Water Change...help?

roadrunner

roadrunner

Member
Since i cant afford an RO right now but i want clean water, and i know that i can buy distilled water from the local wal-mart. After i get a few gallon gugs i will then take them to the LFS and fill them with there RO water.
My question is--after taking out the old water from my tank, is there a specific way of adding the new water? or is just pouring in the new water fine?
 
bigarn

bigarn

Active Member
If you're referring to a water change, you should add the salt to the RO water jugs a few days before you do the change.
Before you add the new water to your tank, check the salinity level of it and the water in your tank.
If it's good, just pour it in slowly.....try not to kick up your sandbed.:D
 
bigarn

bigarn

Active Member
Mainly just to be sure the salt is fully dissolved and the temp. of the water stabilizes. :D
 
bang guy

bang guy

Moderator
A few days is probably ideal. You should wait at least one day after mixingthough. There are a lot of chemicals in the salt that need toime to react and stabilize. You can damage delicate organisms by adding it right away.
 
bigarn

bigarn

Active Member
I add mine at room temp......probably not the best thing to do, but I've had no problems yet.
I guess you could stick a thermometer in the addittion water and compare the temp. with your tank water.:D
 
roadrunner

roadrunner

Member
bigarn and bang guy thanks for the help!
I have another question though!?!
How do you know how much water movement you need in you tank?
I have a tetratec filter that pushes 300 gph, as well as a power sweep power head that pushes 160 gph.
You might need to know that i'm hopefully going to make my tank a reef.
 
kiharaconn

kiharaconn

Member
Since you are talking about water changes does anyone know what is the best way to discard of the old water. Is it safe to just pour it down the drain. Is it safe for a septic tank. I'm afraid it will harm the bacteria in the septic tank and cause problems with it.
 
beamer

beamer

Member
I mix my salt water in a 55 gl trash can that is heavy duty with large wheels. I keep a power head in the can to keep the salt mixed and aereated. I make new water right after I do my water change so that I have salt water on hand in case of an emergency and that way the water is always ready for when I do a wc. I also keep several jugs of ro/di water on hand. I check the salinity of my new SW with that of my tank by using a refractometer. The easiest and most acurate way to measure salinity. I also check the temp and pH and adjust accordinglly. The power head in the can tends to keep the temp up.
As far as dumping the waste water I use a long tube (Python). I can't hook mine up to the sink so I just hang it over in the bath tub and siphon the water out. I use a power head in the tank to start the syphon and then I take the tube off to vaccum off my rocks and whatever. Before doing this I usually blow off my rocks and corals with a turkey baster so that while I syphon out the water it will also take out some of that debris thats floating around.
I also have a septic tank. Mine is more of the old fashioned kind and not the aerobic system. I called my septic people about it and they didn't seem to think there would be a problem with it. I've ony been in this hobby for 4 months, but so far so good. I always run some water in the tub while draining the tank or at least afterwards so that the pipe line is flushed well. I don't know if the kind of piping in the house would make any difference or not.
If you have an aerobic tank I would talk to the people that put it in to be sure that it won't harm the system or void any warranty that you might have on the system. This is what someone had suggested to me before when I was asking the same questions.
I hope this helps some,
Cindy
 
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