Water Change & Top Off Water Temperature

[edmund36]

I want to know if I am and/or how bad I am stressing (or what sort of damage) the fish and corals of a 120 gallon tank by performing 10% to 20% water changes using room temperature instead of same temperature as the tank. Same for top off water. Any commentary would be very much appreciated.

[ReefGuy69]

I dont know if there is a way to measure how much stress your putting on your fish and corals but i would say there is some extent. I would advise to work on getting the temps of both your waterchange and top offs to as close as tank temp as possible. Why rish stressing out any livestock when you have spent all this time and money trying to nurture them to heathly happy specimens? just my opinion

[PhilOlsen]

I agree, there must be some added stress with temp changes, what I do is I put the jugs of ro/di water in my utility sink, the sink is filled with very hot water, it raises the temp, once I am within a dergeeor 2 then I use it. I also keep the filled jugs next to my furnace until they are ready to use to help reduce the time needed to raise the temp. I also do about 20% weekly, its a lot of work, but for the investment and well being of the livestock it is worth it.

[fiveldsp]

I guess I always figured that just the process of changing the water itself added enough stress to the fish, so i do what I can to make the water going into the tank as close as possible to the water coming out. I have heard people say that when they do water changes, the water they put in the tank is 3-5 degrees cooler, which would cause it to sink to the bottom of the tank so they could continue siphoning off the top. I dont know if it works like that, but it's something I've heard over the years. Good luck

[cioutlaw]

Not sure if you have a sump but I empty my sump during a water change then add the room temp water to the sump where the heaters are & wait for it to warm up before I turn the return pump on.

If no sump then buy a cheap heater for the water to pre-heat it. Wont have to be big or fancy & you wont have to worry about it failing.

[edmund36]

Yes, I have a wet /dry filter sump. How do you conveniently change water out in this? There is a section where the bio balls sit, the debris collects underneath this, and the other section has a large prtein smimmer w/ 2 pumps, one for skimmer, and there is not much space to move around. I do agree this does collect waste. How would you recommend that I get the waste out. Also I would have to possibly shut main pump down, posssibly causing an overflow. Please let me know how I can do this without much headache?

Ed

[lcstorc]

We keep the water level in our sump low enough so that it can hold the water in the overflow. This way if we turn the pump off or if the power fails the water in the overflow can be contained in the sump.
Just an idea. It works great for us since we have frequent short power outages and don't want a stand full of water.

[cioutlaw]

Originally Posted by edmund36

Yes, I have a wet /dry filter sump. How do you conveniently change water out in this? There is a section where the bio balls sit, the debris collects underneath this, and the other section has a large prtein smimmer w/ 2 pumps, one for skimmer, and there is not much space to move around. I do agree this does collect waste. How would you recommend that I get the waste out. Also I would have to possibly shut main pump down, posssibly causing an overflow. Please let me know how I can do this without much headache?

Ed

I have a pump set up that I use like a vacuum cleaner. before I do a waterchange I shut the return pump off & take a spare power head & blow all the debris in the sump so that it is floating around then vacuum the water out.

[Craig Lambert]

I doubt there is much stress. If your tank water is 80 and your room temp water is 65, you have a 15 degree spread. If you change 10% of the water the tank temp should drop 10% of the temp spread between the two, or 1.5 degrees.

[jimeluiz]

To raise water change water to the 79 degrees of my tank I just put a gallon in the microwave for about 9 minutes, dump it into my 5 gallon bucket. Repeat. Ready - 79 - 80 degrees. Not too much trouble.

[cioutlaw]

Originally Posted by jimeluiz

To raise water change water to the 79 degrees of my tank I just put a gallon in the microwave for about 9 minutes, dump it into my 5 gallon bucket. Repeat. Ready - 79 - 80 degrees. Not too much trouble.

I have 30 gallon water changes so the micro-wave is out of the question, but good idea

[edmund36]

Craig,

I like your analysis; I think you are accurate.

I am also concerned in the location where the top off area is being placed. For example, if I pour TOW in any corner of the tank it is in proximity to the top of the live rock and those corals on the rock. Also, I notice that the water flow (from the poured water) will go down approach the bottom of the tank as evidenced by air bubbles and the sand movement on the bottom of tank. This TOW flow is then near the corals on the front of the live rock as well as corals on the bottom. Also, I notice that a fish or two will swim toward the TOW maybe assuming thet are being fed. Is this hurting their gills, or whatever, due to the salinity difference. I'm hoping to hear from some folks on this. It maybe very fundamnetal to many, but to me it would be important to hear more about. Thanks in advance as it will effect how I approach TOP & water change habits. Ed

[Woodstock]

I would not subject my corals or fish to cooler water than what they're used to. Stability is the key to success and while using cooler water will probably not kill them, it certainly does stress them. If you had more sensitive corals like some sps, exposing them to cooler water would make them bleach(IME); a clear indication that it is not healthy for them.

Why not just add a power head/pump and heater to the mixing container? I use a 20 gal Brute trashcan for mixing new salt water with a pump and heater. I turn off all pumps, remove 20 gal from themain display (sometimes I vacuum the overflow and sump too); then I place a hose on the pump in the Brute container and pump the new saltwater into the main display.

Using cold/room temp top off is not an issue.

You should be able to turn off all power to the tank without causing a flood. The sump's water level should be low enough to allow plenty of room for the 'back flow' of water into it which occurs during power outages (or when you turn off the return pump(s)).