Best method of water change for 12gal

[ProAccordV6]

I have a 12 gal aqua pod. I was just wondering how you guys and gals do water changes. For my first water change I mixed two gallons of ro/di water with salt, let them sit overnight then I drained about 2 gallons from the tank, and cyphened the new water in. I didnt really have a good way to get my salinity perfect before the change....so whats the key? I am ordering a refractometer as we speak!

thanks in advance!

 

[egdevilboy]

Yea keep up with h2o changes. Think of it this way, not doing water changes is like not flushing your toilet; after a while it gets real gross.

A hydrometer is your best bet for testing salinity. In the mean time bring an h2o sample to your LFS (Local Fish Store) for testing of salinity (salt in h2o), ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, and phosphate.

 

[cyenna]

IMO I don't think it's necessary for RO/DI water+salt to sit overnight. It's not gonna hurt but if you let it sit for any longer you have to worry about evaporation problems. As far as salinity matching it's really trial and error but IME, if it's like .002 off, it'll prolly be ok. I think temperature match would be most important. Keep up with the water changes!

 

[triciod]

Yea, im going to have to agree with Cyenna on that one. I don't see it necessary to let the RO/DI water sit overnight. I mean, the unit is making it distill water...so. It might not hurt to mix your salt/water mix with a pump to help disolve all the salt. I mix my water using a mini-jet. Getting the salts disolved faster will obviously give you quicker and more accurate salinity test results too!

 

[ProAccordV6]

thanks!

yes, my reason for letting the water sit overnight was just to make sure the salt dissolved and i could get good salinity readings.

after i do a water change, if i find that my salinity is too low, would it be bad to add small amounts of salt directly to the tank, perhaps in the return pump chamber so the pump will mix the salt.

also, is two gallons sufficient for a weekly change?

thanks again

 

[triciod]

I suppose you could as long as you make sure that none of the salt gets sucked into the pump's intake and possibly damage the impeller. Plus, you want to make sure that if you have any coral life in your tank to not let the solid salt compounds land on them. I think it would be best to just premix in a bucket w/ a pump and measure the salinity until its correct and then add it to the tank...i have good results with that.