how do you do your water changes?
- Thread starter fungia
- Start date
The simplest tank I ever maintained was one I was able to set up from scratch for a customer. He a had a drain near his tank, which was a godsend. I plumbed a stretch of hard PVC to the drain, and turned it "on" with a switch that turned on a small pump in the sump. It took about 15 minutes to drain 35 gallons, during which time I cleaned the skimmer and the glass.
The makeup reservoir (a 55 gallon BRUTE can) was near the sump, and I plumbed it with a circulation loop that went outside the barrel to a small spigot. Opening the spigot and closing a ball valve caused water to flow through some flex PVC to the sump. That took another 15 minutes or so, during which time I would fill his kalkwasser jugs and mix them. Then I could turn everything back on. The routine was about 25% once a month.
Pretty simple, no hands wet, and mostly automatic. The upside is you can walk away and do other things. Standing there with a siphon hose is annoying for any water changes much larger than 5 gallons. Large plastic clamps may come in handy for holding hoses in place, both to drain and to refill.
The makeup reservoir (a 55 gallon BRUTE can) was near the sump, and I plumbed it with a circulation loop that went outside the barrel to a small spigot. Opening the spigot and closing a ball valve caused water to flow through some flex PVC to the sump. That took another 15 minutes or so, during which time I would fill his kalkwasser jugs and mix them. Then I could turn everything back on. The routine was about 25% once a month.
Pretty simple, no hands wet, and mostly automatic. The upside is you can walk away and do other things. Standing there with a siphon hose is annoying for any water changes much larger than 5 gallons. Large plastic clamps may come in handy for holding hoses in place, both to drain and to refill.
Well, I used to do 25% weekly. Always kept 75% of the total tank volume in premixed water for "just in case". I pump the sump out dry to get any detrious, then pull the rest of the water from the main. Adding water back was buckets and back work, no special tricks there.
I do 20-50% every 2 or three weeks.
I have a remote sump, so my life is pretty easy.
I have a 150 mixing tub that I pretty much keep full of saltwater ready to go. There is a modded mj in the tub for circulation, a 250 watt heater and a powerhead just for aeration. The tub is hooked up to my RO system with a float valve, so when I need to fill it, I turn on a valve and the float shuts of the water when done.
There is also a pump in the tub that has a line leading to the sump. This pump is on a float switch in the sump, so that when the water change is done, the pump goes off automatically if I forget to shut it off.
To remove water form the tank I put a line connected to the closed loop into the toilet which is right near the back of the tank, and turn the valve on. About 7 minutes later I turn it off, run downstairs and flip the switch on the fill pump in the mixing tub and voila. I came up with 7 minutes by putting lines on the sump at 10 gallon intervals, and 7 minutes is about 50 gallons.
One day when I am super bored I will plump the drain line from the closed loop pump to a drain under the house and then I won't have to uncoil a line to the toilet. This would make life fractionally easier, but not enough to get me to put it high on the priority list.
I have a remote sump, so my life is pretty easy.
I have a 150 mixing tub that I pretty much keep full of saltwater ready to go. There is a modded mj in the tub for circulation, a 250 watt heater and a powerhead just for aeration. The tub is hooked up to my RO system with a float valve, so when I need to fill it, I turn on a valve and the float shuts of the water when done.
There is also a pump in the tub that has a line leading to the sump. This pump is on a float switch in the sump, so that when the water change is done, the pump goes off automatically if I forget to shut it off.
To remove water form the tank I put a line connected to the closed loop into the toilet which is right near the back of the tank, and turn the valve on. About 7 minutes later I turn it off, run downstairs and flip the switch on the fill pump in the mixing tub and voila. I came up with 7 minutes by putting lines on the sump at 10 gallon intervals, and 7 minutes is about 50 gallons.
One day when I am super bored I will plump the drain line from the closed loop pump to a drain under the house and then I won't have to uncoil a line to the toilet. This would make life fractionally easier, but not enough to get me to put it high on the priority list.
So far, I've been changing about 7% (5 gallons out of a 75 gallon tank).
