Water change poll

[itstheantitang]

I know there are many ways and methods of how to do sw water changes and I wanted to know how you folks' do yours

I use a siphon hose and siphon about 10-12 gallons every 2-3 weeks into a bucket from my 55. I usually fill the bucket up with water from the hose, but now that it is too cold outside the water is nearly freezing so I re-fill it with the extendable nozzle from the kitchen sink. I then de-clor and mix salt to the right level, and pump the new water back in the tank to re-fill it.
Takes about an hour.

 

[Oliver]

I change about 10L every 3 weeks in my 200L tank, its great. I love my refugium, it eats all the nitrates so water changes are only made to re-introduce some of the trace elements that are lost. GET A REFUGIUM!

 

[FreddytheFish]

I use the bucket and siphon, once a week (on Sunday).

You really like polls now, huh?

 

[Blinky]

I do water changes on my nanos once a week. I remove 25% of the water from the 5.5g, then siphon off 3g from the 30g. I fill the 5.5g using the old water from the 30g and then fill the 30g with pre-mixed SW. Takes about ten minutes.
Usually at the same time I rinse sponges, clean the skimmer cup, change the carbon etc. so I'm usually cleaning for a total of about half an hour. Once I'm done the water change If I've used up all my pre-mixed water, I make up another batch for the next week - I just use 5g water jugs with an airstone for mixing and have 5-10g standing by at all times just in case.

 

[FreddytheFish]

BTW, my tanks are FW, so I don't have t mix salt, measure w/ a hydrometer, etc.

 

[mogurnda]

You don't have my option. There's a valve on my closed loop that I just hook a hose to and drain about 10 gallons every week or two. Then it's just a matter of pumping new water from a garbage can with a mag 5.

Most of the time I use a hydrometer, but check occasionally with the refractometer.

 

[itstheantitang]

how long does it take to measure salinity with a refractometer?

 

[mogurnda]

how long does it take to measure salinity with a refractometer?

A few minutes.