Making water changes easier! What are some tips and tricks?

[bnord]

Sicce ultra zero utility pump solve all problems!!

Can never have too many of them

 

[HB AL]

What's a water change? I have many tips and tricks for making water changes simple, I don't do water changes!

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

My tank is heavy in gha and I need to do wcs to lower the nutrient level. Lol
D

 

[Paul B]

I normally just back up to an ocean, throw in a long hose with a bilge pump attached and pump 40 gallons into my Jeep.

Most ocean water is free.



I back up to my driveway and pump the ice cold water into a big vat. Then I fill 5 gallon water cooler bottles with hot water and float them in the vat to warm up the seawater.

While I am waiting, I may dance.
Then I pump the water into 5 gallon containers that are placed on a table next to the tank.

I remove water from the tank and dump in the new water.

I could just pump it in from the Vat but that takes to long and I am impatient and always want to go and do something else. Maybe bungee jump or cut my toe nails. ;Bucktooth

This week I collected 140 gallons of water and changed 80 gallons in my 125 gallon tank.

I just wanted a few more gallons so I put on boots and quickly collected a little more. I just can't get enough.

 

[Vyper]

Mixing station and a Neptune dos to do the water changes automatically is hard to beat. Just have to mix new salt water every few weeks. Hardest part is adding the salt

 

[Gtinnel]

To make the water I have to turn a valve on my mixing station and then dump salt in. Once the saltwater is mixed up I'm done. The rest of the process takes care of its self with a smart outlet and a masterflex pump.
An AWC is an amazing upgrade for anyone who has room for one and plans on doing water changes.

 

[MillennialReefer]

I could conduct a water change easily. But that means I have to fill my 5 gallon bucket which takes about 2 hours, then heat it up then add the salt and wait for it to mix. Its not difficult its just time consuming and I dont have space for a storage water... I think if I did it would have to be atleast 20-30 gallons so It can last about a month or so. Im hoping my ATS can reduce the frequency of water changes.

 

[Sheehantastic]

I have RO in my house for everything but the outside spigots. I have a 40 gallon cooler on a furniture dolly, I have an external filter with a auto drain feature. So I open that bad boy up and drain as much I want into the cooler. I mark the water level, then wheel the whole thing over to the floor drain and pull the drain plug on the cooler. I then wheel it over to the laundry sink and fill up to the line I marked for the drained water. Then over to the tank where I mix in my salt and additives. Then I use the fill feature on my external to pump the new water in. The whole process takes less than a half hour for 35 to 40 gallons. The only thing i have to lift is mixing bowls/spoons, refractometer and additives.

 

[MnFish1]

I have RO in my house for everything but the outside spigots. I have a 40 gallon cooler on a furniture dolly, I have an external filter with a auto drain feature. So I open that bad boy up and drain as much I want into the cooler. I mark the water level, then wheel the whole thing over to the floor drain and pull the drain plug on the cooler. I then wheel it over to the laundry sink and fill up to the line I marked for the drained water. Then over to the tank where I mix in my salt and additives. Then I use the fill feature on my external to pump the new water in. The whole process takes less than a half hour for 35 to 40 gallons. The only thing i have to lift is mixing bowls/spoons, refractometer and additives.

This would be best to post in a new thread

 

[MnFish1]

I have RO in my house for everything but the outside spigots. I have a 40 gallon cooler on a furniture dolly, I have an external filter with a auto drain feature. So I open that bad boy up and drain as much I want into the cooler. I mark the water level, then wheel the whole thing over to the floor drain and pull the drain plug on the cooler. I then wheel it over to the laundry sink and fill up to the line I marked for the drained water. Then over to the tank where I mix in my salt and additives. Then I use the fill feature on my external to pump the new water in. The whole process takes less than a half hour for 35 to 40 gallons. The only thing i have to lift is mixing bowls/spoons, refractometer and additives.

That said - I use a python (brand name) - I siphon off the amount I want to - and then connect it to a pump from my already made saltwater to replace it - it takes less than 30 minutes to change 40 gallons (but it could be any amount)

 

[Sheehantastic]

This would be best to post in a new

this somehow popped up in my latest threads. Didn't realize how old it is.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

I feel like I'm spilling water everywhere. When I do, the water changes. It's not too hard, just very wet and messy, haha. Here is one of the jugs I use for the water change. I sawed the top off of it, so it was easier to pour water into it.

 

[Nano_Man]

This is my salt water change station best brand of salt I’ve found

 

[FernBluffReef]

I have a Water mixing station in my garage so mixing water is easy. I just have to lug buckets from the garage to the 2nd floor of my house. It annoying but its not horrible at all..

