Anyone have a slick way to do water changes.?

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dragon

New Member
I am getting tired of carrying 5 gallon buckets back and forth to my tank.. Was wondering if anyone has a better idea? Has anyone made a pump and hose to pump water directly to outside? Or a pump to get water out of my rodi garbage can and into the tank?

Anyone's unique solutions would be appreciated. GEtting tired of getting salt water all over my wood floors, which seems to happen no matter how careful I am.
 
tnwillia

tnwillia

Well-Known Member
I have a hose that attaches too my pump I use for mixing water (Maxi jet 1800). I also have wheels on the bottom of my 20gal brutes. So I roll them to my tank and change water using the pump. It's as easy as I've come up with. Have fun!
 
Big Jay

Big Jay

Member
I buy my water from an LFS in 5 gallon jugs. I empty those jugs into a big bin. The bin holds 30 gallons. I then siphon the old water into the jugs. After the jugs are full I cap them. I then insert a Rio1100 with a hose into the bin and pump the new water into the sump. When the bin is empty I turn off the pump. Dry it with a towel and store it. The bin gets rinsed outside and stored. The jugs get emptied into the bath tub. It takes about 20 minutes and is as clean as I am careful.
 
imaccat

imaccat

Active Member
I have a RO/DI unit in my garage with a float valve (stops it overflowing) and an electronic switch on it that switches on the heater and circulation pump when it is full. I add the salt and the pump mixes it for me. I normally leave it mixing for at least 24 hours. Then I remove the water from the tank and then connect the pump in the container in the garage to a 30m hose which then pumps it straight into the tank. No mess, no lugging canisters, no worrying about flooding the garage. All I have to worry about is removing just the right amount of waste water from the tank to ensure that it doesn't overflow or isn't high enough.
 
goldenboy232

goldenboy232

Member
I buy water in 5 gallon jugs from my LFS and just carry it to my tank (it's not THAT heavy). I syphon the old water out into an empty jug and then pour the water in from a 5 gallon jug. Probably not the neatest or easiest way, but it's not that big of a hassle for me.
 
thebeast1011

thebeast1011

Member
I use the 4.4g Nutri-Seawater from my lfs. I siphon the water from the tank into an old jug. Then I put the new water jug on top of the hood and siphon that into the tank. Before I put the new water in I add some distilled water because the Specific Gravity is too high in the Nutri-Seawater. Takes me about 10 mins.
 
reefhusker

reefhusker

Member
Here's what I came up with to ease any trouble with WC's.
1. Syphon out water into 5 gal. buckets.
2. I bought a 70 gal container like the one shown below. I keep it full of fresh salt water and also have a circulation pump going in it 24/7. I also have a heater that I use to heat the water when i am ready to do a WC. If the heater runs full time it contributes to excess evaporation. I did make a lid out of plexiglass to help with this.Then I hook up the hose (shown on top) to the circ pump and pump it directly into the tank.
Done. Piece of cake
The little blue hose is my RO drip line I use to refill the tank when it runs empty.

DSC00491.JPG
 
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BobBursek

Active Member
So what is new here, most of us have 2 Brutes, one are RO/DI goes into for MU water, mixing Kalk, and 2 part solutions. A second one which we mix are salt water in for water changes with a pump and heater. DA, get up to speed!!!! Man, and you do not need to run the pump 24/7!!!
 
Ashr

Ashr

Active Member
How do I know how much salt to add to my water before it is mixed? I need to make sure the SG is the same as the tank. Am I right on that one?
 
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BobBursek

Active Member
Yes you are, and I was rude in a prior post I apologise!!!!! What salt are you useing?? most are 1/2cup per gallon for about 1.022SG, but have a user giude on the container, for a reef tank most run it at 1.0264=35ppt on a refatometer, hydrometers/swing arms are not that accurate, unless lab grade. no matter what the instructions say you calabrate a refactometer with pin point 53solution for measuring salt water, not RO/DI or distilled water!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Or this home made solution. I will post here both the home made and the reason why you do not use RO/DO or distilled water.
Both items are in this article,skim read it and look at the graphs.
Refractometers and Salinity Measurement by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com
 
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BobBursek

Active Member
I went down and read the instructions, 1.4lbs or Reef Crystal salt wil mixed with 1gallon of water comes out to 1.021SG.
 
Reefmack

Reefmack

NaClH2O Addicted
PREMIUM
1/2 cup salt/gallon is a good rough estimate for most salts. Did you mean 1/4 lb./gallon? I may be wrong but I don't think that 1/2 cup salt weighs 1.4 lbs.? Maybe it is that heavy?
 
Dweezil

Dweezil

Well-Known Member
Reefmack said:
1/2 cup salt/gallon is a good rough estimate for most salts. Did you mean 1/4 lb./gallon? I may be wrong but I don't think that 1/2 cup salt weighs 1.4 lbs.? Maybe it is that heavy?
Click to expand...

+1 I usually do about 1/2 cup per gallon and it's very close.
 
D

dankent

Member
It depends on the salt you use :) but 1/2 cup per gallon will get you pretty close .. usually short of 1.025 in my experience ... but thats how i mix ... 1/2 cup per gallon ... 15 gallons a week 7.5 / 8 cups :)


I measure the day before with refractometer the new water and the tank water and i make it spot on then WC the next day
 
Reefmack

Reefmack

NaClH2O Addicted
PREMIUM
BobBursek said:
I went down and read the instructions, 1.4lbs or Reef Crystal salt wil mixed with 1gallon of water comes out to 1.021SG.
Click to expand...

I think you're off by a factor of 5! Directions for SeaChem Reef salt are

"NOTE: 675 g of Reef Salt™ is formulated to create 20 liters (1.4 lbs per 5 US gallons) of saltwater at a specific gravity of 1.021."

Following your directions of 1.4 lbs per 1 gallon would probably kill everything in the tank!

Approx. 1/2 cup gallon is safer.
 
SecretAgent

SecretAgent

Member
water changes, when I do them


Make up three five gallon buckets of saltwater. Set aside.

Take airline tubing long enough to reach from tank to out the back deck door. Take magfloat and sandwich air tubing between glass and float to keep it in place.

Allow water to drain from tank, fill sump or tank as water is needed until all buckets are empty.

Tired of lugging those 5 gallon buckets to the tank? Then dont fill them all the way up, fill them halfway and get yourself a 2 gallon bucket, fill that with water, carry the half filled 5g bucket to tank and use the 2g to finish filling the 5g up. Make sure the 5g is placed where you want it so you wont have to move it once its filled.

Of course, I lift weights, exercise, and eat healthy, so carrying 5g buckets is like a walk in the park to me. Sometimes, just for the fun of it, I will curl the 2g bucket to get those extra reps in.
 
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