Heater in mixing bin?

[Notsolostfish]

I have awc, and i was wondering if its necessary after mixing to have heater on? My basement gets cold so the water gets to 60-65. But is a heater necessary if im doing 5G a day for a week 30G?

 

[Cichlid Dad]

Yes it is. The cold water will drop the temperature to much

 

[exnisstech]

Depends on tank size and amount being changed out. I've been heating mine lately but I'm doing 10% at once and my basement is 59. Not sure how necessary it would be in a AWC system but it won't hurt.

 

[Reeferbadness]

I have a 55 g mixing drum in the back yard here in SoCal and temps get down to the high 40's at night and and daytime high's in the high 50's low 60's in the winter and don't use a heater. I do 10 - 15 g water changes 2x a week on my 2 tanks (180 g and 200g) and don't worry about minor temp fluctuations. Mixing salt isn't a problem either - i use Tropic Marine Pro and it mixes easily at cooler temps.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Heating when using an awc that changes water slowly is not needed nor desirable.

You are changing a huge amount quickly. Why?

 

[Notsolostfish]

Heating when using an awc that changes water slowly is not needed nor desirable.

You are changing a huge amount quickly. Why?

Because im lazy, i got awc, just to do my monthly 30G without putting a pump in the tank. I only use my awc monthly 6 days 30G 5G a day

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Because im lazy, i got awc, just to do my monthly 30G without putting a pump in the tank. I only use my awc monthly 6 days 30G 5G a day

You can’t put it on a timer to spread it out?

 

[GSPClown94]

Because im lazy, i got awc, just to do my monthly 30G without putting a pump in the tank. I only use my awc monthly 6 days 30G 5G a day

What's the total volume of the system? Does each 5 gallon water change take a full day with the AWC? Depending on how much water is changed at a time it might not impact the tank temp enough to matter if the new water is heated or not. Also, 6 separate water changes totaling 30 gallons is going to be different than one monthly 30 gallon water change with regards to the percentage of nutrients removed and elements replaced.

 

[Notsolostfish]

What's the total volume of the system? Does each 5 gallon water change take a full day with the AWC? Depending on how much water is changed at a time it might not impact the tank temp enough to matter if the new water is heated or not. Also, 6 separate water changes totaling 30 gallons is going to be different than one monthly 30 gallon water change with regards to the percentage of nutrients removed and elements replaced.

Different in what way? 150G water volume. And 4 hours for 5G

 

[WhatCouldGoWrong71]

I do not heat or cool (I have both heaters and a chiller on my system). I do 28 liters a day on AWC and my water has been as low as 50 degrees in my bin. Zero impact to my system. I only have heat/cool set up in case I have to do a large water change for some reason. But, it would take too long for me to heat in case of emergency. This is actually something I have been thinking about. I won’t cross talk here. I’ll start a new thread.

 

[GSPClown94]

Different in what way? 150G water volume. And 4 hours for 5G

Check out this thread https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/dilution-is-the-solution-to-pollution.1062796/

 

[WhatCouldGoWrong71]

Check out this thread https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/dilution-is-the-solution-to-pollution.1062796/

Interesting read. So, does anyone who does AWC, like a 10% of display value, then ALSO do quarterly (or some cadence) of larger water change?

This is interesting as I had a reefer 250 on a AWC. 5 gallons a week. The system broke and I didn’t catch it before I went out of town. I was gone 30 ish days. I had significant issues with this tank when I returned as nitrates spiked to over 30 from 5. I was shocked at how fast the tank suffered from no water changes. I lost about 6 corals, many had a set back and some turned brown. If the % for a water exchange is that different then a straight water change, I must have been ridding the razors edge. Now, it has me wondering if I am pulling out enough now. I’m doing 50 gallons on a 500+g system. I’m wondering if that should be 75G a week.

