How to do a water change
- Thread starter ashley
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Azraz
New Member
You guys make a water change way to hard.
I get two five gallon buckets, one full of freshly mixed salt water, one empty. Two power heads same size. I do not turn off or adjust anything.
Put one powerhead into first drain chamber of my sump with tubing into empty bucket, put second powerhead into new salt water with output into last pumpback chamber of my sump. Plug both powerheads into an extension cord with two outlets, plug into wall outlet to power both powerheads at the same time. As one empties out new salt water into one end of sump the other drains old salt water from other end of the sump.
Water levels NEVER change in display or sump. Do this twice for 10 gallon change out on my 75 gallon system with 30 gallon sump. Takes me about 15 minutes.
I get two five gallon buckets, one full of freshly mixed salt water, one empty. Two power heads same size. I do not turn off or adjust anything.
Put one powerhead into first drain chamber of my sump with tubing into empty bucket, put second powerhead into new salt water with output into last pumpback chamber of my sump. Plug both powerheads into an extension cord with two outlets, plug into wall outlet to power both powerheads at the same time. As one empties out new salt water into one end of sump the other drains old salt water from other end of the sump.
Water levels NEVER change in display or sump. Do this twice for 10 gallon change out on my 75 gallon system with 30 gallon sump. Takes me about 15 minutes.
I shut down everything with 1 button on my APEX. I let the DT drain down to the bottom of my overflow. Then I open a valve I have on a u tube. That creates a syphon and drains about 15 gallons of water from my main tank. I then shut that valve and open the valve to the fill pipe that uses the same u tube to fill with new water. When I hear the water start to flow into my sump I know my tank is back to the proper levels. My water change takes about 15 min and I don't lift a bucket to do it.
jaws789832
Active Member
The way I see it is you are dealing with 3 issues here.
1. Too much water in the tank so it will overflow your sump.
2. Too much flow. either your return pump is too powerful or your durso pipe is draining too much water but they aren't matching.
3. how to do a water change.
For number 1.
a. From your sump, with the return pump running Take out enough water to where the return pump is covered with water and not sucking air, but low enough to give you some more space in your sump. Put a mark on the sump at the return pump section, with a sharpie or a piece of tape at this level. This is your max low water level line. At no point should your water level ever be below this in your sump.
b. Adjust your return line in the tank to where your return is just under the water line in the Display tank. You can adjust this more later but for now have it right below the surface so it isn't spraying water everywhere but won't back syphon a whole lot of water.
c. On this step you want to be ready just in case. Turn off your return pump. Water should syphon down the return line until the return line you adjusted in step 2 is out of the water, and down the overflow until the DT drops below the overflow and any residual in the overflow drains. The sump will start to fill up, The Display will drain, until both the overflow and the return lines are above the water level. Be ready to pull water out of the sump just in case it starts to overflow.
d. At this point you sump should be fairly full and your DT water should be just below the teeth of the weir on your overflow. Now add water back to sump to whatever level you are comfortable with. I usually leave a few inches from the top of the sump just for a little wiggle room. When you get it to where you want it. put a mark again on your sump. This is your high level water line. At no point should you water level ever be higher than this mark.
e. Now turn your return pump back on. Water should start to fill the Display tank, go over the weir of your overflow, and start draining into your sump. Your sump level will drop, DT level will rise and eventually everything will equal out with flow matching drainage. The Level in your return pump section will be lower that the level in your Skimmer section (which is the way it should be, not like your picture of the sump where everything looks level). Now put a third mark on your sump at this level. This is your normal operating water level. This is the water level you should try to maintain when doing top offs and what not when the return pump is running.
f. Now turn off your return pump again and let the water drain into the sump again. It should drain down to your high level mark and no further. Do this several times until you are completely comfortable that you will not overflow the sump if and when the return pump goes off (I did it like 5 times my first time because I was nervous and wanted to make sure I didn't screw anything up). You can adjust the return nozzles, but just remember the further you push them down into the Display tank the more water is going to backflow which will put more water into your sump. You could put a backflow preventer on them but I still don't trust them, they require maintenance, leak and eventually fail.
Doing this is a high priority and needs to be done right now, otherwise you are going to have wet floors or a dry burnt out pump. These water levels need to be set and you need to know how much water to add for top offs and water changes.
That should handle #1 from above, so we will move on to #2.
After you do #1 from above, I have a couple of questions. Did #1 fix the problem (I ask because your water level in the sump should be lower and this might have fixed the overflowing sock issue)? Is your water surging? This would be a sign of a flow issue. Either your return pump could be too strong or not strong enough. The only way to fix this issue would be either to buy a return pump rated for the flow of your drain or to replumb the lines with gate valves so you can either slow down the drain line or slow down the return line. Basically there should be a nice even flow, water in water out and all levels should remain the same. I would recommend installing the gate valves with unions anyways to make maintenance easier
#3 from above now is simple because of the lines on your sump that you drew in #1.
a. Turn off your return pump. Water will flow into the sump to your high level line.
b. syphon or pump water out from either the sump or the DT. You know where the water levels should be so it doesn't really matter. The sump you usually have to pump or vacuumed out but the DT can just be syphoned so its whatever is easiest or whatever you are trying to accomplish (cleaning the sump , just doing a simple water change or whatever).
c. Fill the DT up to the weir level and the sump up to the high level line with freshly mixed salt water.
d. turn the return pump back on and make adjustments as necessary to get the water level to the normal operating line made in #1
Keep the tank topped off with fresh RODI water (not saltwater) to the normal operating line in the sump. All your evaporation from the tank is going to happen in the return chamber of te sump so you want to keep a close eye on this line and keep the tanked topped off, or better yet buy an ATO and just set the float switch to this line.
