water changes - how easy is yours?

[Bryan89]

Water change system for Engineers

Water change system for Engineers

Here is a photo of the intake portion of my water change manifold. From left to right are 3 valves on the manifold labeled WC-1, WC-2 and WC-3. WC stands for water change. WC-1 is an intake valve from my 100 gallon SW mixing tank. WC-2 is an inlet valve from my 50 gallon FW tank. WC-3 is an inlet valve from my sump for changing the water.

The outlet manifold (far right) also has 3 valves, WC-4, 5 and 6. WC-4 is a return to the 100 gallon SW tank. WC-5 is hard piped to my sewer line and WC-6 is on outlet valve to the sump.

There are also a valve on the inlet and outlet of the Blueline 70 pump, WC-7 and 8.

This setup allows me to turn a few valves and move water anywhere I want it in a matter of minutes. I also use two eductors in the 100 gallon SW mixing tank to increase the flow in the tank. I can mix 100 gallons of saltwater to be fully clear at SG of 1.026 in about 3 minutes with TM Pro salt.

Sorry the post was so long, just figures I'd answer some questions now.

 

[ReefBum]

Some great info here.

It takes me about 15 minutes to do a weekly 25 gallon water change on my 225. I have 2 55 gallon drums....one with RO that replenishes automatically and the other with saltwater ready for the water change. The first 5 gallons I siphon out to remove the detritus in the sump and the rest I pump out by turning a valve on one of my return pumps (the valve redirects the water to a utility sink). The new water is pumped in with a mag pump that sits at the bottom of my saltwater drum.

 

[familyreefer]

Water change

Water change

I have a ball valve on the closed loop system. 1)Turn off the return pump from the sump. 2) open ball valve on closed loop system(Plumbed out of the house) pump out 25 gallons.3) flip switch under cabinet to activate Mag 12 pump in the 32 gal salt bucket under the house. DONE Now I go downstairs and open the ball valve on the RO drum to refill the salt bucket and add salt for the next week. power head mixes full time. Float valve drops and RO begins to refill. I also have a Mag 12 in the RO switched and plumbed under the cabinet for daily topoff. I have a build thread on this forum somewhere of the tank etc. "220 almost finished" I think it was called

 

[poppin_fresh]

ummm... for us lazy reefers, lets not forget, that in nature there is no such thing as a water change. Only evap and top off!

 

[Konadog]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9909120#post9909120 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ben&bobbi
what university does this? i don't see a location on your info!

UCSB Santa Barbara, here in Southern California there are 3 or 4 places down the coast that you can get NSW like that.

Here's a link that talks about the places:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=541355

 

[curtisd]

^

 

[Crusty Old Shellback]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9909120#post9909120 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ben&bobbi
what university does this? i don't see a location on your info!

Sorry.

Yea Konadog linked to the thread about UCSB where I and others in the area get ours. Don't know what they have in your area around Fla. but may be worth checking into. There are at least 4 areas here in So Cal and one in Nor Cal that I know of that have free filtered NSW available to the public. Works great if you ask me.

 

[NewSchool04]

how does everyone siphon from their sump?
I've been meaning to ask this for awhile but never got around to it. I'd love to clean out my sump chambers during water changes but I've never figured out how to start a siphon from the ground going up.

 

[Crusty Old Shellback]

When I do it, I just put a powerhead in there with a hose attached and pump out the gunk.

 

[ben&bobbi]

i asked that in the orlando club forum. several said they syphon it out, but i don't know how they get all the way down! Also said they use a wet/dry vac. I like the pump idea best so far. i just assumed it would get clogged easliy and that would be another thing to have to clean after each change!

 

[NewSchool04]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9915053#post9915053 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by blown63chevy
When I do it, I just put a powerhead in there with a hose attached and pump out the gunk.

Is that what people are doing when they say they "siphon" from the sump?

 

[ben&bobbi]

it's possible, but to me syphoning is gravity driven and the other is obviously pumped.

 

[kwl1763]

I change about 90G at a time and it takes less then 5 miutes total.

I always have 90G of saltwater ready. Always. As soon as I dump it I make more!