 

[Notsolostfish]

What's the total volume of the system? Does each 5 gallon water change take a full day with the AWC? Depending on how much water is changed at a time it might not impact the tank temp enough to matter if the new water is heated or not. Also, 6 separate water changes totaling 30 gallons is going to be different than one monthly 30 gallon water change with regards to the percentage of nutrients removed and elements replaced.

I read the thread but didnt get it. So its basically a waste doing 5G a day for 6 days? Im wasting my time?

 

[WhatCouldGoWrong71]

I read the thread but didnt get it. So its basically a waste doing 5G a day for 6 days? Im wasting my time?

I don’t think so, I just think that the % is not 10% if your system was 50g. The way I read it is we have to export more volume to equal 10% over time. But, I could be way off.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I read the thread but didnt get it. So its basically a waste doing 5G a day for 6 days? Im wasting my time?

That is certainly not the take away, IMO.

Many small changes is a good way to keep the tank humming along.

A small amount (or 1) of very large changes may be more useful in an emergency situation.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Interesting read. So, does anyone who does AWC, like a 10% of display value, then ALSO do quarterly (or some cadence) of larger water change?

This is interesting as I had a reefer 250 on a AWC. 5 gallons a week. The system broke and I didn’t catch it before I went out of town. I was gone 30 ish days. I had significant issues with this tank when I returned as nitrates spiked to over 30 from 5. I was shocked at how fast the tank suffered from no water changes. I lost about 6 corals, many had a set back and some turned brown. If the % for a water exchange is that different then a straight water change, I must have been ridding the razors edge. Now, it has me wondering if I am pulling out enough now. I’m doing 50 gallons on a 500+g system. I’m wondering if that should be 75G a week.

I didn't and wouldn't, unless it was an emergency of some otherwise hard to solve problem.

Water Changes in Reef Aquaria by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

Comparison of the differences between nitrate depletion using daily (smooth lines) and monthly water changes (jagged lines) of the same amount changed total per month. Nitrate accumulation is assumed to be 0.1 ppm per day.

 

[GSPClown94]

That is certainly not the take away, IMO.

Many small changes is a good way to keep the tank humming along.

A small amount (or 1) of very large changes may be more useful in an emergency situation.

I interpreted @Notsolostfish's original post as doing all their small water changes in a 6 day consecutive period instead of evenly spread out throughout the month, correct me if I'm wrong. I would think just doing one complete 30 gallon water change would replace more old water than what they are currently doing. Can you elaborate on this?

 

[hllb]

I change about 1.5 gallons in my 10g tank without heating it and no ill effects. I do the same with about 7 or 8 gallons of water in my 65g tank too (about 50 to 55 actual water volume). If I were doing a larger change, I would probably heat it. I'd say my water is usually between 66 and 68 degrees.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I interpreted @Notsolostfish's original post as doing all their small water changes in a 6 day consecutive period instead of evenly spread out throughout the month, correct me if I'm wrong. I would think just doing one complete 30 gallon water change would replace more old water than what they are currently doing. Can you elaborate on this?

That was my understanding as well. 6 x 5% water changes is exactly the same as one 26.5% water change. :)

Each 5% change retains 95% of the impurities (assuming there is none in the new salt water).

After each change we retain this fraction of original impurities:

0.95
0.9025
0.857
0.814
0.774
0.735 or 73.5% remaining

One 30% change retains 70% of the impurities.

The 73.5% vs 70% is a real, but pretty small difference.

 

[GSPClown94]

That was my understanding as well. 6 x 5% water changes is exactly the same as one 26.5% water change. :)

Each 5% change retains 95% of the impurities (assuming there is none in the new salt water).

After each change we retain this fraction of original impurities:

0.95
0.9025
0.857
0.814
0.774
0.735 or 73.5% remaining

One 30% change retains 70% of the impurities.

The 73.5% vs 70% is a real, but pretty small difference.

Yeah the 3 gallon difference is small, I guess it just seems like an unnecessary waste to me but maybe they need to do smaller water changes because of their lack of heat.