How long does water stay good?

[here fishy fishy]

Been forever since I've posted! After moving a year and a half ago, my tank took a hit. I lost some of my favorite livestock and everything was set back growth wise. Guess what else happens after u buy a house? There's no money left for the tank, and yard work takes over tank time. My tank survived and I am finally finding some time and a little money to play with.

 

So here's the scoop. I have a 39 gallon aio. I have been doing 10 gallon weekly water changes. This amount mostly because it's what I got used to doing when I was going 2-3 weeks between water changes, then the last several months of trying to get the water quality back where I like it. I may cut back down to 5 gallons a week. I finally realized my "dream" of setting up a mixing station in the basement with my rodi, and siphoning the water down from the main floor down the laundry drain then pumping it back up to refill. So my question is this: I prefer to make and mix 20 gallons of water at a time. I make the water, salt it a few days later, wait a Day or 2 and change out 10 gallons, then i want to save the rest of the water for the next weeks water change. Is it okay to keep water this long? What I did this week was wait to heat it up until the day before the change, and after the change I unplugged the heater from the remaining 10 gallons and am just leaving the powerheads running. So by he time I use the last if the water it's 2 weeks old.

 

Here's the set up

 

27 gallon sterility storage tub (2, nested for support)

Simer water transfer pump(taken apart to clean out lubricant, relubed with 100% silicone)

Lots of flexible water line hose (the kind u buy by the foot, not garden hose)

Appropriate clamps and hose fittings

Of course the rodi and heater and pump

 

Drill a big hole in the floor for the hose to go through and viola! No more hulking buckets up and down the stairs. Now, it's not all been a bed of roses...the first time I siphoned the suction was CRAZY good and I sucked my nem up...if it weren't for his excellent grip on his rock he would've ended up in the laundry sink. As it was, some of his tentacles did.

 

Wow, if u made it this far, thanks!

[patback]

The water will be fine as long as its aerated and the holding vat doesn't leech anything harmfull. I think the most difficult part will be using a pump to throw the water that high. You got to figure a 1" pipe, times x amount of feet, you would need a very large pump and a VERY large container to keep water from over flowing when it all sucks back in. The piping alone will probably drop 3-5 gallons before it fills the tank up if it's how high up I'm thinking.

[here fishy fishy]

The water will be fine as long as its aerated and the holding vat doesn't leech anything harmfull. I think the most difficult part will be using a pump to throw the water that high. You got to figure a 1" pipe, times x amount of feet, you would need a very large pump and a VERY large container to keep water from over flowing when it all sucks back in. The piping alone will probably drop 3-5 gallons before it fills the tank up if it's how high up I'm thinking.

 

The pump easily pushes the water up to the tank, but it does need to stay lubricated. I initially cleaned out the grease in it and then it would not prime itself, it had to be primed with water. The silicone took care of that tho, and just a tiny amount. As a precaution I also ran the pump for about 2 hours in 1/3 a bucket of water (pumping the water out and back in) then tested that water for copper. I didn't see any copper parts when I disassembled the pump to clean it but u never know.

 

What do u mean water overflowing when it sucks back in? I only use my sterilite resouvior for the new water. Old water goes directly down the laundry drain.

[patback]

The pump easily pushes the water up to the tank, but it does need to stay lubricated. I initially cleaned out the grease in it and then it would not prime itself, it had to be primed with water. The silicone took care of that tho, and just a tiny amount. As a precaution I also ran the pump for about 2 hours in 1/3 a bucket of water (pumping the water out and back in) then tested that water for copper. I didn't see any copper parts when I disassembled the pump to clean it but u never know.

 

What do u mean water overflowing when it sucks back in? I only use my sterilite resouvior for the new water. Old water goes directly down the laundry drain.

I don't know how to explain it really. But if you've got 16 feet of piping between the pump and tank, you need to have a way to compensate for 16 feet worth of free falling water when you shut the pump off. It will also be a chore to figure out when you need to turn the pump off. Would you have a switch upstairs to control it? That would solve that problem.

 

If I could suggest, set up a small tank with a sampling of whatever coral you plan in keeping in the future to make sure the pump doesn't have residue on it from the grease. I know that can be a real pain to clean out, even off of a non porous surface. Your idea sounds interesting if you can work out all the small details. Good luck.