Water Change: What's the average time it takes you? Tips and tricks...

[WvAquatics]

140g total volume. I change about 30g aweek. Takes me about 20 minutes. I need to get a free 32g trash can and it would be 10 minutes.i have to drain water into buckets. Then pump back into the tank. One day I'll have a 3rd 32 g brute I can put pump in pump to same level as salt can then pump in.

 

[lakin58]

Aquarium Water Change (revhtree's definition) - Making your aquarium water better by removing some nasty stuff from your water and replenishing it with some good stuff. Your corals and fish will really like it.

Now that we know it helps by removing bad stuff and adding good stuff let's talk about how long it takes you and any tips and tricks you might have!

1. What is the average time it takes you to complete a water change in your reef aquarium? (exclude the salt mixing time) <30 minutes

2. How many gallons of water do you change normally and how many gallons is your total aquarium volume? Change 30 gallons tank system is 165 gallons

3. What are some tips and tricks you have learned over the years to make changing out your water easier and faster? Use a bigger hose to siphon out the bad and stronger mixing/filling pump to fill the tank and it makes all the difference.


From @saltyhog: "My home made method for attaching the clear tubing that sends new salt water to the tank."

 

[aalhait]

I can do 20G over 24 hour period using LiterMeter III or an ongoing 2G per day. I tried to switch this to an Apex DOS system but there’s no way to do a major change over 24 hours that I’ve been able to perform. Does anyone know how to keep the DOS system on until 20G or more have been changed? Best I can see it doing is 200ml per 30 min

 

[Kjames]

AWC 2% daily via Neptune DOS - roughly 2 gallons per day of 112 gallons total volume.

Tip: pre-measure your salt so that when it's time to top up the storage bin you just add water and dump in a container of salt. I weigh mine into 10 gallon quantities so I can easily top up easily in any multiple of 10 gallons. Half gallon storage containers are just right for this. Refill containers as you use them so you always have them full.

I keep 8 portions weighed out all the time so in an emergency I can more than refill the entire saltwater storage bin.

 

[ReefLab]

10 gallons. I fill and carry 2 buckets to the toilet & pump 10 gallons into the sump.

 

[Terr-c]

1. What is the average time it takes you to complete a water change in your reef aquarium? (exclude the salt mixing time)

It takes me about 15 minutes. Long enough to siphon out the old, flip the switch at my holding tank to add the water back. It takes me longer to roll out the hoses than to do the actual water change (and clean up my mess). I have my RO system in the Laundry room that goes into a 20 gallon barrel where I mix my salt, it has a PVC pipe in it that goes to the bottom of the barrel and attached to the pump which has attached tubing that I roll out to the tank. The tank is about 30' away, after I fill the tank; I run RO water through the pump to rinse the pump out. Then fill the barrel back up with RO water for top off water. The siphon just goes from the tank to my sink drain. My awesome son automated everything for me so I don't have to carry buckets! Not real fancy but I LOVE it. I think that's why I always gotten rid of my previous tanks. I got tired of carrying water. This pic was the beginning of the set up, hose wasn't attached yet. I'm going to make @Jvalle's picture from @saltyhog refill gadget, just what I need to prevent my spills.

2. How many gallons of water do you change normally and how many gallons is your total aquarium volume?
I change about 18 gallons every two weeks in my 55 gallon tank.

3. What are some tips and tricks you have learned over the years to make changing out your water easier and faster?
I've learned it's hard to carry buckets of water!!! I have researched and watched videos and I'm still learning and getting ideas!! Thanks for this post, learned something from @saltyhog

 

[Fishingandreefing]

If water change doesn’t include cleaning, it’s kinda of drop the pump in and plug the switch the vice versa. That takes like 15 mins. Most time consuming part is cleaning! I usually spend at least two hours

 

[chaoticreefer]

Less then 15 minutes for about 18 gals on a 75g tank.

My tank is a bare bottom at the moment but it makes no difference, same time when I had a sand bottom. I just use 1/4" ID hose to vacuum the bottom of the tank into 20 gal Brute (exact same size brute is used with mixing clean saltwater so I can judge the amount I can suck out). Both brutes are on their own trash can dolly. Once the waste water brute is "full", I roll it out of the way and roll the clean water brute closer to the tank and pump clean water into the tank. Each brute has it own pump, tubing, flow hooks, and pvc piping that stays with it, so no hunting down for equipment. Once all done and get the all clear that everything is back to normal and working with no flooding disasters (haven't had one yet since switching to this practice), I roll the dirty brute to my restroom and pump the dirty water down the toilet and give it a flush for the final salute.

This technique is actually a lot easier and less disaster prone than rolling out hose from tank directly to my toilet.

While I have space to set up an automatic wc system just outside behind the reef tank's wall is on, but I live inland part of southern California which is practically living on edge of desert where the ourtside temperature stays in the 100s during the summer months (making the temp of water thats stored out there stay in the high 90s sometimes), so I have to bring my mixing RODI water inside the night before wc day to let it cool down. My RODi system and 32g holding brute is out there.

I don't do a waterchanges to clean my sump. For that I just use a maxijet with 1/2" tubing going into a 5 micron sock. I have one of those attachments for the maxijet, that's a curve flange for vacuuming.

 

[Sacrifice]

Lol - "other".

Depends how big of a mess I make Seriously though for me it depends on if I spill water or how big of a mess I actually make during the water change. If it goes as what I have visioned in my head then it is 20 minutes. However, I'm usually at the hour mark because I've spilled water somehow, somewhere, and need to clean it up. Some areas are more difficult to clean.

