How to do a proper water change, by reefkprZ

[eklikewhoa]

I personally would siphon a bit of water out to clean bio-media/sponges before stirring up all the detritus.
But with that being said one should have enough bio support with LR.

 

[reefkprz]

Originally Posted by eklikewhoa
http:///forum/post/2707636
I personally would siphon a bit of water out to clean bio-media/sponges before stirring up all the detritus.
But with that being said one should have enough bio support with LR.
good point. I dont use any sponges in my tanks except one in my sump to seed/run in my QT. at the time I did not think of it. thank you for bringing that up. definatly good advice.

 

[reefkprz]

like I said earlier, there are many correct ways to do it.

 

[aztec reef]

Originally Posted by GeoJ
http:///forum/post/2334256
Some will never know!

Do the test in the QT.

Do the test again, test the mixed water right before it goes into tank.
Test oxygen and co2 levels on 2hr mix vs. 18-24hrs mix.., then let me know..

 

[aztec reef]

Great info Reefkprz

But i do have a few concerns

IMO, for smaller tanks i think a turkey baster is a better candidate than a powerhead. As You have more control of the applied pressure.especially when blasting the lower rocks..(closest to sandbed).
Another thing i may disagree is the turning off the lights...Cause i think waterchanges should be imperceptible by reef organisms. Turning lights off is 1 con that i noticed in that perspective...
Another con is the shiphoning of detrius in the "dark", as one may siphon beneficial critters without notice..
The pros that u listed of turning lights off... They are good but imo, this detereorations/shocks don't usually take place in a very short-timed exposure event such as a water change..
I hope people don't take this offensive , as is not my intention to disagree but rather to constructively criticize..
The rest is top quality info..

 

[spiderwoman]

Originally Posted by reefkprZ
http:///forum/post/2333844
step 4: siphon out some water (enough to rinse any sponges or other mechanical filtration media you may have running in your system) then.... thoroughly rinse the sponges or media in the tank water to remove any trapped waste, using tank water to rinse them will keep any beneficial bacteria alive that is living on the sponge.

Thank you! I've been cleaning the sponge under regular running water, not even in the RO

 

[reefkprz]

Originally Posted by Aztec Reef
http:///forum/post/2708443
Great info Reefkprz

But i do have a few concerns

IMO, for smaller tanks i think a turkey baster is a better candidate than a powerhead. As You have more control of the applied pressure.especially when blasting the lower rocks..(closest to sandbed). the point is to kick up the detritus the method is semi-irrelevant use whatever is best suited to the situation
Another thing i may disagree is the turning off the lights...Cause i think waterchanges should be imperceptible by reef organisms. Turning lights off is 1 con that i noticed in that perspective...well thats foolish everyone knows that depth of water can reduce or increse light intensity, if you siphon 4 inches of water out of your DT your light levels get far more intense, often most noted in the bleaching and die off of coraline about the top rim of the tank, this also slows how fast the coraline dries out, if you look in my tank there is coraline all the way to the top and I do 50% waterchanges once a month, people who leave their lights running tend to get dead bands around the top of the tank when siphoning from the DT. this is also stressfull on corals. but your welcome to think nothing will notice the sudden change in light intensity.
Another con is the shiphoning of detrius in the "dark", as one may siphon beneficial critters without notice..you dont do it in the dark. you can defiantly have daylight or room lights on you just do it with the tank lights off. its not like a tank goes pitch black with the lights off.
The pros that u listed of turning lights off... They are good but imo, this detereorations/shocks don't usually take place in a very short-timed exposure event such as a water change..thats exactly when they take place. sudden changes are bad. In my expirience the more I can do to prevent any sudden changes is worth the effort even if its a little harder to see what your doing.
I hope people don't take this offensive , as is not my intention to disagree but rather to constructively criticize..no offense taken your opinions and expiriences are your opinions and expiriences we all gain from hearing different veiws. its one of the things that broadens perspectives.

The rest is top quality info..

I replied in red

 

[aztec reef]

You said: well thats foolish everyone knows that depth of water can reduce or increse light intensity, if you siphon 4 inches of water out of your DT your light levels get far more intense, often most noted in the bleaching and die off of coraline about the top rim of the tank, this also slows how fast the coraline dries out, if you look in my tank there is coraline all the way to the top and I do 50% waterchanges once a month, people who leave their lights running tend to get dead bands around the top of the tank when siphoning from the DT. this is also stressfull on corals. but your welcome to think nothing will notice the sudden change in light intensity.
I would think its more stressfull the sudden power-outage simulated event , caused by this activity. Also it doesn't sound like an appeling idea for mh runners as u may know that after they have been on and suddenly get turned off they tend to slack on coming back on.. thus making this a longer stressfull event.. On planet earth this is aka an eclipse.
I dont know about u but it takes me about 90 seconds to do a water change; 60seconds for scrubin glass and powerwashing and the remainding 30 to siphon water from DT and 30 to put the new water in.. however long it takes u to scrub and powerwash and aquascape, observe, and so many things u can do in between water changes,(in any given time)
It should not take too long for one to siphon water out and pump/dump new water in.. Which this is the reason why leaving lights ON shouldn't be a problem(unless your leaving your tank hang dry and low for hours..
sudden changes are bad. In my expirience the more I can do to prevent any sudden changes is worth the effort even if its a little harder to see what your doing. the fish are smart enought to tell when a waterchange is coming, all they have to do is wait for the black-out..which may also trigger some organisms into a tophor state...thinking its night, night..Oh yes they will learn, the same way they learned to be affraid of the net, or the way fish swim to the water surface when u have food in ur hands, or when the lights go off, how they decrease activity and go in the hunt for real state..