But I built mine so that when I turn two ball valves water coming from the sump goes into the sink drain instead of back to the tank. It drains the sump then I turn those tow valves back, connect one pipe to the pump that usually recircs the saltwater hold. Once the pipe is connected I turn the pump on and it fills the sump back up. Whole process is less then 10 minutes for sure and probably closer to 5.

Here are some pics of the valves' etc

In normal mode with water darining to the sumps then returning to the tank

1,3 are closed and 2,4 open

When I'm draining to do a water change

1,3,4 are open and 2 is closed

For bypassing the sump (closed loop in tank basically)

1,2 are open and 3,4 closed


The vat on the bottom of this picture and that flex black you see hanging on the right is what I connect to the pump inside the salt water holding tank to pump back into the sump.

In the past I have also always cleaned when I did a water change but now I do it seperatly and just drain the water when I'm cleaning through a filter sock and into the sump. I use a filter sock on the drain to my sump so the sump itself stays pretty clean.

 

[cbui2]

very nice keith

 

[ben&bobbi]

Keith, that is something like what i looked into doing when setting up, but i don't have 40g in the sump to change, maybe 20-30. My dart sure would speed the draining process up!

i will probably go get bigger hose and try that route and build a little manifold.

keep the methods coming though! I am sure there are others looking for faster ideas too! look more people reading than replying!

 

[ReefBum]

My sump is about 30 inches off the ground so I use gravity to siphon.

 

[slackey]

ghetto water change

ghetto water change

We rigged a ghetto water change system for our tank. On one side there is valve to dump water into buckets. Then on the other side there is a funnel (sort of) made from some garden supplies and pvc, which dumps into the sump. This is where we pour mixed saltwater back into the tank. It's crude, but efficient.

Dump outlet (next to RO holding garbage can)

Dump valve inside cabinet

Makeshift funnel

Where the funnel empties into sump

As you can see the left side of the cabinet needs a little paint after cutting the hole for the funnel contraption.

 

[Paul B]

It takes me about 4 hours. First I have to drive to the bank and get a second mortgage to get some money to put gas in my boat. I take the boat out about a mile into the Long Island Sound and shut the engine. I fill five gallon water cooler jugs and try not to fall in. I anchor for an hour or two and have a few glasses of wine and listen to some nice soft music as the water ferments. Then I may have a Harvey Wallbanger for the ride back. I load the water in my car, go home and dump it in the tank. Sometimes I screen out the jellyfish through a coffee filter.
:smokin:

 

[cbui2]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9955074#post9955074 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Paul B
It takes me about 4 hours. First I have to drive to the bank and get a second mortgage to get some money to put gas in my boat. I take the boat out about a mile into the Long Island Sound and shut the engine. I fill five gallon water cooler jugs and try not to fall in. I anchor for an hour or two and have a few glasses of wine and listen to some nice soft music as the water ferments. Then I may have a Harvey Wallbanger for the ride back. I load the water in my car, go home and dump it in the tank. Sometimes I screen out the jellyfish through a coffee filter.
:smokin:

how exactly do you fill it up without falling into the water. don't tell me let me guess 4' nylon rope and 5gal bucket. why take out a second mortgage why you can get inflatable boat from walmart and paddle out there. then can use that extra money at the gas station to fill the boat with air pump so then only one less things needed to be done at the gas station. oh almost forgot you will need to pick up some extra nylon rope to tied the boat on top of your vehicles depending on what you are driving that day. hopefully its a truck not a car and if its a car then you will have to purchased about 100' of rope needed to wrap around the car or if you really want to save money go ahead and get 3 extra friends so they can help you hold the boat down while you are driving but keep in mind that you will also have to hold the boat too while driving since you plan on saving some money to buy any additional livestock unless you plan on catching them and risk going to jail.. whoever says this hobby was cheap:lol: :dance: :lolspin: ...

 

[6Speed]

How are you guys determining exactly how much water is coming out if it's going directly down the drain/sink? I usually use a small hose to siphon out gunk and any nuisance algae into a bucket. Since I know how many gallons the bucket holds, then I know how much I've removed.