SPS Noob needs help

[WarrenG]

When I remove water it's from the areas of the tank where junk has collected so a simple drain valve won't help with that. I run the vinyl hose into plastic 5 gallon water bottles-the narrow necks reduce the chances of splashing.

When I designed our house it included a sink adjacent to the tank and its drain gets lots of use, including for the waste water from the RO filter.

A drain under a tank stand or elsewhere using a shower pan or acrylic sink is not more complicated than some of the DIY stuff people do for their aquariums. And you get to glue more plastic pipe!

 

[P.Kelly]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11433021#post11433021 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by kevin95695
In our case a 20%-30% water change would be challenging. And most def would expose many specimens and/or pods to air for a good stretch each time. I'll have to look into rejiggering our water change, maybe plumb a drain or something to accelerate the process. The whole bucket thing is a train wreck.

I have 2 BRUTE 44 gallon trashcans with the roller bases. Total cost ~ $100 at either of the big box home improvement stores. I mix about 30 gallons of salt water in one, bring it inside, drop a power head and heater in overnight (when practical).

When I'm ready to do the change, I shut down the system and using a cheap pump and tubing I suck out 30 gallons into my second trashcan. I start with the sump, draining it as low as I can get it with the pump and then move on to the tank. Total time ~ 3 minutes.

Now, I put the pump into the new saltwater, and start pumping into the sump. As soon as the return pump is submerged I turn it back on and fill the tank. Combined time ~ 7 minutes.

My corals are fine without water for 7 minutes.

This works well, but the next one will have a mixing tank and sewer drain plumbed with knobs...

 

[kevin95695]

Ya. I like these ideas.

I'm going to go all mad scientist when we build the next house...

 

[tfp]

20% weekly wc's on my 300g are pretty easy. just get a 100ft python hose and drain directly to your toilet .

 

[dots]

This is one of my favorite articles because it has so many pretty graphs.........

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-10/rhf/index.php

Here are a few more to review:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-06/rhf/index.php

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/feb2003/chem.htm

I do 30% monthly and a little more once every quarter.