Water Change Station in Texas

[Ugin]

I am always envious of folk who have basement water changing stations with dual 50-100g containers and return lines plumbed directly to their tank. However living in Texas, basements are out of the question due to flooding.

That said, how reasonable is it to keep a water change system in a garage in Texas? Temperatures are almost always high (currently 90~ where I'm at) and I assume would cause problems without cooling the water before transferring it to my reef tank.

Thoughts?

 

[Red_Beard]

I have a similar situation, we get a few days over 100. We also get -10 in the winter, luckily i was able to heat the garage to keep it from freezing. My solution is 3/8 lines going through the cool crawl space. I don't have the pipes installed yet but that was the plan. Also if you do small water changes slowly that will minimize any effect temperature variation might have. I have some peristaltic pumps set up to remove and replace for an auto change so it should keep fluctuation to a minimum. Still have some plumbing to do but the drums are full, ro. and half full, mixed salt.
Hope that helps!

 

[Arricefe]

I am always envious of folk who have basement water changing stations with dual 50-100g containers and return lines plumbed directly to their tank. However living in Texas, basements are out of the question due to flooding.

That said, how reasonable is it to keep a water change system in a garage in Texas? Temperatures are almost always high (currently 90~ where I'm at) and I assume would cause problems without cooling the water before transferring it to my reef tank.

Thoughts?

How much water are you changing? is it a big tank?

 

[Ugin]

How much water are you changing? is it a big tank?

It's around 120g total volume. My brute trash can fits around 35g, but it's only SW or fresh RODI water, not both. I do 30g water changes weekly (or around 25%).

The reason I personally want a change station is more the ability to have both fresh RODI + mixed SW onhand plus higher volume of both. You know, just in case something happens I'd be able to do larger changes if needed.

 

[joseserrano]

I would lower that amount to 10%, that is more than enough to handle replenishment, if you are doing it for nutrient export, you can achieve that with other methods and save your back. With 10% (10 gallons), you can add 5G and slowly add more water to not shock the system.

 

[Arricefe]

If you do a lesser amount, 10 to 12 gallons, the temp change would be negligible.