airation time and new top

bjlsnez

New Member
how long should saltwater be airated before doing a water change? also what is the prime specific water gravity for a reef tank? and lastly here are pics of this weekends project. new tank top.



 

jackri

Active Member
Nice set up... just one thing I would've done different is reverse the hinge on your access door but other than that looks really nice.
Do you mean circulated instead of airated for water change?
If it's a new set up just letting it cycle I'd personally give it a good 6 weeks keeping lightning to a minimum unless you put in fully cured live rock. If that's the case and it's fresh fully cured live rock -- you could really get by with adding something in a week or two (small) and just keep checking levels.
 

bjlsnez

New Member
well tank is about 13mths old and the lights are off because of hair algae i cut em back a few hours each day. i dont have a sump so i just threw the top together in a day just to hide all the mechanicals(lights and pumps). i also just hooked up a RO system and someone also told me it was a good idea to airate the water before putting it into the tank to get the right oxy mixture.
 

jackri

Active Member
I've never heard that or done that myself. One of my tanks uses an auto-topoff with RO/DI water.. the other I still have to manually pour in pitchers of water out of a 5 gallon bucket.. but I don't airate either.
 

bjlsnez

New Member
thanks i bought a cheap air pump from wal mart so i guess ill just use it a couple hours before changes and see if anything changes. right now i try to keep my gravity at 1.022 is that good for a reef tank or should it be higher/lower?
 

natclanwy

Active Member
Your SG needs to be 1.025-1.026 anything less will stress your inverts causing premature death.
Just use a power head to mix your new saltwater for 24hrs before you add it to your tank, no air pump needed.
Cutting the lights will not fix the hair algae problem, it only delays the problem unless you fix the excess nutrient problem the hair algae will return as soon as your return to your normal lighting schedule.
 

natclanwy

Active Member
Yes it should be 1.025-1.026 or 36ppt, that is the average SG/salinity found in most reefs in the wild
 

bmkj02

Member
Like the tank especially the ledge that was built around to place things. Very nice. I agree with jackri to reverse those hinges though other than that I think your questions have been answered. Good luck
 

bjlsnez

New Member
thanks once again and yes the ledge came in very helpful when doing water tests and changes and stuff. i will probably change the hinges around in the near future after i build the other door for the bottom. lol.
 
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