water evaoeration replacement,considerd water change

[reefman420]

hey would me replaceing a 5 gallon bucket of water each week do to evaperation be considerd a(water cahnge) i have been doing this for quite some time and all my parimiters are in line..my fish are active and healthy.do have a little algae growth prolly to the fact i switched over to metal halide.thanx

[panmanmatt]

No it isn't considered a water change. You should be replacing the evaporated water with fresh water not salt water.

Doing a water change with salt water helps to lower your nitrates and replaces a lot of elements that your tank uses up such as calcium, iodine and other trace elements.

[AQTCJAK]

Originally Posted by panmanmatt

No it isn't considered a water change. You should be replacing the evaporated water with fresh water not salt water.

Doing a water change with salt water helps to lower your nitrates and replaces a lot of elements that your tank uses up such as calcium, iodine and other trace elements.

I wouldnt say "fresh water" I would say RO water there is a big difference

[AQTCJAK]

Originally Posted by reefman420

hey would me replaceing a 5 gallon bucket of water each week do to evaperation be considerd a(water cahnge) i have been doing this for quite some time and all my parimiters are in line..my fish are active and healthy.do have a little algae growth prolly to the fact i switched over to metal halide.thanx

If you are adding salt water you are increasing the salinity of your tank

[reefman420]

ya i dont add salt.its just water..so why wouldnt this be a water change the evap takes it out and im putting clean water into the system all the time?

[AQTCJAK]

the purpose of the change is to replenish the vital elements & remove used or waste elements

[panmanmatt]

The only thing that evaporates is the water, all the nitrates and other stuff stays behind. By adding RO water, you are just replacing the water molecules and nothing else.

[reefman420]

i get ya

[panmanmatt]

Originally Posted by AQTCJAK

I wouldnt say "fresh water" I would say RO water there is a big difference

Fresh water means water with no salt. That is why I said "fresh water not saltwater".

Not everybody uses RO water for their tanks.

[AQTCJAK]

Originally Posted by panmanmatt

Fresh water means water with no salt. That is why I said "fresh water not saltwater".

Not everybody uses RO water for their tanks.

My point being Fresh water can be tap water which is not the best thing for your tank not even well water is good bbecuase the ground does leach into the well things such as phosphate nitrate amonia I hard metals I could go on for ever.

[Kerchakone]

What do you guys do about the pH of this freshwater? It's WAY more acidic, do you do a pH buffer or something? Or is it so minimal that you don't bother?

[Melanie]

I use RO water and I suggest RO or RO/DI water for any tank maintenance (including just rinsing the equipment).

Also, I didn't see anyone mention that doing 5 gal once a week in a 12 gal. tank can cause a shock to your tank inhabitants. The more often you do your top off the better. Mark a line on either your tank or your sump, if you have one. Then once, twice, or more times a day, add your fresh RO water to the fill line. If you don't want to mess with it daily, then seriously consider an auto top off unit that you can buy fully assembled, or make yourself.

[burning2nd]

evap replacement is no way in any forum a waterchage....

your not removeing anything... IF anything its worse then that..

if yo udont change water with newly made RODI and salt mixed properly

the minerals and stuff that are in your tank.. will go up and up and up and up till.... well
till you know what..

theres no way around it. unless your tank is plumed in to the ocean you need to make new salt water to replace your water in your tank

[BigAl07]

5 Gal on a 12 gal tank is going to come out very close to 50% depending on rock and sand amount. Now that's not a absolute BAD thing that's a LOT of water to change out every time. The real problem lies in how the water change is carried out which brings up (2) concerns..

1) To what degree are things "disturbed" before and during the water change. The reason for this is if you're disturbing rock, sand and everything in the tank to do your water change you could (and probably are) removing a good deal of beneficial bacteria from your tank. If you simply syphon out water and replace it without disturbing anything then you're only removing water and waste suspended in it and in reality very small percentages of the bacteria stays suspended in the water column.

2) The more water you take out and replace at any one time greatly increases your chances of a mis-match of new water and original water parameters. Your main goal is to match old and new water as closely as possible in every respect. With a 10 - 20% change you have somewhat of an increased "buffer factor" to help lessen the shock of mis-mixed water. Jump up to 50% or more and you push the tides way off the scale and your margin of error drops through the floor.

Now I'm not saying DON'T do that much water changes I'm just pointing out with that large percentage you have to be extra careful to ensure your newly mixed water is as close to exact as your old water. Heck some "old school" hobbyists routinely do 75+% or more (usually in smaller increments maybe 25+% 3 days a week) and get away with it. This usually comes from LOST of experience and being almost anal about water quality and testing. I just feel that's not how my reef seems to work best and I like a 10% weekly and reserve the larger amount for emergencies (Been there done that when a sea cucumber "expired" behind my LR and totally NUKED my tank... looked like coffee for a day and I did a total of 100% WC over a 2 day period).

Since switching to RO/DI I have seen a marked inprovement in my tank in every respect and wouldn't do it any other way now. Heck I liked it so much I bought and installed and RO/RI unit in my home a few weeks ago.

I've been fortunate about PH thus far. It's been ideal and haven't had to adjust it at all yet. But if it's off the charts you need to adjust it so that it matches your tanks even if it takes some effort on your part. Don't shock your tank by adding water of a significantly different PH to your tank.

Good luck and sorry for being so long winded. I just got up and this was my first thread of the day. *Grins*

Have a GREAT day and Happy Reefing

Allen

[burning2nd]

Originally Posted by BigAl07

2) The more water you take out and replace at any one time greatly increases your chances of a mis-match of new water and original water parameters. Your main goal is to match old and new water as closely as possible in every respect. With a 10 - 20% change you have somewhat of an increased "buffer factor" to help lessen the shock of mis-mixed water. Jump up to 50% or more and you push the tides way off the scale and your margin of error drops through the floor.
Allen

yep yep!

you gotta be Right on the money when you do large water chagnes.....
theres np doing a large water change, Ive done 75% at once. OR 100% over 1 day...

but as said you need to watch desturbing stuff... cause you dont want to mess the bactiera up.....

temp and salinty must be exact