DO YOUR WATER CHANGES RIGHT
My last water change I finally feel like I nailed it. It's been about 8 months or so, water changes for over half a year. Decided I would share what works for me. My first water change was a very wet, frustrating adventure filling 5 gallon buckets and mixing salt and reacting to external factors I had not prepared for properly. Fast forward to now, I am a well-oiled machine.
Steps
0) Prepare - get at least a 5x5 square foot area with open floor in front of your tank, this is very important. If you have children remove all toys, lego pieces, colored pencils, and goldfish crackers. Grab towels, and more towels. Grab 1-2 small buckets to move water quickly in the event of an unforeseen emergency. Decide how much water you will change, as a gallon measurement. Aim for 10-25% of your total WATER volume, not tank volume. I.E. my 90g tank with sump has about 100 gallons of water in the system. Have 2 containers that will hold all the water you are moving. One empty for old water, one full of new water.
1) Get two containers with 10+ extra gallons worth of storage for water. I change 20 gallons so I use a 30 gallon brute can.
2) Get a heater specifically for water changes, not the one you use in your tank. Lazy butts.
3) Get a submersible pump with 5 foot of flexible tubing attached to it specifically for water changes
4) Clean glass, use turkey baster to blow off rocks, stir sand if you prefer
5) While doing this, heat the RO/DI water to temp of 77-80 degrees, and mix salt with the pump
6) Drain 20 gallons of water from display. Turn all pumps off, so the lower water level does not create pump malfunction. Use submersible pump and flexible tubing to drain water out of tank into brute can. Match the level of the container you are going to use to refill.
7) You should have 20 gallons of fresh, temperature and salinity matched water. Use same pump and fill 20 gallons back into the tank.
8) Take the opportunity while everything is turned off to clean other types of filters, switch filter floss, replace carbon, etc.
9) Enjoy your new fresh clean water.
My last water change I finally feel like I nailed it. It's been about 8 months or so, water changes for over half a year. Decided I would share what works for me. My first water change was a very wet, frustrating adventure filling 5 gallon buckets and mixing salt and reacting to external factors I had not prepared for properly. Fast forward to now, I am a well-oiled machine.
Steps
0) Prepare - get at least a 5x5 square foot area with open floor in front of your tank, this is very important. If you have children remove all toys, lego pieces, colored pencils, and goldfish crackers. Grab towels, and more towels. Grab 1-2 small buckets to move water quickly in the event of an unforeseen emergency. Decide how much water you will change, as a gallon measurement. Aim for 10-25% of your total WATER volume, not tank volume. I.E. my 90g tank with sump has about 100 gallons of water in the system. Have 2 containers that will hold all the water you are moving. One empty for old water, one full of new water.
1) Get two containers with 10+ extra gallons worth of storage for water. I change 20 gallons so I use a 30 gallon brute can.
2) Get a heater specifically for water changes, not the one you use in your tank. Lazy butts.
3) Get a submersible pump with 5 foot of flexible tubing attached to it specifically for water changes
4) Clean glass, use turkey baster to blow off rocks, stir sand if you prefer
5) While doing this, heat the RO/DI water to temp of 77-80 degrees, and mix salt with the pump
6) Drain 20 gallons of water from display. Turn all pumps off, so the lower water level does not create pump malfunction. Use submersible pump and flexible tubing to drain water out of tank into brute can. Match the level of the container you are going to use to refill.
7) You should have 20 gallons of fresh, temperature and salinity matched water. Use same pump and fill 20 gallons back into the tank.
8) Take the opportunity while everything is turned off to clean other types of filters, switch filter floss, replace carbon, etc.
9) Enjoy your new fresh clean water.