Water Change Method: What's Yours?

[john.m.cole3]

we often discuss how often and what percentage of water we change out to keep our tanks happy. Have you come up with any cool techniques that have made your WC (water change) easier? I know from experience, if you can simplify a task you are more likely to do it consistently.

 

[themcnertney]

My 220 and 110 is located in a room that shares a common wall with my living room. When I was designing the tank, I had a lot to think about that would make my life easier, one of those being water changes. In my basement is where I make my water with my Spectrapure RO/DI. I have a drain and a return line that goes upstairs into my 110 tank. I have two brute trash cans, one fresh, one salt. I can use the pump and switch between the two trash cans. When doing my weekly water changes, I start a siphon from upstairs. The water runs to a drain in my floor in the basement. I have marks on the tank to know exactly how much water to remove. Then I break the siphon. Once done, I go to the basement, put the pump in the salt can and turn it on. About 30 minutes later the water change is complete. This technique also works on my ATO. Just drop the pump in my fresh tank and turn it on to fill the ATO in the fish room up.

Pretty awesome setup IMO.

 

[john.m.cole3]

I'm very low tech (less stuff to break). I have a 72 gal DT, 80 gal total volume. I have discovered that a 4" mark below the rim of a 5 gallon bucket is exactly 4 gallons of water. So, I have 2 buckets marked "clean" and 2 buckets marked "dirty". I simply hand mix the Aquaforest reef salt in there and put the buckets in the sun to warm up a bit. Siphon 2 buckets worth (8 gallons) out of the display, and put the clean water in the sump. My stand and sump are big enough to fit a bucket turned horizontally in there. The Aquaforest salt mixes in about 5 minutes, so a WC takes me about 10 minutes total.

 

[Salty1962]

I have a tub that's marked to reflect my 10% water. I mix it up over night and use a Mag 5 to pump back into tank. I usually blow off my LR and corals and siphon out to get more of the junk out of my tank. I use AquaForest Reef Salt and Bio S with some Prime for good measure.

 

[mcarroll]

Back when I last did regular water changes, I did A Water Change A Day...

Worked really well and it got my maintenance time down quite a bit. Then I ran out of time even for that.

Presently I'm doing very infrequent 50% water changes.

Before that I did bi-weekly or weekly 20% water changes.

The next iteration will at least be hard-plumbed to the drain and the tank, perhaps automated as a "continuous water change".

 

[john.m.cole3]

Back when I last did regular water changes, I did A Water Change A Day...

Worked really well and it got my maintenance time down quite a bit. Then I ran out of time even for that.

Presently I'm doing very infrequent 50% water changes.

Before that I did bi-weekly or weekly 20% water changes.

The next iteration will at least be hard-plumbed to the drain and the tank, perhaps automated as a "continuous water change".

How much of a percentage of your total volume did you change daily? And how did it help get your maintenance time down?

 

[mcarroll]

I should have posted this before...here's the first post from that thread: (check out the links at the end.)

Due to time constraints, I've fallen so far behind on my usual 20% (20 gallon) water changes that I've decided to re-adopt a water change strategy that worked well before, but requires smaller chunks of time to pull off.

I'll be doing 5 gallons a day - which is only 5% - but it'll still give me a "25 gallon" water change per 5-day week. This is about 10 times the rate I'm currently changing. :xd:

There's nothing magical about 5% or 5 gallons except that it happens to be a super easy and super convenient volume for me and my system. It's a single bucket to carry, I don't have to shut down the sytem, and I can do the setup, mix, drain and refill in about 10 minutes without rushing. Sweet!

So anyway, I plan to make a post every day I actually complete a water change and we'll see how long I can keep it going and if I get the improvement in the tank I saw last time I tried this.

Anyone else wanna try it? :becky:

-Matt

P.S. A link with a fairly complete rationalization of this method got posted in post #15 in case you're curious about some of the thinking behind this.

P.P.S. If you wanna SEE how I mix water nice and fast, check out posts #301 and #306 of this post. It should only take about 5 minutes!

 

[mcarroll]

Quite a few folks joined in...seems like a solid method if it works for you.

 

[john.m.cole3]

OH! LOL I didn't see the test was bold. Going to read it now

 

[john.m.cole3]

Interesting... 30 x 1% WCs = a single 26% WC

 

[mcarroll]

You definitely learn how to mix saltwater that way!

 

[bif24701]

I should have posted this before...here's the first post from that thread: (check out the links at the end.)

I've done wet skimate water changes, it's very effective. I can't believe i haven't thought of it with this new system I have it will be perfect.

I have a 5 gallon bucket to hold skimate, have a shut off switch when it's full. I can skim until it's full and just add the 5 gallons back once it is.

 

[mcarroll]

I've done wet skimate water changes, it's very effective. I can't believe i haven't thought of it with this new system I have it will be perfect.

I'm glad you re-remembered for us!!!

I'd thought of that back when I was running my AquaC EV90, but I never really needed more than the little DIY half-gallon waste-collector setup I had, so procrastination got that idea.

I can do that with my current skimmer (Tunze 9410) but I need to either mod the cup with an outlet (negative) or get a Foam extraction unit (someday|procrastination).

 

[_Alex_]

Drain 20-30gal out using syphon and a bucket. Than use mag 18 and a garden hose to fill it back up from my 35 gal mixing barrel

 

[mcarroll]

Than use mag 18 and a garden hose to fill it back up

Mag 18?! That refill would be so fast I bet you go back in time a little!

 

[bif24701]

I'm glad you re-remembered for us!!!

I'd thought of that back when I was running my AquaC EV90, but I never really needed more than the little DIY half-gallon waste-collector setup I had, so procrastination got that idea.

I can do that with my current skimmer (Tunze 9410) but I need to either mod the cup with an outlet (negative) or get a Foam extraction unit (someday|procrastination).

Yea, it's really effective, you will notice a change in water clarity in just days.

 

[_Alex_]

No 25' garden hose across floor looses head pressure quick. But can do 30g change about 20minutes

 

[skybears]

I have 3 trash size cans 2 are always salt/ro mix with Constance movement. and the 3rd is straight ro. the pump changes to the other can when it gets to a lower level and a good hose, wala

 

[mcarroll]

No 25' garden hose across floor looses head pressure quick. But can do 30g change about 20minutes

Ah....the diameter is the killer. 1" hose (or larger) is massively more expensive than 3/4" though....

Watts 1-1/2 in. O.D. x 1 in. I.D. x 10 ft. PVC Discharge Hose might be an option at $13/foot? Flow would be massive.

 

[BigHildy53]

I'm new to saltwater, but based on my freshwater changes (75 gallon) I knew I didn't want to carry 7 gallon containers around when doing a water change for a 180 gallon tank. I have a 100 gallon vertical storage tank in my garage. I use my RO/DI system to keep it full (basically). I use two 44g brute trash cans. Make the saltwater the night before; one heater and pump in each can. I have a Fluval FX6 canister filter on the tank. I use that and flexible vinyl hose to pump water out of the tank and down the commode. Then I use a pump to pump water in from the trash cans (using different flexible vinyl hose). I use unions to separate the hose for easy storage. It's a fairly quick process.