I'm not sure how many will respond to this, but I thought I would throw this out. I was curious how everyone does there water changes. Whether you have a sump or not, reef or FOWLR, whatever. I thought maybe we all might learn something new.
Water Changes
- Thread starter fastbackgly
- Start date
i have a smaller reef now. i buy my water premixed, so i try to run my salinity the same as the premixed. i buy my water one day, then put a heater in it set the same temp as my tank and let it set overnight. the next day i check ph and salinity to be sure it matches the tank. i siphon out about 7 gallons and then let the new water slowly drip back int the tank over about 3 hours. not saying its the right way to go but so far its worked for me.
I have a 35 gallon plastic garbage can in my storage room. I have an R/O unit hanging in there as well. I keep a maxzi jet 900 and a 30 gallon heater in the water. I check the spec gravity of the water every couple of days and add salt or water to keep it at 1.21.
To get water out of the tanks i use some 5/8 tubing and two five gallon buckets(marked DIRTY) . I clip the end of the tubing into the bucket and put the other end up to a power head to start the siphon. I have one of my power heads on a separate power strip(the one with the lights on it) so I can shut the rest of the tank off and still get a siphon started easily. This also enables me to stop the siphon before changing buckets (this saves on the little spills which add up).
I use the power head in the garbage can and (different)5/8 tubing to pump water from the can to two(different, clean) five gallon buckets. I then take the power head and the two buckets and pump the water into the tanks. I usually change 15 gallons a week out of the 75 gallon and 5 out of the 29.
To get water out of the tanks i use some 5/8 tubing and two five gallon buckets(marked DIRTY) . I clip the end of the tubing into the bucket and put the other end up to a power head to start the siphon. I have one of my power heads on a separate power strip(the one with the lights on it) so I can shut the rest of the tank off and still get a siphon started easily. This also enables me to stop the siphon before changing buckets (this saves on the little spills which add up).
I use the power head in the garbage can and (different)5/8 tubing to pump water from the can to two(different, clean) five gallon buckets. I then take the power head and the two buckets and pump the water into the tanks. I usually change 15 gallons a week out of the 75 gallon and 5 out of the 29.