Thank you very much! Very helpful to a nub like me!

a nub, like a nub on a tree branch

NOOB !

Super Job StevieT, Thanks for all the details. Also thanks to the other experienced guys who have given helpful insights. I almost cought myself wondering if one brand of bleach is better than another

Ok so just a quick question, if you are puting fresh water in your tank for topoffs, then why would you need to do water changes, I know this is prolly a stupid question, but I always say you cant learn anything if you dont ask questions

The reason for top offs is to add back from evaporation and deal with the increase in salinity since salt does not leave the tank. Evaportation does not remove waste and nitrates in the water. Water changes do, they also introduce trace elements, calcium, alk, etc into the water for the health of your corals.

In such a small environment, water changes are needed to replenish trace elements and remove wastes that would otherwise possibly cause a crash in the tank, or unhealthy corals/fish.

Glad you asked

WOW great thread for a newbie like me!!!

Thanks for sharing all of this!!

you're welcome! Good luck

Thanks. In the process of setting up my new Elos system mini

Bump for the September newbies like myself

How far in advance do we make our salt water for the weekly change? I plan on doing my changes on Sunday and was wondering If I could do my mix lets say on Friday. Not sure if that's a good idea or not.

Sure, many "age" their water or make it ahead of time for emergencies or time saving.

Just put a cover on it to control the evap, make sure you check the salinity before adding to the tank as it is bound to change in those few days. I like to keep the pump and heater on during a period of time to keep everything mixed.

I usually mix up water in the early afternoon and change it in the evening before leaving the office.

Very good, thanks StevieT....

Heres what'll convince me to keep doing water changes...
clean water on the left and tank water on the right*(weekly water changes)








*thanks to StevieT's proof reading

OH yeah!! But you mean right

Very cool thread. I'm new to making salt water because I've been buying mine for the past 4 years. I recently bought an RO unit so I guess making my own salt water was in order. I haven't done a bucket yet but I will follow your method. Seems very easy.

Quick question though. I've heard some people do water jugs of salt water but let it sit for like a full 24 hours before they use it. Do you recommend that as well? Or how long after making your salt water do you use it. I hope this question was asked already because I didn't read the entire 6 pages of the thread, lol.

Thanks.

Hey Cesar

wow 4 years and never made water, to reefkeeping

I usually make my water around 2pm, then change it around 6pm, so I don't age it much. I do open up the air valve on the pump to introduce some oxygen just to put my mind at ease that the salt is all mixed the the PH is matched.

Yet, I have mixed it, then left it for days before changing. Since the tank is at my office sometimes I don't get a chance to do it right away. Some age it, some do not. I have not seen a difference in my tank between the two ways, the main thing is to match temp and SG. PH should be close, I used to test in the beginning yet haven't done so in a LONG time, but it doesn't hurt.

Conclusion, it doesn't matter IME.

Thanks. I will look into that. But this is a cool thread for us noobs. Well 4 year reefer noob.

Thanks, it was fun to put together

I think you will enjoy making it yourself, more control and it may save you some money.

Hey, I'm new to this whole nano-reefing business as well, and I think this post is extremely helpful. Thanks for the info, Stevie.

Going back to the scraping algae/coraline discussion... you can also try using heavy-duty plastic pot scrapers... I think "Pampered Chef" makes a 3-pack, and you can probably buy them at any kitchen supply store. They're square pieces of apoxy with sharp edges and one rounded corner (perfect for those rounded tank corners

Cheers, and thanks again.

good advice! I should edit the first page with all the methods that people use to scrape their glass, there are so many! I still prefer the razor blade

outstanding, thanks for sharing!

You do know you can just fill the hose with water at the sink plug both ends and let them go at the same time and it will start the siphon. hell you can just fill up the hose in the tank and do it that way.

Why is this?

I have 4 buckets that I use. I fill all of them with RO form the LFS every other week. I use a randomly picked bucket to use to fill my ATO by the time for a water change it is empty us I use this one for my waste. I then will mix salt in another randomly chosen bucket. I now have 2 empty buckets and 2 full buckets. Over the next week I will empty out 1 of the remaining 2 for the ATO and mix salt in the other for the next water change. Now that all 4 buckets are empty I take them all to the LFS and start over.

You think this may be the cause of my diatom troubles?

I keep them seperate so I do not contaminate new water with waste water.

Old water from the tank goes in a green bucket. New water is always mixed up in the white bucket, which is wiped down and cleaned after the change. This way I really don't care if the green bucket has junk in it, I wipe it down every now and then, but it is only for disposal.

I don't know it will directly cause your diatom problem, but an uncleaned bucket can introduce things into the aquarium.

Just clean them out before reuse.

Diatoms could be from other sources such as high nutrient loads, overfeeding, bacteria. That is another issue.

I have combated it from the other angles. After reading this it has got me thinking and with my present method I'm using water that his been sitting in a dirty bucket of over 2 weeks.

The hose in the ATO tank always feels slimy. Bacteria?!?! Should whipping a down and rinse of the ATO tank be on the list of ToDo's?

yes, soak everything that is involved in your ATO in vinager, then rinse with fresh water.

If you are making up water in "dirty" buckets and having it grow things for two weeks, it can't be a good thing. I would change that as well.

Ever other week or so?



Sounds like I got a lot of cleaning to do to night...

Thanks for all the help.

not every other week. I have only done it once in a year, but it doesn't grow any junk either. The ATO is only for RO water.

I would do it every few months in your case since it sounds like you get algae growth. As for the buckets, rinse and clean after every use.

I know this is slightly OT on the subject of getting rid of coralline on the glass, but I use an old credit card (or gift card). To get the corners, I bend the card in the middle, and it seems to do the trick!

THANK YOU!

