DOS apex - water change

aerialdronemaster · Jan 10, 2021

Hello

Can me somebody explain the idea of DOS Apex water change?
When I exchange the water manually , I dump lets say 5 gallons from my tank ( 24g) and then I add new water ,, so I am removing bad water, phosphates, nitrates etc

Apex wants you do to the the process at the same time
adding and replacing the water at the same time, - isn't it less effective ? since I can remove not only bad water but also a good water that was added? am I understanding it right?

thank you

DarthSimon · Jan 10, 2021

The concept is to remove old tank water and add fresh saltwater 24 hours a day, continuously. You set the dos to do a certain amount of ml per day. 3785ml is 1 gallon. It doesn't do it all at one time. It slowly drips in intervals.

SuncrestReef · Jan 10, 2021

This has been discussed at length for many years. I don't have the link handy, but essentially the small amount of new water that's wasted when concurrently adding & removing is trivial. If you place the drain line upstream from the add line, the tiny amount of new water blending into your tank being drained out is a very small amount. The advantage is that there are no large parameter swings and no need to disable your ATO during the water change to prevent accidentally replacing saltwater with fresh water.

I have been running the normal AWC 24/7 for nearly 3 years. It works exceptionally well. However, I do recommend one change in the way Neptune recommends setting it up, as described in this post:

Finally got a DOS for AWC’s! Any tips or hints appreciated!

Well after a long wait, DOS has arrived at my house! I’m reading through the directions and things seem pretty straightforward, but R2R members always seem to know tips that aren’t in the directions. I have a 40g breeder with a 20g sump. I have an Apex Jr with room for the module and a surge...

www.reef2reef.com

DarthSimon · Jan 10, 2021

Also what above poster said.

SuncrestReef · Jan 10, 2021

SuncrestReef said:
This has been discussed at length for many years. I don't have the link handy, but essentially the small amount of new water that's wasted when concurrently adding & removing is trivial. If you place the drain line upstream from the add line, the tiny amount of new water blending into your tank being drained out is a very small amount. The advantage is that there are no large parameter swings and no need to disable your ATO during the water change to prevent accidentally replacing saltwater with fresh water.

I have been running the normal AWC 24/7 for nearly 3 years. It works exceptionally well. However, I do recommend one change in the way Neptune recommends setting it up, as described in this post:

Finally got a DOS for AWC’s! Any tips or hints appreciated!

Well after a long wait, DOS has arrived at my house! I’m reading through the directions and things seem pretty straightforward, but R2R members always seem to know tips that aren’t in the directions. I have a 40g breeder with a 20g sump. I have an Apex Jr with room for the module and a surge...

www.reef2reef.com

I found the link I was thinking of:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-10/rhf/index.php

Scroll down to the last paragraph before the conclusion to see the snippet I was referring to:

"A continuous water change of 30% exactly matches one batch 26% water change. As with very small batch water changes, these have the advantage of neither stressing the organisms (assuming the change is done reasonably slowly), nor altering the water level in the aquarium. "