I siphon out the water along with the top layer of sand. Then, I wash the sand several times to remove the fish poo that's built up (I'm amazed at the output of one yellow tang) before returning it to the tank. Then, I replace the water.
I did this about twice a week during the first month. Now, I do it every week or two.
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Honda CB700SC
I siphon out the water along with the top layer of sand. Then, I wash the sand several times to remove the fish poo that's built up (I'm amazed at the output of one yellow tang) before returning it to the tank. Then, I replace the water.
I did this about twice a week during the first month. Now, I do it every week or two.
_________________
Honda CB700SC
I have a couple garbage cans... I'm guessing 25-30 gallons. Fill one up with RO/DI water, hopefully remembering to turn the water off (which I have forgotten about a few times.. luckily it's in my sunroom in the back, so no worry of water damage). Toss in amount of salt I need, pump, wait overnight. Next day toss in a 200-300watt heater from my tank into the water to bring it up to a decent temp... a few hours later.. then I turn off the return pump... and use a 1/2" hose to siphon out water into a canister... a drain near by is there but IMO it's a bit of a waste of an opportunity to simply pull water out, the purpose of the hose is to siphon as much additional crap as possible as well. Once the water level is the same in both cans I start pumping water back in.. moving the heater back of course 
Do that every 2-3 weeks, basically accounts for 25% of my water volume
Do that every 2-3 weeks, basically accounts for 25% of my water volume
- Location
- Cape Coral, Florida
Brian5000- how do you do the sand wash, and return of the sand-how much do you remove at a time, would you say- 1 cup, 2?
It's usually more like 6-7 cups.
I just rinse it out with water from the tub, stir it up real good, dump outside, repeat until the water is relatively clear (at least not opaque).
I drain the sand of tap water as much as possible before returning the sand to the tank. To return the sand I just take a handful and gentily lower it to the bottom of the aquarium. That part does get kind of messy, but most of it does make it to the bottom and the rest I blow off the rocks when I'm done.
Washing in tap water kills everything in the sand, but the sand seems to get recolonized in 2-3 days.
This is kinda my ongoing experiment that I've been doing for almost a year. My thoughts were that I don't need to move as much water if I remove the waste at it's source. The 5 gallons I take out every week are opaque, brown.
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Dutch Forum
I just rinse it out with water from the tub, stir it up real good, dump outside, repeat until the water is relatively clear (at least not opaque).
I drain the sand of tap water as much as possible before returning the sand to the tank. To return the sand I just take a handful and gentily lower it to the bottom of the aquarium. That part does get kind of messy, but most of it does make it to the bottom and the rest I blow off the rocks when I'm done.
Washing in tap water kills everything in the sand, but the sand seems to get recolonized in 2-3 days.
This is kinda my ongoing experiment that I've been doing for almost a year. My thoughts were that I don't need to move as much water if I remove the waste at it's source. The 5 gallons I take out every week are opaque, brown.
_________________
Dutch Forum
Yes, some of those poor critters meet an untimely end, but I don't pick up the entire sand bed, just a portion. The critters that are left continue to multiply, and as I said, they're back at it in a few days.
The key is not to clean everything at once. That really would sterilize your sand bed.
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Honda CL450
The key is not to clean everything at once. That really would sterilize your sand bed.
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Honda CL450
- Location
- Cape Coral, Florida
That's a good idea- I've never done that. I have added new sand, but never cleaned it.
- Location
- Cape Coral, Florida
I use Brute 44s on a wheeled base from Home Depot. Makes 35 gal water chge really easy. I have a RODI unit for make-up water, and a chiller in the garage., where I roll it from. I use a syphon hose to remove the water from the reef into (1) can- roll it to the kitchen sink to pump it out- then roll the can to the garage, where it it refilled from the premade salt mix. Roll it back to the kitchen, and pump it into the tank. Takes about 20 min. or so. I do them about every 10 days or so.
I have a 10 gal, I syphon out about a half gallon every other day. It takes about 5 minutes. I usually try to disturb some of the sand as I'm doing it to help fight algae and get poo toward the filter. Smaller changes more frequently helps to keep such a small environment stable
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