water change techniques??

[fliberdygibits]

I know in some bigger systems, people have setups that automatically mix the water, pump out the old from the tank and pump the new back in gently with literally no effort on their part. For those of us with smaller tanks though, I am curious how everone changes their water. Do you just dump it in and stir up everything? Do you spoon it in? Do you put a bowl in the tank to protect your sand? Do you heft a 5 gallon jug over your head or do you use a funnel? What does everyone have setup to accomodate everything involved in a water change?

 

Thanks

[SLOreefer]

i dump it out of my 5 gallon jug....slowly and move it back and forth across the tank and it doenst stir up the sand at all

[flaunt]

i keep RO/DI water in 1 gallon jugs. i usually only do 1g at a time so i'll funnel the salt right into the jug, shake it up. let it sit for a few minutes on top of the aquarium lights so as to also raise its temp. a few degrees, then pour it in slowly. when removing the old water i take a cup and remove surface water which usually collects bubbles.

[leslr]

i get my h20 from my LFS in 5gal jugs from there show tank. Once a week I take a premeasured container and syphon a gal out of my tank after shutting off the filter. I then use a hydrometer and thermometer to check it. I remove my filter,wash it out in the used water. Dump it, then fill it with fresh premixed water that i had got earlier, nuke it till its the same temp as old water, recheck hydrometer and temp confirming everything the same, them put container on top of tank and using a length of air tubing syphon it into the tank via the filter. Whole routine takes about 20 minutes.

leslr.

[Twins Guy]

you ever have any issues with incompletely dissolved salt or non aerated water? just curious. i always thought i was pushing my luck with store mixed water waiting bottled for a week.

[Mnesarchus]

I siphon out the urchin and crab poop until my bucket hits one gallon. Then I dump the old water and replace with the new stuff at the same temperature and salinity. I usually make the new seawater about 2 hours before adding it.

[Catspa]

Ok, all in all, the siphone method is the easiest. Forget automatic salt mixing - even if it was possible, i wouldn't trust it. I siphone the water out, with a 9mm hose - fairly quickly. Then i Siphone fresh water back in, with an airtube hose, wich i have pinched with a pair of pliers - you can controll the flow from drip to.. that way you don't have to wory about the temp.. let is go for an hour or two.. Either watch it, or make sure you've possitioned the siphon intake, at a level in your jug that will prevent it from sucking more water then you tank will hold, to prevent overfilling

[PFB]

I have a 2.5gal Home Depot bucket. Add 1 or 2 gal. of RO add Rio 90 (i think) PH and then add salt. Add 1 drop of calcium, one drop of Iodide (Seachem). I found that after running Rio PH for 2 to 3 hours, the water is approx. 80 - 82 deg.

HD also has a lid that secures the top of the bucket, so every time I need to do a WC, I just put the Rio in and run for a couple of hours, re-check salinity and change when correct parameters match my tank. Actual water change of 4 to 6 cups takes about 5 min.

[Xavier]

I'm curious.. someone mentioned mixing the SW just before adding it.. I have a 5g bucket with a PW and venturi on it to mix and aerate, and a heater to keep the temp right... and I've been pulling water from that regularly to do my water changes.. when it gets low, I remake another batch... the bucket sits in the base of my tank with the lid on (so no light to cause algae growth, etc)... is this not a good idea for some reason? I was mainly doing this for convenience...