The hated water changes

[Tang]

I thought a good discussion about water changes and it benefits would be a good Sunday afternoon topic. My personal opinion is this is the key to success. My weekly schedule is 3 - 5 gallon changes each week. It replaces all trace elements and reduces unwanted things. What helped me the most, is "make the process easy, really easy". The job will become more easier in the long run. I use little to no additives in my system, other then drip Kalkwasser daily to raise alk & Cal.

What are others thoughts??

Jamie

[s dubay]

I change 5 gallons once a week!My setup is very very easy.I get my water from my main water line which is 5 feet away from the tank so i premix a 5G jug every sunday then heat it overnight.Then every monday i have another 5G jug and i siphon out 5G and replace 5G.Also for top ups i usually top up once in the middle of the week around 1 G.I do these water changes every week and now that i am in the routine it has become very easy!The tank is a 90G so im not sure if i am changing enough or too much water but it has seemed to work out well!

[Ronnie]

I think everything I have have ever read on the subject says that you just can't beat frequent water changes for exactly the reasons Tang mentions.

However, with bigger systems weekly changes of even 5-10% can still be quite a burden . Thus, I am only doing monthly 20% changes and therefore must compensate.

To minimze the 'bad stuff', I try to feed modestly and skim/filter aggressively. This I believe causes an even greater need to replenish the 'good stuff', so I am dosing trace elements and iodide weekly.

Ron

[Invigor]

Face it, nobody likes lugging pails around, so I'm planning a water change system that will be easy as turning two valves. One on my return pump pushing water down the drain (did the math and put a small mark on the tank to know where 10 gallons is). Once drained, have my 10g tank full of saltwater drain into my display tank. My 10g is positioned above my display tank so it just gravity feeds in, since I do not have a sump.

With a sump on floor level, this would be very very simple to do. Once the 10g is empty, fill it up, put salt in, and let the powerhead go at it until next time. If only I were to have it so easy.

As for now, I just use a hose to syphon out 10g of water, since I haven't replumbed my closed loop to 1.5" yet.

Seeing Jaime's setup today made me realize how simple it is to setup an easy waterchange scheme.

[Rentaltux]

Face it, nobody likes lugging pails around, so I'm planning a water change system that will be easy as turning two valves. One on my return pump pushing water down the drain (did the math and put a small mark on the tank to know where 10 gallons is). Once drained, have my 10g tank full of saltwater drain into my display tank. My 10g is positioned above my display tank so it just gravity feeds in, since I do not have a sump.
This sounds alot like my system I have finally got rigged up. I litteraly can do a 15-20 gallon change on my 90 on a commercial break during CSI.LOL. I open a valve to my drain in my basement where my sump is(display on main floor) and it syphons out approx. 15-20 gallons until my returns suck air then I close valve, flip a switch and my premade water is pumped into my sump until it reaches desired level in sump. Time spent 1 minute. I don't miss my old routine one bit. It is my goal to make my system as easy and maintainence free as possible. I like to dream up gadgets and things to make life easier.

R

[Stasher]

I add about 1gallon RO daily to my sump daily for top-up. Weekly I change 10gallons. I have a garbage can in my laundry room that I pump my RO into. Here I mix it to the right SG and heat it as well as keep it aerated with a powerhead. Wheel it over to the tank and easy water changes. I currently do not add anything to my water so I rely on simple water changes to keep my levels up.