Explain you water change procedure

[pgr11]

For my 265 I mix for gal in a trash can The day before the WC. I shut off my heater,return, skimmer,and bio reactor. Using am maxijet 1200 i pump water from my sump to a hose that runs to my side yard. I pump out 40 gal. Then place the same maxijet in the new water and pump in the 40 gal back into the sump. Turn on the skimmer and bio reactor and heater. I wait for the water to come to temp and turn on the return pump. Water change done and no more buckets

 

[bige]

I use a pond 2200 gph pump to do my changes. Takes just a second on my 29 biocube.

 

[dwilliams87]

I mix saltwater in a brute trashcan for 24+ hours. My pumps are low enough where I don't have to turn off anything. I have 2 different systems that I keep the parameters about the same except I let the nitrates get a little higher in my Zoa/lps tank. I take the water out of my lps tank and pour it outside. I take the same amount of water from my spa tank and put it in my lps tank. I then fill the spa tank back up with fresh water. I do this every other week. On the alternate weeks I put fresh saltwater in both tanks.

 

[Alabamareef]

Mix up saltwater. Let it mix for as little as an hour but prefer 3 + hrs. I mix it with an old pump. Make sure salinity is 1.022/1.025 to match tank. About 45gal at a time. Clean tank. Blow off rock then siphon old water into a container. Then pump new water into tank. Then hit a button to the apex and clean up.

 

[Taylor t]

I have a 210 and a 75. I use a vertical poly tank 50 gallons. I have the poly tank sit on a stand. Make water, and leave with a mj1200 and an airstone. Sometimes it will sit for a month or 2. When waterchange is done, I siphon it down the drain right next to the tank. Slop sink has a sump that pumps salt water (sink water) to a drywell I made next to the house. Then I have a 3/4" hose hooked up to a bulkhead at the bottom of the poly tank, and open the valve to fill up the sump. No equipment is shut off. I do waterchanges as often as once a week, or as little as every couple months. It varies.

 

[Mike&Terry]

We setup a water storage and saltwater mixing station in the spring of 2011 and couldn't be happier with it. Rather than fully automate the water change process with a hands-free design, we elected to go with one that would semi-automate the process, making mixing and water changes easy to do AND give us complete control.



The idea is to be able to move water between the vats, recirculate in the salt mix vat, and pump water out to the sump or perhaps a 5g bucket or other container with the turn of a few handles. We love Spa Flex and this seemed like a natural application for that - we wouldn't want minor movements or adjustments harming the plumbing, and being able to move things around a little to fine tune the fit always helps.



We added a waterproof switch to turn the pump on/off as needed.




Now to answer the questions:

How do you get the old water out of your tank? Where does the old water go? (sink, outside, other drain, do you drink it, JK)
Terry does most of our water changes. To avoid swallowing fish poo, she uses a modified Mr. Cleaner (we ditched the filter sock and attached a vinyl hose) to start a siphon and drain water from our first sump into the sink that sits to the right of it.

We keep a number of fighting conchs and sea cucumbers in our DT. Although they do a wonderful job of keeping our sand bed turned over and clean, we do occasionally siphon the sand bed. When we do this, we drain the dirty water to a 45g Brute container on wheels and then dump that water down the bathroom drain using a small pump.

How do you get the new water in the tank?
At our water storage/mixing station, we open the necessary ball valves and turn on the pump switch to move the water to the tank. See above.

What equipment do you shut off during all this?
The Reef Fanatic level controller for our auto top-off. We normally do a weekly 10% water change (45g), but are able to change up to 65g of water without turning off any other equipment including the return pump and skimmers.

Do you do anything extra to the new water other than salt.
We test new saltwater once it's fully mixed for Ca, Mg and dKH and supplement as/when necessary using BRS calculators.

Do you enter the new water into the sump or directly into the DT?
Into the sump before the skimmer.
New saltwater is added to our second sump (150g stock vat) after the main skimmer.

-M&T

 

[Aquaph8]

Anybody else. M&T I want your water mixing station so bad, If only it wasn't so hot in my garage in the summer.