Similar. I have a mixing station in my shop. I’ve recently taken to removing qty 4 to 8 —- 3.5 gallon buckets of water dumping down the drain and then filling a brute with the exact same amount of water, driving it over to the house and then pumping into the tank with a 50’ python and a Sicce UltraZero. That is reducing the hike back and forth for me as my shop is detached. And I make sure I remove the same as I take out so I don’t have to mess with levels etc.

 

[monfilsi]

I’m honestly surprised by how many people do manual water changes. Life is too short and automatic water changes are relatively easily… Once it’s plumbed in you are good to go for life of the tank. I change 1.5% per day 8x a day. Parameters are very stable and life is simple.

 

[izzyinkorea]

Build your water mixing station, sump and utility sink within 5 feet of each other.
Let the Autoaqua AWC move the water around for you a couple of times a day while you do something else or aren't even home.

I do the same thing. Except I drilled a hole through my wall. Auto aqua is the greatest thing ever I have it auto setup to change like 3 percent of my water everyday so i never have to do a large waterchange again.

 

[izzyinkorea]

I put down a 3 for the ease of the water change. At one point I was against AWC as I was not a fan of automation. I do not like not knowing what is happening. I feel like the more I get into automation in the hobby the more I feel as ease with it and want more. One day I will have an AWC, but for now there is no place to put the containers to keep the fresh and waste water.

For now I am still part of the "bucket brigade" and to be honest I dont mind too much, I like maintaining my tank, I like the testing, the cleaning, the upkeep. Ok, so I am an odd ball...

I have a SW mixing station in my garage. 210 gallons of SW and 210 gallons of FW. I prep the RO/DI as needed, usually when it gets down to about 20 gallons. (I have a 7 stage RO/DI system). I mix Tropic Marin Pro by the bucket, about 165 gallons per bucket to get it to 35ppt. I do weekly water changes, via bucket, usually on Friday's. On the Wednesday or Thursday before I fill the 5 gallon jugs with the water and bring it in the house to cool from the garage (Warm in the winter) to be ready for the change.

Once I start the water change it takes about 12 minutes to do a 14% water change. At that time I change the filter sock, clean the skimmer cup and empty the Trident water container. That adds a few minutes. All in all I am done in 20 minutes, tops.

run the line along the floor and out a window. Thats what i do. A couple times a day it ticks water out the window!

 

[Gumbies R Us]

I’m honestly surprised by how many people do manual water changes. Life is too short and automatic water changes are relatively easily… Once it’s plumbed in you are good to go for life of the tank. I change 1.5% per day 8x a day. Parameters are very stable and life is simple.

If I had the space, I would probably do it. I neither have the space nor would my landlord be ok with that, haha

 

[Sophie"s mom]

Water changes can be brutal and that's one reason some people rarely do them or don't do them at all. Like anything else in life, the easier things get done more often than the harder things and the same holds true to reefing!

I remember the "bucket brigade" days of water changes where there were many buckets and I was the only brigade!

Let's help others out today and maybe learn something new!

What are some tips and tricks you have learned to make changing out your aquarium water easier?

image via @MonsterReef

My method may not please some folks here, but I run the siphon hose out my window (which is about 13 feet away) and have 3 different marks on my tank, one at 15 gal, 1 at 20 gal and one at 25 depending on amount I need to change. Let the siphon do its thing while I do cleaning, or other things. When putting back in, I have a pump I set in buckets, one at a time, again so I can go about doing other things. It works well for me.

 

[Erick375]

I've got a question, how long will you "leave" the water in storage before using it? My understanding was it started precipitation shortly after making it. Red sea, which I use, suggests only making it as needed and not storing for longer than 4 hours.
My RODI system, even with additional pump, makes water very slowly, probably 5-6 gallons an hour, so making water for me involves leaving it running into a 40 gallon plastic container for 5 hours or so (200G DT), after an hour I turn on the heating element. I then eyeball and dump a bunch of salt in, wait half an hour and check salinity and add some more to get it in range. Then I feel "on the clock" and do by water change shortly thereafter. Either with a syphon from the DT or if I'm feeling lazy, from the return tube off the UV sterilizer.

So I voted its a "5", I have overflowed that 40 gallon tank a couple of times, alcohol and reefing don't mix well, as I "forget" I'm making water until a water sensor I leave on the floor of my tank room sets off. But I am curious if anyone leaves salt water "made" for days and if they feel any degradation.