Water change method?

[acer]

HAve a spicket on the return from the refugium that I can drain water out from- 5 gallons at a time. Then use another 5 gallon bucket with small pump and hose to slowly ( 5 minutes) put new water in. Takes about 15 minutes to do 10 gallon water change. I try ( oops) to do this about one time per week.

[WaiWiliki]

OK.. I'm real lazy... Every other month I pay someone to do a water change where they come with a HUGE tank on the back of a truck. When not paying I siphon 5 gal buckets then lift 5 gal gas cans of LFS saltwater back to the display. I think this is why I don't mind paying.

[Woodstock]

LOL... Water on Wheels! Great idea

[forestal]

i recently upgraded my water changes to 40 g /week on my 120, use that water for my seahors and anemone tanks (recycling.)

good exercise carrying 6 5 gallon bucket of water up the stairs from the basement, whew

mywife wants me to drill a hole in the floor and drain and pump, but i would probably screw something up and regret it, so i just use it for my exercise

[Witfull]

another well used method is....topping off the tank with RO, forgetting the pump is on and flooding about 15 gallons onto the floor. ive done this a few times.... drain water from tank, mix up some super salty water and retop off while staying put next to tank!

[Warnberg]

Python to hose out to pond/yard in back. Then mag 5 with 20 ft of hose in 44 gallon rubbermaid to fill tank back up.

[Kacy McCure]

I use marks on the sump, its seems to be more accurat in my tank. I use a 20 gal storage vessel and a powerhead that i transfer wat to the sump and the drain water comes from the tank with a valve inline to regulate the flow to match the power head. I walk around, feed the fis, a little, have a beer, adjust the flow, turn off the power head, got to bed. Works for me.

[ReefLady]

Water change? What's that? ;-)

Well, we don't do them often, but when we do - here's the deal.

Sump is in the basement, so that makes life a lot easier.

We start by flipping the switch on the RO/DI output, so it fills a large rubbermaid container (25g). When it's about 1/2 full, we add salt, PH, and heater, let it mix, heat, and fill the rest of the way (a day or so).

Then, we drain (via tubing) water from the sump to fill 5 x 5g buckets. Dump them down the basement sump hole - the sump pump then pumps it onto our back lawn (hubby's endless effort to kill as much grass as possible). We then put a return pump in the rubbermaid, pump the new water into the sump, and turn the return pump back on.

Not as difficult as it sounds - especially since we do it once every 2-3 months (if we're good).

[Woodstock]

I got the 'dolly' for my brute container ...much easier!

[billyr98]

Well tomorrow is my day for this...
What I do is this- 1st i make RO/DI water and mix with Tropic Marin salt overnight with a heater in place... this is all in two 33gallon trash cans... I then just close off 2 valves going to my tank and open the one going to my basement sump pump hole... and out goes the water... about 60ish gallons... and now i just pump in my trash cans full of water in my sump and BANG!! 66 gallon water change in about --- hmmmm 5 minutes...

[Woodstock]

Nice Billy. I still lug buckets of old water from the tank but replace it with a pump. Mine takes about 20 min total.

[Cartman89]

I fill up water jugs with RO water from the sink. Takes a couple of days to get about 10 filled. Hey what do you know, today is water change day! Yay.....

[ghostwolf]

I chose buckets/trash can with return pump. We normaly only use the can with return pump unless we are vacuming. 1st we mix TM Pro Reef with RO/DI water the day before in can with heater and air pump. Then we put a Rio 800 in the tank with an acryllic cover (so nosy inhabitants get too close) and pump out the required water from the tank. I have a mark on the back of background paper for 25% change. Then we put the Rio 800 in the can and pump back in the new water.

Lin

[down and outman]

I'm waiting for my son to get his stuff out of my garage.:smck: I have a 30 gallon trash can to mix water in and I'm waiting patiently to set it up with a powerhead, heater, and a drain on it. In the meantime, I use a bucket to drain it, and have these cool 5 gal plastic drums with screw on lids to mix and haul water in. The hardest part is getting 2 or 3 batches to match. I've ended up pouring them back and forth with another drum to get the salinity right between them.

[iamkellogg]

Buckets. I have dedicated buckets for my saltwater tank and my freshwater tanks.

Kelly