Water change tips and tricks

[Reefer Brent]

Soo how fast can you do a water change and what tricks do you have to speed the process.

Also how often and how much.

I am trying to keep up with weekly 10% changes and tell myself going into it "I won't make this a 2 hour ordeal." Welllll I fail every time.

Working with a 40g cube so it shouldn't be to difficult

 

[Cell]

In your case assuming you don't have a water change station/tanks, I'd just mix 4G of saltwater in a 5G bucket, get another 5G bucket for old water, fill it up to match your new saltwater volume and pour the new bucket in. Aside from mixing the saltwater, it should take like 5 minutes.

What is taking so much time in your current process?

 

[Jekyl]

5g buckets, siphon, done a few times a year on 90g

 

[Reef Wizard]

I can do a 30g water change on my 135g in 30 min using the sicce utility pump. I pump the water out into a brute trash can then pump that out the window. Then I roll another brute in with premixed saltwater of the same amount and then pump that in. And im done

I do this about every two weeks currently my tank is not a heavy bioload

 

[homer1475]

Literally 15 minutes to change 30 gallons once a week.

Pump in my sump connected to a banjo fitting, and I have a mixing station.

Unroll hose from tank to sink, connect to pump, turn on pump to pump out 30G.

Unroll hose from mixing station to tank, turn on pump.

Simple as that.

 

[mdpitts]

I can do a complete clean in about 20 minutes. I have the Fluval Evo which is about 12 gallons.

I have my saltwater in a 5 gallon Lowes bucket and I put one of those submersible heaters in for 5 minutes, use the gravel cleaner to clean sand and remove water, pull out my 2 chamber baskets and rinse/replace filter pads depending on how gross they are, remove heater and put in a pump to pump up the water from the saltwater bucket to the back chamber of my tank. Done, finito. The only good thing about a small tank.

 

[Snoopy 67]

Mix the water 10 minutes .
Drain the water 5 minutes MAX.
Refill 5 minutes MAX.
Done---20 minutes
Requires 2 - 5 gallon buckets & a hose.
Add a pump to avoid picking up a bucket of water.
Priceless!

 

[BubblesandSqueak]

for my 32, I've been using a 1/2 gallon pitcher to empty out the tank and refill it. It's faster than siphoning. Unless you need to vacuum.

 

[Biokabe]

I'll usually take an hour to 90 minutes for a water change on my bigger tank (Reefer 350), but the bulk of that is not spent on the water change - it's on doing other maintenance that's easier with a lower water level and no active flow.

For the water change itself, it takes me about 15 minutes. Start a siphon, turn all the equipment off to begin. About ten minutes to fill and dump my WC bucket twice (4g each time). Five minutes to refill the tank and balance out the water level while turning equipment back on.

I have a mixing station to prep my water ahead of time, which makes a huge difference:



Left side has my ATO reservoir for my smaller tank, right side holds the 20g tank I use to mix and store my replacement water. The tank has a small powerhead for mixing, a heater, and a Sicce utility pump with a 10' hose attached. So once I'm ready to put the new water into the tank, I just pull out the hose, hook it over the rim and turn on the pump. It's controlled by my Apex, so just takes a click to turn the pump on and off.

With your set-up it should be even easier. If you're only aiming for a 10% water change, that's only 4g in your case. You just need two five-gallon buckets to cover your water needs. You should be able to find a cabinet on wheels that can hold a 5g bucket, or if you don't mind the look you can just get a caddy for a 5g bucket so you can roll your replacement water around. A Sicce utility pump is a great investment - they can work even in very shallow water, so they'll get most of the water out without you having to scoop anything.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I have a 40 breeder with 20 gallon sump, it takes me about 20 minutes to change 10 gallons per week. Just drain 10 gallons out, and fill it back up.

I clean my pumps and stuff on non-water changing days, otherwise its too much to change water and clean pumps.

 

[TehBrainz]

Soo how fast can you do a water change and what tricks do you have to speed the process.