 

[zemuss]

How do you mix your new water? Since I live in florida I buy Sea water from LFS

How do you get the old water out of your tank? I siphon out 5 g of water using a tube

Where does the old water go? (sink, outside, other drain, do you drink it, JK) Toilet

How do you get the new water in the tank? Dump into Display slowly

What equipment do you shut off during all this? Return Pump and Skimmer

Do you do anything extra to the new water other than salt. Yes I siphon the sand and clean the rocks of detritus.

Do you enter the new water into the sump or directly into the DT? DT.

 

[jlymner]

How do you mix your new water? I buy saltwater from LFS

How do you get the old water out of your tank? I siphon out 5 g of water using a tube

Where does the old water go? (sink, outside, other drain, do you drink it, JK) Toilet

How do you get the new water in the tank? Dump into Display slowly

What equipment do you shut off during all this? everything but the lights

Do you do anything extra to the new water other than salt. Yes I siphon the sand and clean the rocks of detritus.

Do you enter the new water into the sump or directly into the DT? DT sometimes the sump...

 

[beaslbob]

I wait until the tank is down 1/2 to 1 inch or so.

the run cold water from a high usage faucet for about a minute.

then collect a gallon and pour the water in the tank.

And repeat until the tank is refilled.

I do add a pinch of mrs wages pickling lime and stirr it up a bit. Then stop filling the tank before any undissolved lime makes it to the tank.


Same thing for FW only no added lime.

my .02

 

[Trex]

This applies to all of my tanks -- I do 5 gallons for my 40, 65 and 75. Yes the 40 gets a larger percentage, but this is the easiest for me and keeps me a schedule. I have found that the easier it is to do a water change, the more apt one is to keep doing them.

Anyways, the night before (( sometimes this will happen days before hand if I get busy )) I will pour RO/DI water (( yes water needs to be first )) into a 5 gallon bucket. Plug in the powerhead and heater. At this point I will pour in (( slowly )) 2.5 Solo cups of salt.
The night of the water change I will test the salinity/SG and adjust if needed -- though have gotten pretty good at getting it right.

Test the salinity/SG of the tank's water -- in case I need to adjust the water change water.
Lay down an old beach towel to protect the carpet/bamboo floors from spills.
I will open the doors to the sump, and remove any excess algae from the sump --- both macro and nuisance.
Unplug skimmer, main pump, and powerheads.
Razor blade the glass -- front, back and sides.
Open up a little step ladder.
Put a different 5 gallon bucket on the ladder (( I use the same salt brand buckets, so I know that I am removing the same amount as I plan to put back in ))
Start the siphon and proceed to "gravel vac" the sandbed (( all of my tanks have shallow sandbeds )).
Keep doing this until I get all the sand and/or the bucket is full, which ever is first. If I finish the sandbed first I continue to remove water until the bucket is full.
Carefully carry the bucket to the powder room (( I really should put a lid on said bucket )), and dump it in the toilet. (( excess macro algae is placed in a plastic shopping bag and put in the trash )).
Collect the skimmer cup, acrylic panels (( there are next to the skimmer and helps control splashing from the sump )), sponge covers from the MP10's and from the Mag 5 return pumps.
Bring all of the above into the spare bedroom's full bath. Clean skimmer cup with an old toothbrush, rinse off acrylic and clean the sponges.
Rinse out the bucket.
Bring above items back to the tank that I am working on, and re-install
Carry fresh salt water to the tank and place it on the step ladder.
Hook up a hose to the powerhead that is in the bucket.
Plug in and let the tank refill.
Rinse out this bucket, and refill for next water change.
Turn on main pump, powerheads and skimmer.
Put away my water change items into a "supply" bucket.
Place bucket, ladder back into the water change closest in the half basement.
Clean the front glass from water spills.

Finally, relax on the couch and ice my back. :)


I believe that I covered everything, and if I still on schedule the above can be done in 30 minutes -- helps if I am listening to music.