Water Changing

[salvatore]

Im patiently awaiting the setup of my 110gal so my cycle can begin, but I have a question about water changes.
The LFS says 25% water change every two weeks, which turns out to be 27.5 gallons, or 5.5 trips with the 5 gallon bucket. The tank has a hinged canopy that opens to allow for feeding, but there's no way I could up-turn a 5 gallon bucket to pour water into it without getting it everywhere; does the whole canopy need removing each time? Is there some kind of pump or siphon I should use instead? Something that'll hook to the bucket and move the water mechanically.
This is in our living room so Id like to avoid making spilling mistakes ahead of time. How do those of you with larger setups do your water changes? Do you keep a mixture of saltwater on hand in a covered container just in case?
Thanks in advance.
Forever patient...

 

[underthesea]

You should change at the lest 20% of your water every month. You could change 10% every two weeks. As for using a five gallon bucket and pouring it in your tank try this. Get a pythone hose to drain your tank. Then when you fill it you take a big power head with your python hose attached to it. Put the pump attached to the hose in the bucket of water and have the pump, pump it into the tank. It is clean and easy. It was a life saver for me when I do my water changes and also my wife does not get on my case anymore about having water all over the place. hth

 

[broomer5]

Hi,
25% water changes every 2 weeks is a lot of water changes - that may or may not be necessary.
Depending on how you set up your 110 gallon tank from the onset - may somewhat determine how often you need to do a water change.
The type of filtration you plan to use, whether or not you use a DSB ( deep sand bed ) vs. crushed coral substrate, amount and quality of live rock if you go that route, the number and type of fish you have, your feeding routine and choice of foods, source of freshwater for top offs and mixing salt, all these plus many other factors have an affect on the total water quality of your tank - as time goes along.
So .........
To address the water change concerns - it's best to plan ahead and set up your tank with this in mind.
DSB and live rock IMO and other's here, are 2 of the best defenses to help insure good water quality.
Regarding the actual water change procedure.
I lifted 5 gallon buckets long enough to decide that there had to be a better way.
Get yourself a 30 gallon Rubbermaid container or trashcan. Mix your salt and freshwater in this container, somewhere it's out of the way if possible. Even another room in the house is okay. When it's ready, you can siphon off water from your tank into 5 gallon buckets the first time. After you remove 5 gallons, mark somewhere on they side or back of your tank where the water level is now. Then siphon off another 5 gallons to a 5 gallon bucket and mark this 10 gallon removed level. You can do this as many times as you wish, depending on the size of your tank, and the max amount of saltwater you ever plan to remove. Do this with all live rock and substrate already in the tank.
Then when time to do your next water change, or after you at least have your tank levels marked, you can simply siphon off the amount of water you plan to change ( whatever you have mixed up ) and drain it to a drain in the bathroom or wherever - using a long length of say 3/4" vinyl tubing ( Home Depot / Lowes ).
When the amount of water you wish to remove has been drained from your tank - just move the long length of tubing over to your container of mixed up/aerated overnight saltwater, get a small powerhead or pump, hook the tubing to the pump, plug'er in and PUMP the new saltwater into your tank.
2 people work the best in this procedure - but I have some big clamps that allow me to clamp the tubing to my tank so it doesn't come flopping out when I turn on the pump.
Simple - easy to do - no lifting buckets - no need to remove your canopy.
Good luck - and sorry for long reply.
EDIT: WHEN I FIRST READ YOUR QUESTION THERE WERE NO REPLYS - BY THE TIME I TYPED MY REPLY - OTHERS HAD DONE SO AS WELL ... SORRY FOR ANY REPEAT OF INFO.

 

[salvatore]

Very cool, thanks for the amount of detail. Can you recommend a specific type of pump? Perhaps a link to what I should get?
If I mix the 30gal of new water the day before it'll be ok sitting around for 24 hours? I suspect I shouldnt leave it any longer then that, no?
It's not even set up yet, so Im not certain about the exact type of equipment we have (the LFS is coming over to deliver/set everything up once the lights are shipped), but we're using sand (no cc) and going fowlr.
Again, thank you.

 

[krusk]

lot of ppl on this board do not like RIO
but I use RIO 400 to pump water from my newly mix RO/DI water + salt 10 gallons tank to the main tank
it's work for me, and i have an additional heater lay around to keep the newly mix water temp as close as posible to the main tank

 

[broomer5]

Krusk is right - a lot of ex-Rio users around here - including me.
Just about any pump will work, as long as you not trying to pump the water from the basement.
I have several old powerheads and pumps lying around all work fine. Some faster than others, some slower.
A cheap Cap1800 does a good job, or even some of their smaller ones. You don't need to spray the water across the room in a big ole arch, and hopefully hit your mark, although that would truely be a sight to see
As far as letting the water sit overnight - no problem - again as Krusk mentioned spare SUBMERSIBLE heater is always handy to have, and you can use the powerhead for mixing the saltwater too.
You could mix it, heat it, and let it run for weeks IMO - as long as the container is protected or covered somewhat, and stuff isn't getting in the saltwater. Up to you.
I've let it run a week or longer before - and keep saying "tomorrow I will find time for that water change"
Then ......... well then you know ... procrastination set's in.
See ya Salvatore, and good luck on your new tank - sounds great !!!