I finally had the chance to clean everything with vinegar a few days ago. Last night I did the first water change with the "clean" equipment. 24 hours later I have seen about a 70% decrease in diatoms and expect to see them gone tomorrow!

wow, thats awesome! Good to hear it helped

I have a quick question. Can I use a powerhead like a maxi-jet to mix the water, as well as pump water from the mixing container up to the tank? Just put some tubing on the outlet? Also, what size tubing will I need and will I need an adapter to do this?

I think this is a much nicer solution rather than lifting a 10g bucket up and pouring it into the tank like I used to do!

I use a old mag-drive pump. Have to remember that a maxi-jet cant pump uphill very far.

yes, you can. The hose needed is 1/2 ID

thank you for the post very informative...cleared up some noob q's i had

Sticky.... Like glue. Awesome information.

Okay, so you guys mean regular airline tubing? Not the tube that comes with the wide end for siphoning? I tried the siphon tube today with out the siphon end just for kicks....got plenty 'o sand, some snails, a couple loose shrooms....that sucker was slurping everything up. Then I thought, I bet they might mean regular thin airline tubing, which would be great for tight spots.

yep, try the smaller tubing, it should suck less

Thanks! Sounds like a great idea!

Let us know how it goes, it should help others.

now that this thread is up. do you use a food safe bucket for mixing and a normal one for taking water out?

what do you mean by up? It is really old.

Food safe, well that would be the best option but I just use buckets that were new. Plastics are not all made the same but take like a homer bucket from home deopt, those are fine to use. I have a green one and a white one. That way I always use the green one for waste and the white one for mixing.

I do change my mixing bucket about every 6 months just to be safe since even with cleaning there is salt buildup and who knows what else from storage every week. My new one is an old salt bucket from Red Sea Coral Pro.

by up i ment ok this threads back. i havent seen it in a while.

and i got a food safe bucket. for mixing. gota get me a new bucket for taking water out. all i got is a 3 gal one.

Get a 5 gallon bucket, I take out and put back about 4 gallons each WC.

This thread is a sticky in the beginners section, right up at the top.

i do a like 5.5 gal change. most of the time.


and wow i never notesed it LOL

First I want to say how much help this site (and especially this thread) has been for me. I am very new to saltwater but I have quite a bit of Cichlid experience so I am not 100% lost (yet ). I purchased a 12-gallon AP that was up and running for about a year so it was cycled when I bought it (I moved everything that was in the tank and set it back up). Getting ready for my first saltwater WC and have everything this post mentions. I tested the existing water last night and my calcium seems a little low but everything else is looks ok. Before I start I wanted to ask just a few questions:

I purchased RO water from my LFS. Is this dechlorinated, etc,? Do I need to add anything else besides the IO Reef Salt I purchased? I plan to test the water again after the WC so if calcium is still low should I add a 2-part supplement like the LFS suggested?

How often should I clean the filters and pump. I know I tried to clean those items every other WC in my cichlid tank because I didn't want it too clean.

BTW the tips on cleaning the curved glass were awesome. That was driving me crazy! Thank you!!!

to N-R

Freshwater and saltwater are two completely different games, there really isn't much that is similar besides PH.

Depending on what corals you have, a water change will help with your calcium. Aim for 420-480 ppm. I have to dose every other day with a two part solution, but I have a lot of SPS corals that just eat up calcium

RO/DI water is pure, so yes it is dechlorinated. You will need nothing else. IO salt IMO is on the lower end of "quality" there are others that have more trace elements included in the salt. But many use IO with good results.

I would junk that huge sponge that is included with the AP12, also throw away the bio balls. Keep a clean filtration set up. Use filter floss instead of the sponge and replace it every 5-7 days depending on how fast it clogs up. You can use chemical medias in the rear chambers like chemi pure. Or set up one as a fuge and grow chaeto.

Thank you! I don't have any hard corals but would like to eventually (one step at a time). I will go through the bag of IO I bought and get some higher end salts. A couple more questions if you don't mind:

I have read about topping of tanks a number of times and it sounds like you just use plain RO water (no salt) to do this. I have had little to no evapoaration over a week so I don't think this will be too much of a problem but it just didn't sound right to add staright RO water (guess is dilutes the salt since it doesn't evaporate?).

On the chemical medias, I assume these are similar to carbon in that you add them in a net/bag? Also, is ditching the sponge and the bioballs all at once ok (in addition to a WC). Seems like that would be quite a shock to the system? Maybe that is the freswater experince talking? I guess the live sand and live rock will keep it in balance pretty well? Thanks again.

Add fresh RO water when you top off. Salt does not evaporate and is left behind. If your water level goes down then your salinity will go up, and on a small tank it happens fast. You may see more evaporation this summer or when you run your lights longer. The fans and strong lighting do not help the situation. I go through 4+ gallons a week in top off. Done automatically by my ATO

The safer thing would be to remove the sponge first. Then tank a handful of bioballs out every week. That would prevent any shock to your system. OVerall your live rock is taking care of your biofiltration, sand is mostly aesthetic.

Chemical medias are nice, I like chemi pure, it is of higher quality than normal carbon. Comes in a bag and lasts 3-5 months. A fuge would be a good idea. Just provide a small amount of light and throw some chaeto (macro algae) in a chamer.

Outstanding, thank you so much! I am really excited about this and its good to know there are folks out there that can help a Noob like me. Keep up the good work!

Awesome guide SteveT!

Would like to add... to start a siphon submerge the wide vacuum attachment in your tank, then raise it up out of the water letting the water fill up the hose going into bucket. Just before all of the water drains from the vacuum end submerge it again in your tank again. If done right it is a quick and easy way to prime a siphon. I used to prime it with sink water but that got old quick and I don't prefer to suck on anything.