Water change method?

[Woodstock]

How do you perform your water changes?

[Woodstock]

I need to find a better way to perform my water changes. I have been using buckets for removing and replacing new salt water but it is a draaaaag. I'm thinking of using buckets to remove but maybe a large trash can with a mag 5 to pump the water back into the tank.... or maybe a python to remove the old water and then a trash can and pump to replace it....

What do you use? Explain your procedure please...

[jimeluiz]

In our tiny apartment we barely have room for two stackable five gallon buckets, let along a big drum. Our water jugs are 7 gallon vertical style because the popular 5 gallon cubes are too wide for where we store them. We balance in labor what we cannot set up for convenience.

No complaints - we're nice and cozy with a sweet tank.

[forestal]

i picked buckets, but i use a 96 gallon garbage can for ro/di storage and a 55 gallon garbage can for premixing salt water, which sits with heater, powerhead and airstone for a week ideally before using....
i do weekly water changes...15gallon on 120 reef, 10 gallons on 36gallon seahorse tank, 2 gallons on my 2 2.5 gallon nanos and 5 gallons on my seahorse nursery (6 gallon with 10 gallon sump)

so i use about 45gallons /week of salt water

[Woodstock]

Looks like most people use buckets... interesting...

Thanks for chiming in Jimeluiz & Dan! I just purchased a Brute 32 gal trash can. My plan is to fill it up with ro/di then salt, get the params right and then use my mag pump and vinyl hose to pump the water into the tank. I will still use a bucket to remove water from my tank but I may try my Python for that eventually....

[Witfull]

im lazy~~

i have a 30g tub, i syphon into that. i have another 30g tub with RO,ph and heater which i mix my salt in, i have a mag7 in the resiviour and tubing plumbed through the walls. i pump premixd SW into the tank, then disconnect the mag7, but the end into the laundry room sink, take the pump to the tub with old water, plug it in and pump the old stuff down the drain~~

[forestal]

forgot to add, i use a power head with a clear hose on it to pump from tank to bucket and bucket to tank

[mps9506]

I use a 32 gallon brute trash can on a dolly for the new SW.
I just drain the water into a 5 gallon buckets out of the tank to the sink
my buddy has a t with some ball valves on his return line. Opens one, shuts of the return to the tank and it shoots the water to the driveway.

[RanRoc]

what's a water change?

[scuba22]

I have gone into the pre=mixed water range..
it's really a joy...I use a sypthon and buckets..lots of them...
but for a 55g it's d-able.
You all with huge tanks, I can't imagine the drraaaag!

[cheeks69]

I use a 7 gallon bucket but no more W/C's for me for a while

[Cougra]

For the new water I have a 15 Gallon rubbermaid (dedicated to saltwater and two to fresh RO water used for topups and in the FW tanks) container that I fill with RO water using a long hose from the RO unit. TO the rubbermaid container I add salt, powerhead and heater. I leave it for a couple days before doing a water change in the tank. Then I add a hose to the end of the powerhead and pump the water into the tank.
In order to remove water from my tanks I have a nice long garden hose that reaches into the bathroom drain. I start the syphon and let the tank drain.

[corvettephreek]

i need to do a WC baaaad tomorrow. the water looks fine, fish look happy, but its been there for a while.... buckets have been my choice for a few years. i set up my saltwater for a couple hours before putting it into the tank. dont like buckets, i just use them because like jimeluiz i have no space in my tiny apt. for anything else.

[BoomerD]

I kept a pair of 55 gallon barrels in the garage. One for RO water, one for salt. I also kept a couple buckets full of RO water in the fish room for top-offs. I had 2 pythons. One to suck out the old water, another with a pump to replenish that. I also had a 44 gallon Rubbermaid Brute can for my water-making station (outside) and I'd pump it into the 55 gallon barrel where it was heated and aerated prior to being used, either for mixing salt, or toping off. Heater, airstones, and powerhead in the salt barrel 24x7 so it was ready to go on a minute's notice. The only flaw to all this, was in the heat of summer. My garage got well over 100 degrees, so I had problems keeping the water cool. Often, I'd fill several buckets with salt water, and leave them in the fishroom to cool over night, so I wasn't doing water changes with 90+ degree water.
Between 10-25% weekly changes, and an average of 5 gallons per day in top-offs, I went thru about 75-80 gallons of water per week for my 90 and 40.

[Gina]

We make and mix our water in the front bedroom (where the half bath and our computers are) since the trash can is too heavy to move once full we use a mag pump to fill 5 gal buckets with the tank water. We then just fill the tank back up with the freshly made water using the mag pump also.

When we finally move into a house we plan on having an in wall and all of our fish supplies in the other room behind the tank. That will make life much easier when it comes to working on the tank and I love the look of in walls anyway!