Also how often and how much.

I am trying to keep up with weekly 10% changes and tell myself going into it "I won't make this a 2 hour ordeal." Welllll I fail every time.

Working with a 40g cube so it shouldn't be to difficult

Before moving to AWC's, I was able to do a 45g WC in about 45 minutes. This was strictly a WC though that did not include siphoning the sand.

Used a Python to drain the water and then a utility pump to move the water from the Brute can in the garage to the tank (used a smart plug so I could turn on/off the pump from the tank)

 

[Reefer Brent]

In your case assuming you don't have a water change station/tanks, I'd just mix 4G of saltwater in a 5G bucket, get another 5G bucket for old water, fill it up to match your new saltwater volume and pour the new bucket in. Aside from mixing the saltwater, it should take like 5 minutes.

What is taking so much time in your current process?

I use the same bucket method but am easily distracted by scrubbing algae and adjusting skimmers

I'll usually take an hour to 90 minutes for a water change on my bigger tank (Reefer 350), but the bulk of that is not spent on the water change - it's on doing other maintenance that's easier with a lower water level and no active flow.

For the water change itself, it takes me about 15 minutes. Start a siphon, turn all the equipment off to begin. About ten minutes to fill and dump my WC bucket twice (4g each time). Five minutes to refill the tank and balance out the water level while turning equipment back on.

I have a mixing station to prep my water ahead of time, which makes a huge difference:



Left side has my ATO reservoir for my smaller tank, right side holds the 20g tank I use to mix and store my replacement water. The tank has a small powerhead for mixing, a heater, and a Sicce utility pump with a 10' hose attached. So once I'm ready to put the new water into the tank, I just pull out the hose, hook it over the rim and turn on the pump. It's controlled by my Apex, so just takes a click to turn the pump on and off.

With your set-up it should be even easier. If you're only aiming for a 10% water change, that's only 4g in your case. You just need two five-gallon buckets to cover your water needs. You should be able to find a cabinet on wheels that can hold a 5g bucket, or if you don't mind the look you can just get a caddy for a 5g bucket so you can roll your replacement water around. A Sicce utility pump is a great investment - they can work even in very shallow water, so they'll get most of the water out without you having to scoop anything.

Yes I need to get a better pump with a higher head and longer hose. Have to lift my bucket onto the counter to get it to flow and then it takes a while. Also a cart would likely be a big help!

 

[JC1977]

I do 50 gallons a week on my 360 gallon FOWLR and the actual water change is about 20 minutes. Brute trash cans with the dolleys and sicce utility pumps are your best friends!

 

[BOYERZ]

About 2 minutes. I do a 4 gallon monthly on a 32-35 gallon system.

- Dirty bucket
- clean bucket, new mixed SW.
- utility pump.

I do have a sump, makes wc's much easier. Turn off the return pump, use utility pump to pump out water to Dirty bucket. Transfer pump to the new SW pump it back in. Turn the return back on. Done!

This does not include mixing time and checking SG.

 

[Reefer Brent]

I do 50 gallons a week on my 360 gallon FOWLR and the actual water change is about 20 minutes. Brute trash cans with the dolleys and sicce utility pumps are your best friends!

I need to get a 20 gallon brute with premixed water to last me a few weeks as well. This should cut down on time. Plus less buckets.

 

[ScubaSkeets]

My mixing station is about 20 feet from my tank. I bought 2 cheap pumps from Amazon (2 for $25) and put one of them permanently in my sump, and the other one in my new water Brute. Vinyl tubing is routed from the tank, along the wall and then split at the mixing station. One part of the tubing goes to the drain, and the other part goes to the other pump which is in the Brute. I have a valve on each of the section of tubing after the split. I open the drain valve, and turn on the pump thats in the sump and water is taken out of the sump. I then turn that pump off and close that valve then I open the valve coming from the new water and turn that pump on until the water is replenished in the sump.