You know it is bad when your better half says to you - you know, there has to be an easier way to do that task...

I literally say this to myself every week during a waterchange.

 

[Iversonforever3]

Man must be nice to be some or you or just bad to be me lol. I’m reading all the comments and everyone has quick easy auto water changes . While I’m here struggling lifting a 5 gallon bucket up near my head , trying to slowly pour new water into my tank without knocking corals over... I guess overtime you make life easier with upgrades ...

Ohh and I do 5g water change about every 7-10 days in a 50g tank. Seems to be ok for me for now.

 

[2Wheelsonly]

Mine take me over an hour because I feel like if I am not stirring up the sandbed, blowing out low flow areas of rocks and sucking up everything bad I can find then I am wasting my time. Salt changes get expensive on a large system so I feel I have to maximize my effort. One of these days I am going to just do a quick remove and replace of water for a few months and see what the difference is.

Man must be nice to be some or you or just bad to be me lol. I’m reading all the comments and everyone has quick easy auto water changes . While I’m here struggling lifting a 5 gallon bucket up near my head , trying to slowly pour new water into my tank without knocking corals over... I guess overtime you make life easier with upgrades ...

Ohh and I do 5g water change about every 7-10 days in a 50g tank. Se me to be ok for me

LOL I bear hug a 36G brute full of old water and dump it over a stone wall outside (I have septic so I rather not drain it). That's sadly the fun part, all those years of power lifting has paid off.

 

[2Wheelsonly]

Mine takes literally 3 seconds. That’s how long I hold the button that is wired into breakout box for apex. And I walk away. It took longer to write this post. 50 gallons in a 250 gallon system

Don't you get detritus build up over time? I wish I could make this as easy (have an apex DOS laying around doing nothing) but for some reason I can't just "change" water as my nitrates still get out of control. I have over 100X turnover in the display but my detritus builds up quickly just feeding once a day. I have to get into the rocks and blast it all out and suck it up out of the sand bed with my siphon.

 

[BobT]

On a 90 gallon tank I gravity drain about 25 gallons into toilet. If cleaning sandbed I run it through a filter sock so as not to plug up plumbing. Using transfer pump and 75 feet of hose I pump up NSW from a Brute 40 gallon can located in basement. Total time about 30 minutes including clean up and hose draining.

 

[Blknovass]

I don’t have the largest system but in total water change can take up to 35-40 mins. But I clean my rocks and go through my sand. I do 5 gallons one a week in a 60 gal cube.

 

[jack_aubry]

after reading this I need to step up my WC game. I only have a 40g about 33 total gallons. I do a 5g WC once a week, but I have to mix the salt every time. Every other week I have to make 15g of ro/di does not take too long, but could be a lot faster if I had the storage capacity.

 

[Snedabyte]

Auto water changes with the Neptune DOS does 3 gallons a day so that the tank will not go though big changes. Time spent is how long takes to transfer water from 1 to the other, and add salt. Maybe 10 minutes every 2 weeks.

 

[rknott]

This is an interesting read. It almost sounds like a bragging rights exercise. Several hinted at this, but I am finding what some people call a water change, isn't a water change. It is just part of the water change. To be inclusive you need to include mixing time, getting water to the correct temp, moving water to the ATO if you have one, clean up, clean the glass because water dripped on it, wipe the floor . . . . I find my salinity varies periodically and I use my water change to lower or raise (by intentionally lowering water through evaporation and then refilling with salt water) For me it is an hour on my 75g. For sure if I had the convenience of a dedicated room, advanced plumbing that went through walls, floors . . . . .that would help, but there is still time there to clean out holding tanks, remix . . .

As for the sump question, I would like to pull from there, but sump is on the floor level in sump at peak is lower than bucket when full. :-(

 

[BighohoReef]

Has anyone done something similar to what Reefdudes doing? I just ordered all the supplies, I'm hoping it makes our cleaning and water change go quicker.

 

[bartikus]

As I am in an apartment I don’t have any fancy plumbing to assist me. Still, I only replace a 5 gallon bucket’s worth at a time. Hit the feed mode on my gyre controller (pauses for 10 minutes), turn off my return pump, siphon out 5 gallons into my “dirty” bucket, then use the pump I have to pump the clean bucket back in. Turn the return back on, and the gyres still have ~5 minutes before they turn back on. 5 gallons every Sunday seems just fine for my ~55 gallon softy dominated lagoon.

 

[WvAquatics]

This is an interesting read. It almost sounds like a bragging rights exercise. Several hinted at this, but I am finding what some people call a water change, isn't a water change. It is just part of the water change. To be inclusive you need to include mixing time, getting water to the correct temp, moving water to the ATO if you have one, clean up, clean the glass because water dripped on it, wipe the floor . . . . I find my salinity varies periodically and I use my water change to lower or raise (by intentionally lowering water through evaporation and then refilling with salt water) For me it is an hour on my 75g. For sure if I had the convenience of a dedicated room, advanced plumbing that went through walls, floors . . . . .that would help, but there is still time there to clean out holding tanks, remix . . .

As for the sump question, I would like to pull from there, but sump is on the floor level in sump at peak is lower than bucket when full. :-(

Yes I would love to do all changes from sump. But my sump to bucket is not right level so I pull from dt. If I don't dose phyto into sump during I'll refill in sump today I refilled into dt so phyto could sit a bit longer