 

[reefkprz]

60+30+30 = about 120...
any ways,
it takes me about 15 to 30 minutes to do a 50% water change and about 10-15 to do a 25% depending on how involved it is. honestly I cant fill 4, 5 gallon buckets in 30 seconds. nor replace 20 gallons of water in 30 seconds. takes about 2-5 minutes for me to scrape my glass a couple minutes to blow detritus up, a few minutes double checking my water levels (salinity and temp). plus slow siphoning any settled detritus out of my setteling chamber in my sump....
I would love to see a video of a 90 second waterchange.

 

[aztec reef]

Regardless of how intricate your waterchanges are, hopefully your not doing all of that work when your water level in DT is low.
Lets say you did all of your work, checked salinity and temp. And everything checks out..How long does it take u to siphon water out via gravity through a hose???
Now, Add the amount of minutes it takes u to pour/pump the new water in??
the resulting yield should be in the 5 minute margin, otherwise you can defenetly expect to have negative consecuences caused by other reasons alien to light shock...

 

[reefkprz]

draining and refilling take the most time 5-10 minutes or more for a 25% change and longer for a 50% yes some of my corals are exposed to AIR for 15 minutes or more during a 50% water change. refilling the tank should be done slowly so a Sudden PH swing doesnt occur and allow the new water to mix with the existing water. so any unseen changes in parameters arent sudden. and the funny thing is all my corals tolerate air exposure rather well, but turn the lights on and you get fried livestock. I do this every fourth week. my tank shows the results.
dumping water quickly into a tank is bad juju, I pump mine into the sump in the down area so it has to mix with the effluent from the tank while crossing the sump to the return pump absolutly minimizing ANY risks. I have too much money in corals and fish to rush anything. feel free to rush all you want, I will never advise rushing anything in this hobby.

 

[metweezer]

I'm with you here Z. Aztec seems to be nitpicking. Thanks for the post that I never read earlier

 

[spiderwoman]

Who cares how quickly Aztec can do his water change. It's not about speed, but quality... like so many other things in life.

 

[al mc]

Reefkprz..Thanks for taking the time to put together all the info.
Aztec Reef...Thanks for some healthy questions that resulted in some good, well mannered, 'give and take' from two knowledgeable reef keepers. All very informative.

 

[aztec reef]

lol, like one dude said: "It gives me great pleasure indeed to see the stubbornness of an incorrigible nonconformist warmly acclaimed".
But imo my main concern of air exposure and light alterations would be the dehydration of corals, also theres much more other risks due to sudden changes in coral's pigmentation, which exhibits the loss of zoothandallea.. It flauntlently shows the adverse side effects notably in sps, but for the most part any type of coral containing endosynbiotic algea will have detrimental effects (if not instant, eventually)..
This is the natural reaction of a coral to environmental stress, such alterations include, but not limited to light, temp,and other environmental conditions. You know how when u turn your lights off corals usually retract their tissue/polyps?? well that is the effect upon coral pigmentation, and preliminary implication for heat balance..
As for this statement: " refilling the tank should be done slowly so a Sudden PH swing doesnt occur and allow the new water to mix with the existing water"
Thats why aerating new salt water for 24hrs is recomended, so that water reaches ph,temp,salinity,equillibrum,o2 balance,co2 balance... ect.. as closest to DT levels ..... Otherwise the aerating process goes out the window..
I know u asked for a 90 second video, which i was unable to adquire.. But check this dude out! ( i know u guys hate it when i try to educate via youtube)..Lol, but it takes this guy less than 5 mins to do a water change in a 90g.. No rush at all ..http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=nTmyvX...eature=related

 

[reefkprz]

all he does is scrape the glass and siphon out water (10 gallons) he doesnt kick up detritus or anything like that. so of course the water change is quick even then it still takes almost 9 minutes to do an inclomplete waterchange

 

[dgonci]

Reefkprz -
First off, excellent article on the water change. Being relatively new to this I never thought of powerwashing the rocks. By cleaning off the rocks and then sucking that out, would that then help reduce all the yummy food that fuels the Cyanobacteria. I ask becasue I am starting to have some issues with it. I have cut my lights back for a few days now, and am only feeding once a day, and the cyano has disappeared, but my nitrates jumped up which was expected. Tonight I am going to do a 20% waterchange after cleaning the rocks off.
The other question I had was that when you stir up all the detritus on the rocks, does that cause any problems for corals or fish?

 

[reefkprz]

it would absolutly help reduce the available nuterients for cyanobacteria.
no stirring all that stuff up wont harm your tank it just kicks it up in fact it feeds some corals. becareful not to blast your sand bed though that can cause problems.

 

[otter]

Thanks for the great article!

 

[solarbearusa]

Great write up, great info! I'm just getting started setting up my tank and this is the basic stuff that is really good to know. Makes it easier when you have a clue or direction on what you are doing.
I have a 72G tank, so I guess I need to be changing around 18G. Anyone have ideas on what I can mix up 18G of saltwater in? He did say mix all your new water up on one container right? Maybe a kitchen trash can? Trying to get some ideas.