 

[Reefer Brent]

My mixing station is about 20 feet from my tank. I bought 2 cheap pumps from Amazon (2 for $25) and put one of them permanently in my sump, and the other one in my new water Brute. Vinyl tubing is routed from the tank, along the wall and then split at the mixing station. One part of the tubing goes to the drain, and the other part goes to the other pump which is in the Brute. I have a valve on each of the section of tubing after the split. I open the drain valve, and turn on the pump thats in the sump and water is taken out of the sump. I then turn that pump off and close that valve then I open the valve coming from the new water and turn that pump on until the water is replenished in the sump.

Common theme is sump makes it easier. One more check mark for reasons to get a bigger tank.

 

[Allenh427]

Mixing Fresh Saltwater:

• I have a 20 gallon brute can. I marked 5 gal increment lines inside it. I fill it up to the 10 gal mark with my RODI water.
• I weigh my salt so I get exactly 35 ppt at the 10 gal line every time. I mix Red Sea blue bucket and black bucket in a perfect combination where I get 9dkh- it took multiple attempts to get it right but now I never have to worry about it again. If someone wants to copy my strategy, "my" 10 gal line at 9dkh is 1150g blue bucket, 285g black bucket.
• I use two Hydor Koralia pumps to mix the water for me for 2 hours.
• I put a heater in the can as well and set it at 70 degrees.
• When the water is 15min done from mixing, I bump the heater up to 78 degrees.

Actual human effort put in: 5 min.

Doing Auto Water Change:
I use two Ecotech Versa pumps set up to change out 10gal of water over 3 hours. One pump takes water from my fresh mixed water can, the other pump pumps water into another 20 gallon brute can.

Actual human effort put in: 2 min.

Doing Manual Water Change:
I turn off my return pump until the water level drains and sits flush with the overflow weir. I siphon about the equivalent of the fresh mixed water can worth of tank water into my other can. I have some cheap AC pump called Quiet One that's louder than **** and pump the fresh mixed water up into the tank until the water level is again flush with the overflow weir.

Actual human effort put in: 15 min.

 

[Reefer Brent]

Mixing Fresh Saltwater:

• I have a 20 gallon brute can. I marked 5 gal increment lines inside it. I fill it up to the 10 gal mark with my RODI water.
• I weigh my salt so I get exactly 35 ppt at the 10 gal line every time. I mix Red Sea blue bucket and black bucket in a perfect combination where I get 9dkh- it took multiple attempts to get it right but now I never have to worry about it again. If someone wants to copy my strategy, "my" 10 gal line at 9dkh is 1150g blue bucket, 285g black bucket.
• I use two Hydor Koralia pumps to mix the water for me for 2 hours.
• I put a heater in the can as well and set it at 70 degrees.
• When the water is 15min done from mixing, I bump the heater up to 78 degrees.

Actual human effort put in: 5 min.

Doing Auto Water Change:
I use two Ecotech Versa pumps set up to change out 10gal of water over 3 hours. One pump takes water from my fresh mixed water can, the other pump pumps water into another 20 gallon brute can.

Actual human effort put in: 2 min.

Doing Manual Water Change:
I turn off my return pump until the water level drains and sits flush with the overflow weir. I siphon about the equivalent of the fresh mixed water can worth of tank water into my other can. I have some cheap AC pump called Quiet One that's louder than **** and pump the fresh mixed water up into the tank until the water level is again flush with the overflow weir.

Actual human effort put in: 15 min.

Great info! I never thought about weighing the salt. Also marking the brute like I do my ato by gallon would make it much less arduous. No more constant salinity testing based on how far I fill my bucket that day or how much water is left from the last change.

 

[OrionN]

In my 360 gal or so system, I pump 25 gal into the sink. Then I pump water from my 50 gal QT system to the main tank and use a 1 gal container to scoop water from my mix container to my QT system as the water in the sump there lower. Take me about 15 mins.
Do this once a week. Water in my QT is extremely high quality. When I actually QT for disease I just not doing serial water changes like this.