need water change advice

AIR-FX

AIR-FX

New member
so i have a new tank now. 150 gal tall with a 40 gal sump. usually sump is only a lil over half full at all times.so i figure its probably a 170-175 gallon system. i get my reef saltwater from arc in 6 gallon buckets.
my question is how often should i do a water change and how many buckets should i change out when i do the water change. i try for every 2 or 3 weeks but ive noticed i am constantly battling my salinity. yes i do top off with ro/di water but man o man its driving me nuts.
i checked my salinity one day and it was around 27 then 3 days later it was 31. and in that 3 days i lost $100 worth of sps frags i just picked up.
obviously i wont be adding anymore corals till i get a handle on this. not because of the money i lost but because im ticked off that my incompetence killed living beings.:headwalls:
 
forgot a part......i do 4 bucket water change every 2-3 weeks. ro/di water has been like 10 gallons a week to keep salinity down. and now i dont have any leaks anywhere
:confused:
 
Are you buying liquid saltwater in buckets? If so, I think it's time to start making your own saltwater. A typical rule of thumb is to change 10% weekly. If you're topping off with RO/DI, you already have the unit. Get a Brute can and make up around twenty gallons of water a week for water changes. Yes, an ATO would be handy, but not essential, as long as you top off frequently. If your fresh saltwater is the same salinity as your tank, there should be no swings in salinity if you're topping off daily. You're using a refractometer, right?
 
wow sorry about that ....i guess i left out alot of info. i have an ATO and it is set up with ro/di and kalk,this is something i just started doing last week. i do not own an ro/di unit. i get all my water from ARC and their water is always spot on 26. hopefully santa brings me an ro/di unit.
i have never topped of daily but it looks like i should start !
 
what i would do is when you shut the pump off let the sump fill and change that water every other week. and add fresh water everyday. i dont have ato but i have to add almost a gallon everyday
 
And make SURE you verify your refractometer. I can't stress this enough. Even the good ones will drift over time unless you're obsessive-compulsive meticulous about their care. Bring in a sample to ARC at least quarterly, if not monthly and ask them to verify your reading. OR buy your own calibration standard. Or search Randy Holmes-Farley's DIY cal solution and make one yourself. Don't trust your refractometer as far as you can spit though, I speak from experience :(
 
Your setup is now officially wayyyy too big to be buying water ;)

My system is also 175 gallons. I get better results if I change about 60 or more gallons a month through small weekly changes. My system also evaporates about 2 gallons per day. That puts me at about 120-140 total gallons of RODI per month.

If you're using an auto-top off with kalkwasser you can stop topping off manually. I only bring that up because a lot of people mentioned topping off every day before you mentioned having an ATO.

SkiFletch, I agree. I hadn't checked salinity in a while (oops), and was shocked to see a reading of 1.029. I used the calibration solution and it turned out that my refractometer was way off. Fortunately, the tank was where it needed to be. I'm not sure how it slipped so much.
 
ben can we set up a day where you can come over to my house? check out my system and give me some advice on how to better my system. all those corals except for the candy canes got fried. i need some guidance on taking care of my tank. give me a call if this is possible and when might work for you.
 
These two points bear repeating:

Get an RO/DI unit and calibrate your refractometer.

It sounds like you've lost more $$$ in dead corals than the cost of the RO/DI at this point.

Good luck and keep us posted.
 
ok i get all my water from ARC. reef water(salt) and ro/di water. i will have an ro/di unit with tds meter by xmas. i do have a very good refractometer. cost me like $55. and yes you are right i have lost more in corals than an ro/di unit costs:debi: and making all these trips to get water for this big tank is costing even more !
also i bought the calibration solution for my refractometer and i always check it b4 i check my actual DT water
 
Hi Kevin I go through about 1.5 gall per day on my system which is around 330 gall including my sump which it connected to my RODI unit with an ATO my salinity stays pretty stable
 
Not sure your logic re: not buying an ro/di. Originally mine was money and yet no shortage of cash spent on corals. Anyway, I, too, learned the hard way that it is cheaper and easier all the way around to get the right equipment right off the bat, including the ro/di and a refratometer. I can't imagine buying and hauling bucket after bucket of water from the lfs. With weekly water changes you will pay for the new equipment in short order, not to mention your back. Blessings...
 
well when i had my 72 gal i was living in an apt. and even tho i had a garage i could have set up an ro/di unit,i couldnt do it because thats where i do all my motorcycle paintjobs. Now that we have bought i big house i have plenty of room to set up an ro/di in the basement. i wanted to do it right away but then i ran into the expenses of building a new stand,buying new substrate,buying 125 gallons of new saltwater,new and bigger pump,bigger heater,more korallias,plumbing,overflow box,etc. i was so excited to just get this tank up and running that i forgot about all the expenses i was going to incur. not to mention all new locks on the house, a new concrete floor for the garage,build a new spray booth in the garage to paint in, new drainage around the house,a ton of new wallpaper(old house),run new plumbing for washer n dryer,and install a new dishwasher(deal i made with wife so i could get new fish tank lol). so the ro/di was the odd man out. but at least i am learning new lessons the hard way !:spin1::fish2:
 
Don't beat yourself up kevin . The hobby is really about water ,chemistry, flow and light. Ro is a great investment. Ny water isn't horrible. Some impressive local tanks use tap water. I use $10 adapter and store my rodi unit when not in use. The warden tolerates the expense . I make ro water for drinking water and use a water cooler i bought off CL.
 
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