water changes

[fjoanne]

I just wanted to ask how people with large tanks (over 100 gallons) do water changes? I mean 20% is 20 gallons or more so do you have to carry all those buckets? I am planning to get my first larger tank and just thought of this. that's a lot of work. is there an easier way?

 

[markw]

You could always not use buckets. Use one big tub or similar and either have it gravity fed by a syphon (if you can get it up a level), or use other means of sucking the water through a tube into the tank. Ive seen motorized fixtures, but I dont know how they work on saltwater. We use one for our pond. Cant imagine it would hurt anything as long as that's the only thing you use it on. There are plenty of people here who actually have big tanks, so Ill let them chime in.
Mark

 

[meowzer]

I use a 30G trash can and mix 25g's of water in it.
I then have a mag7 pump, that I use to pump out the 25g's...and then pump the new water back in. (of course you have to buy tubing to fit the pump)
This is my 225G.

 

[srfisher17]

A trashcan, on wheels, with a pump powerful enough to mix the water and pump it up the necessary distance. You'll need a heater too. Keep the trash can in a laundry room, or anyplace handy, and just wheel it up to the tank. You can siphon old water into a bathtub, or even outside; avoiding the lawn, etc. I think its actually less work than a 15 gal change with buckets. If you use RO/DI; you'll need to consider this also. The same hose you siphon with can also be used to fill the trashcan---a python is very handy, it lets you do all this and vacuum the substrate too.