup. The first part sucks water out of the tank directly down the drain (remote start of the pump via a Radioshack switch). The 2nd part pumps water out of a 35 gallon reservoir into the tank. Changing 2, 120 gallon tanks takes me about 10 minutes and I don't get wet!

Here's a picture of my setup (the water-changing thing is discussed in points 5-8, scroll to the bottom of the page):

http://www.tendb.com/robin/plumbing.html

My husband hooked this all up. Works great.

Robin

[Minnreefer]

Welcome over to The Reef Tank Robin. That looks like a nice setup for changing out water.

Jon

[CAT]

I mix the water the day before in a large bucket, put powerhead and heater in it overnight, then change the water the next day. Still using a syphon but I haven't gotten a mouthfull of dirty water in a long time I use a powerhead to pump the new water into the tank.

[hooked]

I do a 15-20 gallon change every 3 weeks. I have a plastic garbage can I mix my water in. It takes my ro/di unit about 8 hours to get what I need, I always make more just incase something happens. I usually start the water at night and by the time I get up I am ready to add my heater and powerhead. When I get home from work around 11 hours later I start adding the salt and try to get my salinity were I need it that night. I then let the water heat and mix for another day or 2. I vac my CC bed and then use my same mixing pump to put the water back into my tank. It has worked good for me and I can usually vac and refill in less then a 1/2 hour.

[Ichthus]

Same here. I have a 65g tank. I keep a rubbermaid trash can in the garage full of RO saltwater. I keep a Maxi-Jet 400 PH and a 150w heater. That way when it is time to do a change the water is right temp and all I have to do is haul in 2-3 times w/ a 5g bucket. I might try getting a long hose and hook the hose up to a PH and try pumping it straight into the tank to avoid splashing. As long as it can do it quickly...Iam guessing that hauling it would prob be faster though.

I too turkey baste before a water change, but I will do that a few hours before to let stuff settle after fish and corals have eaten some of the floating debris, then I will vacuum CC and then siphon out water.

[Rick O]

Hi Robin. Welcome to The Reef Tank. I love seeing a nicely laid out equipment room. Nice job.