Easier nano water changes

[NotReefsafe]

Seen lots of threads that say nano water changes take 5m and are super easy. I have a 15g AIO and do water changes every two weeks of about 2-4 gallons. It takes me a few hours to get enough RODI, then another few hours to mix it and test salinity, then another hour to perform the water change.

How can I make water changes easier?
Side note, how do I reliably start a siphon to actually perform the water change?

 

[AydenLincoln]

You can make space for a permanent mixing station with large canisters of water and/or invest in a DOS they does them for you. Even better would be to run the mixing station and DOS to the tank. That would be the least maintenance other than that and for most people a water change takes a few hours from start to finish. But anyone who says water changes only take 5 minutes total is lying to themselves.

 

[X-37B]

Get 4 5 gallon buckets with lids and make up 16 gals. 4g's in each.
2g's a week as a reference will give you 8 weeks worth.
Thats about as easy as it gets with limited space.
Your WC will only take a few minutes. Siphon out 2g's add 2 g's.

You can do the same with your di depending on space.

 

[AtlantiCat]

If you're using a standard aquarium siphon, dunk the large tube in the water until it's completely full, no air at all, and put your thumb on the end of the hose. Lift the large tube out of the tank, release your thumb and let water run all the way to the end of the hose, then quickly put your thumb back on. There should still be some water (even a tiny amount) in the large tube--if there isn't, repeat the process. Next, dunk the large tube until it's completely full again, then aim it at the bottom of the tank without letting any air in and release your thumb.

If your hose end is lower than your tank bottom, doing this will give you a functional siphon every time.

 

[AtlantiCat]

It takes me a few hours to get enough RODI, then another few hours to mix it and test salinity

Out of curiosity, why does it take you a few hours to mix and test salinity? I have a 1 gallon pico tank and I make a gallon at a time and it only takes me a few minutes.

I measure out the amount of salt I need (1/2 cup Reef Crystals), add it to a 1-gallon jug that once held drinking water or distilled, fill it with RO water, cap it and shake it up, then test.

This takes me 5 minutes at most. I can't imagine doing this for 2-4 gallon jugs would take more than half an hour or so at the high end.

 

[Super Fly]

agree w others, get a container to premake and store SW. Once mixed, can be stored several weeks. My WC's became much easier after I started using a pump w hose going directly to sink to remove dirty water from tank and then using the same pump hose system to add clean SW back into tank. I use several clamps to hold hose in place, but it'd probably be easier/more secure if I created some sort of pvc dongle that can hang on the tank glass while doing this.

Also, if it's taking few hrs to make 2-4 gal of RODI then I'd recommend upgrading to larger RODI system that's faster.

If u have room, I'd look into AWC Auto WC system which would be perfect for 15G. can let it do WC daily using storage containers and just empty/refill on a regular basis and then u wont have to deal w manually doing WC!

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