Cheaper saltwater changes

[Miami Reef]

We pay 2 different people to come over to do our tank water changes. There's the guy who brings the water (we pay him $110) and then the other guy does the physical cleaning/scraping (we pay $125 for him)

In total, that's $235 each time they come over. Having a growing stock of corals and fish, we are going to need to start doing monthly water changes. What's the most cost efficient way to get the job done? I have an rodi machine that's currently topping off the system.

I feel like I should mention that I have a pretty large tank. It's more or less 200 gallons.

 

[tdileo]

It would be much cheaper to buy your own salt to mix as well as a solid RODI unit. Counting initial startup for a new RODI (let’s put it on the higher end at around $250) and enough buckets of salt for a year of 25% monthly water changes, it will cost roughly the same as 5-6 months of paying to have it done, so it makes up the initial cost pretty quickly!

 

[dealseer]

200 is not all that large. I can’t imagine paying someone that much money.

 

[MaddyP]

We pay 2 different people to come over to do our tank water changes. There's the guy who brings the water (we pay him $110) and then the other guy does the physical cleaning/scraping (we pay $125 for him)

In total, that's $235 each time they come over. Having a growing stock of corals and fish, we are going to need to start doing monthly water changes. What's the most cost efficient way to get the job done? I have an rodi machine that's currently topping off the system.

I feel like I should mention that I have a pretty large tank. It's more or less 200 gallons.

If you have the extra space, a mixing station set up for automated daily water changes would be the best way to go. It sounds like you want a hands off approach, my system would be a good example. I'm not the only member here who would be willing to advise such a setup...

 

[Jlentz]

If you have the extra space, a mixing station set up for automated daily water changes would be the best way to go. It sounds like you want a hands off approach, my system would be a good example. I'm not the only member here who would be willing to advise such a setup...

Auto water change is the way to go.

 

[bif24701]

Build an easy use mixing station to collect the water from RO/DI system.

A new RO/DI system and mixing station would pay for its self in less than 2 months. Plus you will have water on standby for any emergency needs.

 

[jda]

You can get pretty fancy and there are some neat setups limited by only your imagination (and budge), but this is simple:
Get a Mag 9.5, heater, garden hose adapter to fit the mag, clean garden hose, 44G Brute and a box of 50G bags of IO. Fill the brute with RODI and put a whole 50G bag of IO in there - water should be as full as it can get without spilling while mixing. Put the Mag 9.5 in and let it mix. This should heat the water up a bit too - if not, get a heater and drop it in. Put the garden hose onto the mag, put the mag into the tank and drain 44G out of the tank. Put the mag into the brute and fill the tank back up. Make sure that all of the water is out of the hose and pump, put all of the clean stuff into the brute and carry it away until next time.

If you don't have a RODI reservoir, then you can use a simple Kent Float valve on your brute. I recommend having a freshwater reservoir that is separate from the saltwater mixing container.

 

[Miami Reef]

I’m seeing at lot of recommendations to just do it myself. That’s fine. I’m ok with doing it myself, but I’m not sure why I need.

I understand that I need an RODI machine and salt, but how do I prepare it? I’m thinking of getting 2 identical trash bins - one for dirty water and one for clean. I was thinking of first filling the clean bucket with RODI water, then adding salt to it. Once the clean water is ready, I take out the exact amount of tank water that I have of clean water.

People are saying to check salinity often and mix or dilute depending on the results. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to do that because it’s way too time consuming. The water guy just brings water from the ocean. I doubt he even checks it.

How do you recommend solving this dilemma?

 

[LostInTheDark]

A refractometer cost $40 plus another $10 for calibration fluid.
https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/refractometer-for-reading-salinity-with-calibration-fluid.html
I change my water pretty much how you mentioned. I shut everything down. Drain out 30 gallons. Then pump in 30 gallons from a holding tank. Salinity in the tank never changes because only pure water evaporates from your tank and that is what you are using to top off with. A good quality salt cost about $70 for 225 gallons.
You can always ask a local reefer to come over and help you through it the first time. Its a little time consuming but you can use all the money you save to buy some nice livestock.

 

[MaddyP]

I’m seeing at lot of recommendations to just do it myself. That’s fine. I’m ok with doing it myself, but I’m not sure why I need.

I understand that I need an RODI machine and salt, but how do I prepare it? I’m thinking of getting 2 identical trash bins - one for dirty water and one for clean. I was thinking of first filling the clean bucket with RODI water, then adding salt to it. Once the clean water is ready, I take out the exact amount of tank water that I have of clean water.

People are saying to check salinity often and mix or dilute depending on the results. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to do that because it’s way too time consuming. The water guy just brings water from the ocean. I doubt he even checks it.

How do you recommend solving this dilemma?

I don't think you need to check/dilute anything. If you know how much water is in the container, you can use a calculator to figure out how much salt to add. That's it. So long as your water change pump is changing the right amount of water, you're good. Using a double head stenner pump you won't have to worry about calibration at all.

I ran a 400g tank from 1500 miles away. The only thing the local fish store did was clean glass and add salt to the container.

 

[beaslbob]

I would stop doing water changes and rely on macro algaes in a refugium plus the diy 2 part system.

interesting thread here: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/t...-the-triton-method-brstv-investigates.333014/

my .02

 

[sghera64]

I would stop doing water changes and rely on macro algaes in a refugium plus the diy 2 part system.

interesting thread here: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/t...-the-triton-method-brstv-investigates.333014/

my .02

That's what I've been doing for a couple of months; except no ICP test - just nature and the basic N, P, pH, s.g., Alk, Ca tests. So far, so good. I do plan to do 20% water change eventually (6 month mark maybe - if I remember).

 

[fishbox]

Best thing to do if you don't want to get your hands wet is go with the Triton method or build a mixing station that will do automatic water changes and you would just need to clean the tank