Recycling water changes

[EndAllTyres-Hoon]

So instead of making new water every water change I have been putting the removed water into a spare aquarium (quarantine) and conditioning the water with API quick start and biological booster, also a day after the quick start and booster I have been dosing the recycled water this is how I’ve been doing it since the first water change, anyone else use a similar process? Seems to be working for me, my ph stays at 8, ammonia .25 ppm nitrite .25 ppm nitrate 20-40 phosphate .25 and alkalinity 190ppm my corals seem to be thriving (growing) my Xenia that the clown fish tore down to a nub actually look like Xenia again and haven’t had to mix any salt water since start up.

 

[glb]

I would say your ammonia and nitrite test results are probably inaccurate because any level above zero is a problem, and would affect your corals. The nitrates and phosphates are pretty high for a coral tank. I think reusing old tank water will eventually cause problems because of waste build up. If budget is a problem, regular Instant Ocean salt mix is very reasonable and all I’ve ever used for my reef tank. Water changes IMO are one of the easiest ways to keep things in balance. Good luck!

 

[HomebroodExotics]

Ive thought about this a lot. You would need to treat your old water with carbon dosing more than likely and I would have a lot of bio media of some sort where the old water would be housed. I think it could be done but would take a lot of trial and error to nail down a process. I ts not necessary for me as of now so i haven't explored much more than thought. I do carbon dosing with zeovit in the tank and haven't really had to do any water changes. Wouldn't hurt to run some icp test on your old water every now and then. I plan to do some eventually to see exactly how things are looking.

The biggest problem I can think of is removing the nitrates will increase your alk and this could be a problem if alk gets to high and you don't have enough stuff to consume it. Not sure how else that could be fixed.

 

[MNFish]

I do water changes for different reasons on different aquariums. On one I do it to remove nitrates, on one to replenish elements since it is a new aquarium with no dosing yet... sometimes I take water out of one with high nitrates and change it into one with low nitrates instead of dosing nitrates but I am not sure why you would want to take out water to put it back in.... Seems kind of counter productive to me.

 

[Spare time]

Quick start doesn't do anything to remove phosphate or nitrate. It is absolutely useless to dose into old water and then reuse. I doubt you have .25 nitrite and .25 ammonia. You also probably don't have 0.25 phosphate as the api phosphate test can't read low enough for our needs (0.00 is too low and 0.25 is very high). Ammonia and nitrite should be 100% processed in tank by bacteria on rocks, sand, etc..

 

[a.t.t.r]

You are essentially just wasting your time. You could do all of this in your main tank (no reason to).

biggest reason to do water changes is replenishment of lost elements and nutrient export(for some people).

 

[EndAllTyres-Hoon]

I would say your ammonia and nitrite test results are probably inaccurate because any level above zero is a problem, and would affect your corals. The nitrates and phosphates are pretty high for a coral tank. I think reusing old tank water will eventually cause problems because of waste build up. If budget is a problem, regular Instant Ocean salt mix is very reasonable and all I’ve ever used for my reef tank. Water changes IMO are one of the easiest ways to keep things in balance. Good luck!

budget isnt an issue i still have half a 160 bucket of instant ocean and i bought a second on sale because im cheap ,so i have that one unopened, when i use my rodi filter the ph comes out at 8.8, cant go any higher on the test, i have to use the water out of the waste tube and the filtered tube just to have a ph of 8.4 ish, i get extremely bored and test my water about three times a day for no reason, clean my three filters every other day, the api test clearly do not go low enough to see under .25 but i was able to see the nirtogen cycle with the test and believe they would alert me if nitrite or ammonia spiked for any reason, i also am running a hanging filter a canister filter, pro clear sump and a mini skimmer, i did order my corals kinda soon (literally bought everything for the tank and ordered corals the same day WWC held them for about two weeks) so im frightened of another spike happening, so i have ammonia sponges nitrite sponges and phosphate media, along with the filter socks and carbon media, so far stability has been a thing, but if it ever changes i would definitely go to rodi water

 

[Spare time]

There are bacterias that can lower nitrate and phosphate if you are interested. Microbacter clean, waste away, vibrant, fritz monster, etc.

