Water Changes...(Do you do it?)

[_Eric_]

I posted a post a long time ago at (OHH!)say another place. . The responce was shocking. .
_________________________________________________________________

#Do you do water changes on your/All your tanks?
#If so how often do you do it?
#Do you use tap water, RO/DI, RO, or Distilled water?
#What size tank/s do you have?
#How many gallons for your water change?
#Whats your procedure?
_________________________________________________________________

This is my procedure every week.
I have a 75 gallon tank
I use RO/DI from a typhoon III
I have a spare aquarium I use for mixing up the water and salt and I let that aerate for a week. Then I test all the pars. and match up the main display tanks temp with the mixing water. If all looks good I then drain out 20 gallons from the display and then I turn my spare pump on to take the water out of the mixing aquarium......Presto I am done.

 

[Kevin McG]

I do my changes every 2-3 weeks. I also use a barrell(32 gallon brute) to mix my water and salt and add a small maxijet and a heater letting it mix for about 3-4 days before the change. I only use RO/DI for the water.

My method for doing the change is as follows, takes about 15 minutes to complete.

1. Shut down return pump and let my 40 gallon sump fill to the appx. 30 gallon level.
2. Shut down my in sump skimmer
3. Sht off the in sump heater
4. Using a small pump and a tube attached I pump the water from the sump to the sink.
5. Then I use the same pump to return the new sea water to the sump from the mixing barrell.
6. Turn return pumps back on

I do plan on making this method a bit more simple when I can get a hold of a couple more pumps

 

[gordonzoo]

I change 5 gal DI water weekly in my 90.gal. I mix salt in new 5.gal bucket when needed and put in within the hr. Is there a reason to let it sit for a week?

 

[Jim Tansey]

I change 20 gal on my 75 every two-three weeks, I use NSW collected the day before and boost the calicum and alk to 430ppm, 9.0 dKH.

 

[NateHanson]

I aim for every other week, but it's typically every 3 weeks. I mix 10g RODI and IO in a rubbermaid tub for a day or two. Boost Ca and Alk. Then I siphon out 10g from the sump, sucking detritus, into an identical rubbermaid.

oops. Forgot to add that my total system is 120g.

 

[clamm]

20gallons a week on a 120 gallon system...

 

[Yaktop]

my new system. one of the best things I've done. turn a valve, throw in salt, hit a stir pump switch, hit a heater switch, let age a day or so. When ready shut off the switches, turn on a switch for a pump, turn a valve to dump some SW - wait a bit. done, reverse the switches and valves. Hit another dump the waste water.

It made it easy enough for me to actually do it. Up to 24 gallons at a time, doing right now twice a week on a 250G system. havent spilled a drip since I started it.

 

[Yaktop]

oh by the way, pay no attention to that sediment cartridge

 

[JayG]

Do you do water changes on your/All your tanks? Yes
If so how often do you do it? I try for every other week
Do you use tap water, RO/DI, RO, or Distilled water? RO/DI out of my Typhoon III
What size tank/s do you have? 120G Display
How many gallons for your water change? Approx. 30
Whats your procedure? I mix my water in a 32G brute with a Mag18 and a heater. I syphon any junk from the bottom of the tank until clean. I then remove the rest of the water I need to from the sump. Refill sump and restart pumps.

 

[~Flighty~]

#Do you do water changes on your/All your tanks?
kind of yes
#If so how often do you do it?
continuously
#Do you use tap water, RO/DI, RO, or Distilled water?
ro/di at about 1.010 specific gravity
#What size tank/s do you have?
120 display, ~250 total water volume
#How many gallons for your water change?
??don't know.
#Whats your procedure?
I drip a 5 gallon jug of weak saltwater about every other day. When I do maintinance, clean, remove macro, acclimate stuff etc I make a point to remove some water. The weak saltwater replaces the evaporation and the removed water at the same time.
I drip enough to keep the salinity constant and I take a little more water out or add a little more salt to the topoff to keep the water level in the sump constant. Sometimes I add whatever I want to supliment like magnesium to the topoff too. It takes around 10 hours to drip the 5 gallons in, so everything stays pretty stable. With the anemone I'm trying to be extra carefull to not have parameter changes. I feel like I don't need to do as large of a percentage of water changes because of the smaller display size compared to the total volume. Not sure how valid that is, but it is my excuse.

 

[blajoie]

I do my changes(About 10%) every week on my 55 gal tank.

    Fill up a 5 gal bucket of RO/DI water. 
             Add appropriate Salt.
               Throw in a heater
              -----Hour Later-----
                 Check Salinity
             Drain 5 gals of Tank H20
                     Dump in
                   ---Done---

Works for me just fine...

 

[Ba19Ma88]

I have a 46 I change 10-15 Gal every 12-14 days (due to a heavy livestock load) I only use rodi water and pre-make my salt water 24-48 hrs ahead of time. When the tiem to change I vac and then pump then new water into the tank slowly.

 

[dedfish]

Other than making sure it's thoroughly mixxed why do some of you let the freshly mixxed SW sit for a day to two? Just curious. Right now I just mix it up and an hour or two later I use it.

 

[genkireefer]

everyone's going to hate this, but:
i have a 75 reef with 120 lbs. of LR that is lightly stocked with fish and has a good amount of coral and inverts.
water changes are done every four to six weeks like so:
~a day ahead of time, i 3/4 fill a brute 44 gal trashcan with tap water and enough salt to reach 1.024, and turn on the mixing pump.
~come change time, i attach the python to the sink and drain out approximately 40% to 60% of the tank water.
~wheel the brute over to the tank, loop the hoses in, and the pump pushes the new water right into the 75.
everyone has been perfectly happy with this routine. i figure i shouldn't fix what ain't broke, no?
cheers, michelle

 

[mikestod]

Infrequently. 12 gallons a month or two or three

 

[MarkO]

I do about 15 gal. every 3 or 4 weeks. Tank is 150 gal w/ 20 gal sump... so about 10%.
I make RO/DI the day before and mix in salt.

 

[_Eric_]

everyone's going to hate this, but

Nobody should hate you at all...
Hey at least you are honest...I am still waiting for people to respond about using tap water.

 

[denvig]

I should do more but I don't. Two 5 gal buckets once a month. System is 110gal display with 33 working gal sump. I also go through about 20 gal or so of evaporation replaced with RO/DI per week. I don't think my bio load is too high so I get away with it. Some times it goes longer than a month. All RO/DI mixed the day before. It's the one task that I don't enjoy. If I move I would love to automate this. Time will tell.

 

[shearwater]

I replace 5 g of my 29 every 3 weeks. I have been using RO/DO and IO, but my corals seemed to be doing even better while I was using my well water.

 

[SMS76]

#Do you do water changes on your/All your tanks?
Yes
#If so how often do you do it?
Try to do every two weeks
#Do you use tap water, RO/DI, RO, or Distilled water?
Mostly RO/DI but if i don't have it ready, i use tap water

#What size tank/s do you have?
145G total water system

#How many gallons for your water change?
30G

#Whats your procedure?
Mix water with salt, match temperature, salinity, boost CA and ALK, add some MgCl2. Remove 25-30% water from the main tank and then pump new water directly in the main tank.

Everyone is happy and i have no algae/cyno issues. I have kind of FOWLR with few softies and anemones in this tank.