water changes

[Maunus]

HI!

thanks for all your help!

am setting up a 180 gallon with 150 gallon sump.


for water changes, what is a good way to do it?

Should I have a big (75-100 gallon) vessel, mix salt with mag pump, add heater?

looking for suggestions to make up the warm salt water, and move it into the sump

thanks
bob

 

[serpentman]

I mix and keep 50-70gal ready at a time. I mix it cold to slightly below optimal saline.

Within 48hrs I heat up the mix and dial it in.

 

[Maunus]

thanks!!!!! appreciate it!!

how often would I change how many gallons. ?

180 gal. tank, proably 100 gal. water in the 150 gal sump.

bob

 

[serpentman]

I typically change 30-50g (10-20%) once per month.

 

[Maunus]

thanks!! just what I needed to know.
bob

 

[RBU1]

Get into a habit of doing smaller weekly changes. Your parameters will fluctuate less. I am doing 25 gallons a week on a 300 gallon tank.

 

[adammreef]

i agree with doing weekly water changes or at least every other week this will make your tank much more stable. i was doing monthly water changes until a few months ago and now i do weekly.

 

[patmack]

I am going to have the mixing tank above my sump so I can jsut open a ball valve and drain the new saltwater into the sump. I do more frequent water changes, it helps.

 

[FishTruck]

Consider a fresh water resevior too. If this can be pre aerated, then, you can mix your new s.w. much faster.

Also, make sure you figure out how to dump your intended amount of water without any pumps or heaters running dry.

If you can dump a set amount of water, and replace a set amount of water, you can dial in your mixing recipies and really cut your time down on the process.

There are a few ways to do this. I think the most clever is to have an overflow somewhere on your sump, so, you can dump in new saltwater and exactly the same amount of old saltwater will overflow out of your sump and into a drain somewhere.

Or, circulate water through a brute trash can. Take that off line by shutting off the feed... and dump it. Then, mix your new water here and slowly introduce it to the tank by turning the feed back on again. This is how I do it currently.

Both of these methods won't disturb your ATO setup which can accidently dump lots of RO or Kalk into your tank if you aren't paying attention during a water change.

 

[Maunus]

thanks everyone!!

very helpful! I like the idea of mixing tank above the sump. I think the easier I make this, the more likely I am to do it.

thanks

bob

 

[Canarygirl]

I am trying to design the same kind of thing for myself.

There are a few ways to do this. I think the most clever is to have an overflow somewhere on your sump, so, you can dump in new saltwater and exactly the same amount of old saltwater will overflow out of your sump and into a drain somewhere.

How do you ensure that your newly mixed SW isn't going out the "out" drain instead of 100% the old water?