 

[homer1475]

budget isnt an issue i still have half a 160 bucket of instant ocean and i bought a second on sale because im cheap ,so i have that one unopened, when i use my rodi filter the ph comes out at 8.8, cant go any higher on the test, i have to use the water out of the waste tube and the filtered tube just to have a ph of 8.4 ish, i get extremely bored and test my water about three times a day for no reason, clean my three filters every other day, the api test clearly do not go low enough to see under .25 but i was able to see the nirtogen cycle with the test and believe they would alert me if nitrite or ammonia spiked for any reason, i also am running a hanging filter a canister filter, pro clear sump and a mini skimmer, i did order my corals kinda soon (literally bought everything for the tank and ordered corals the same day WWC held them for about two weeks) so im frightened of another spike happening, so i have ammonia sponges nitrite sponges and phosphate media, along with the filter socks and carbon media, so far stability has been a thing, but if it ever changes i would definitely go to rodi water

I hate to say this, but you really need to slow down, and get rid of about 3/4 of that stuff.

If you have a sump, why on earth are you running a HOB filter and a canister filter?

When you add salt. it buffers the water to where it should, theres no need to test the fresh water before adding your salt mix. You don't use the water out of the waste side of the RO/DI, what would the point of using RO/DI if your just going to mix it with the waste side. Might as well just go ahead and use straight tap water. The waste side is where the chlorine, heavy ,metals, and/or contaminants are. Why would you want to add that back into your water?

Ammonia sponges, nitrites sponges , and all the other stuff you have for FW does not work in SW.

I hate to be a ******, but you should really do some research before putting anything else into that tank. 90% of what your doing is just plain wrong.

You should start with the basics like the stickies at the top of this forum.

 

[a.t.t.r]

you can’t reliably measure rodi water. 8.8 ph is not real. The water has no buffering ability so literally breathing on it will change the ph. Use the ro water mix it and just let it sit or throw an air stone into it. The ph will be correct within a few hours or a day at most.

You are also relying way to much on unnatural removal. Slowly wean off it or be ready to be using them forever

 

[EndAllTyres-Hoon]

i dont think i have enough livestock at the time to worry about more chemicals to rid of nitrites and phosphates

I hate to say this, but you really need to slow down, and get rid of about 3/4 of that stuff.

If you have a sump, why on earth are you running a HOB filter and a canister filter?

When you add salt. it buffers the water to where it should, theres no need to test the fresh water before adding your salt mix. You don't use the water out of the waste side of the RO/DI, what would the point of using RO/DI if your just going to mix it with the waste side. Might as well just go ahead and use straight tap water. The waste side is where the chlorine, heavy ,metals, and/or contaminants are. Why would you want to add that back into your water?

Ammonia sponges, nitrites sponges , and all the other stuff you have for FW does not work in SW.

I hate to be a ******, but you should really do some research before putting anything else into that tank. 90% of what your doing is just plain wrong.

You should start with the basics like the stickies at the top of th

The junk inside the filters are real though i'll take a photo of it the next time i clean them, and everything i bought was labeled for salt water, and i guess its a good thing ive been reusing the water instead of using the waste side of the filter, the sump is kind of old ive only had it for a day now was going to make sure of its reliability before i started removing other filters

 

[EndAllTyres-Hoon]

you can’t reliably measure rodi water. 8.8 ph is not real. The water has no buffering ability so literally breathing on it will change the ph. Use the ro water mix it and just let it sit or throw an air stone into it. The ph will be correct within a few hours or a day at most.

You are also relying way to much on unnatural removal. Slowly wean off it or be ready to be using them forever

weaning off was the plan but wanted the tank to become more established as i started weaning off

 

[homer1475]

i dont think i have enough livestock at the time to worry about more chemicals to rid of nitrites and phosphates

The junk inside the filters are real though i'll take a photo of it the next time i clean them, and everything i bought was labeled for salt water, and i guess its a good thing ive been reusing the water instead of using the waste side of the filter, the sump is kind of old ive only had it for a day now was going to make sure of its reliability before i started removing other filters

No you bought into the hype. There are no ammonia reducing anything in SW that actually works, or nitrates for that matter.

It's media hype. Fancy packaging with even fancier names and claims. None of that stuff actually works very effectively.

Like i Said though, you should really start with the basics, From my reading of this thread you have got some clue of what your doing, but only enough to be dangerous to your livestock.

Salt tanks are a lesson in patience. plain and simple. Nothing happens fast in this hobby. What you think is slow, is going way to fast.

 

[melonheadorion]

personally, just seems like more work doing this method and using dirty water to do water changes, rather than just making fresh water. does it save salt? of course. but i just dont feel that this method is the way to go about it. dosing and using products to get an outcome that can simply be done by using fresh water and mixing salt.