Anyways I hope this helped and if you have any questions feel free to ask. Sorry about the length of the post
1. Too much water in the tank so it will overflow your sump.
2. Too much flow. either your return pump is too powerful or your durso pipe is draining too much water but they aren't matching.
3. how to do a water change.
For number 1.
a. From your sump, with the return pump running Take out enough water to where the return pump is covered with water and not sucking air, but low enough to give you some more space in your sump. Put a mark on the sump at the return pump section, with a sharpie or a piece of tape at this level. This is your max low water level line. At no point should your water level ever be below this in your sump.
b. Adjust your return line in the tank to where your return is just under the water line in the Display tank. You can adjust this more later but for now have it right below the surface so it isn't spraying water everywhere but won't back syphon a whole lot of water.
c. On this step you want to be ready just in case. Turn off your return pump. Water should syphon down the return line until the return line you adjusted in step 2 is out of the water, and down the overflow until the DT drops below the overflow and any residual in the overflow drains. The sump will start to fill up, The Display will drain, until both the overflow and the return lines are above the water level. Be ready to pull water out of the sump just in case it starts to overflow.
d. At this point you sump should be fairly full and your DT water should be just below the teeth of the weir on your overflow. Now add water back to sump to whatever level you are comfortable with. I usually leave a few inches from the top of the sump just for a little wiggle room. When you get it to where you want it. put a mark again on your sump. This is your high level water line. At no point should you water level ever be higher than this mark.
e. Now turn your return pump back on. Water should start to fill the Display tank, go over the weir of your overflow, and start draining into your sump. Your sump level will drop, DT level will rise and eventually everything will equal out with flow matching drainage. The Level in your return pump section will be lower that the level in your Skimmer section (which is the way it should be, not like your picture of the sump where everything looks level). Now put a third mark on your sump at this level. This is your normal operating water level. This is the water level you should try to maintain when doing top offs and what not when the return pump is running.
f. Now turn off your return pump again and let the water drain into the sump again. It should drain down to your high level mark and no further. Do this several times until you are completely comfortable that you will not overflow the sump if and when the return pump goes off (I did it like 5 times my first time because I was nervous and wanted to make sure I didn't screw anything up). You can adjust the return nozzles, but just remember the further you push them down into the Display tank the more water is going to backflow which will put more water into your sump. You could put a backflow preventer on them but I still don't trust them, they require maintenance, leak and eventually fail.
Doing this is a high priority and needs to be done right now, otherwise you are going to have wet floors or a dry burnt out pump. These water levels need to be set and you need to know how much water to add for top offs and water changes.
That should handle #1 from above, so we will move on to #2.
After you do #1 from above, I have a couple of questions. Did #1 fix the problem (I ask because your water level in the sump should be lower and this might have fixed the overflowing sock issue)? Is your water surging? This would be a sign of a flow issue. Either your return pump could be too strong or not strong enough. The only way to fix this issue would be either to buy a return pump rated for the flow of your drain or to replumb the lines with gate valves so you can either slow down the drain line or slow down the return line. Basically there should be a nice even flow, water in water out and all levels should remain the same. I would recommend installing the gate valves with unions anyways to make maintenance easier
#3 from above now is simple because of the lines on your sump that you drew in #1.
a. Turn off your return pump. Water will flow into the sump to your high level line.
b. syphon or pump water out from either the sump or the DT. You know where the water levels should be so it doesn't really matter. The sump you usually have to pump or vacuumed out but the DT can just be syphoned so its whatever is easiest or whatever you are trying to accomplish (cleaning the sump , just doing a simple water change or whatever).
c. Fill the DT up to the weir level and the sump up to the high level line with freshly mixed salt water.
d. turn the return pump back on and make adjustments as necessary to get the water level to the normal operating line made in #1
Keep the tank topped off with fresh RODI water (not saltwater) to the normal operating line in the sump. All your evaporation from the tank is going to happen in the return chamber of te sump so you want to keep a close eye on this line and keep the tanked topped off, or better yet buy an ATO and just set the float switch to this line.
Anyways I hope this helped and if you have any questions feel free to ask. Sorry about the length of the post
USMC 4 LIFE
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Looks like a green Chromis
taintstick
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+1
Steve McGlamery
Community Member
My tank is set up with values on all the down spouts and returns. I also have a valve to the output drain. I close all the valves for the downspouts and returns. All heater and skimmer get turned off via my Apex. I Connect a hose from the drain to a nearby sinking open the return valve and drain the sump using the return pump to a sink. When the water level drains to the mark on my sump I turn on the pump in my fresh salt water barrel and refill the sump to the full mark. When full I turn the heaters and skimmer back on an open the down spout an return valves. Start to Finnish about 18 minutes. This is using only switches, pumps, hoses and valves. No carrying buckets.
