Water change

[Bigrich693]

Ok so its time for a water change. last time i changed my water it was rather catastrophic. two weeks after finishing my cycle i changed 30 % of my water and my 2 gobies and a hermit died. up to this day i have no idea what it was.
Anyway...i have like 5 percent evaporation and i need to change the water. i truthfully dont know where to begin.i heard that salt doest evaporate so does that mean i add less salt to the water going in??also, do i still take water out and not consider the evaporate water???? help!!1

rich

water levels are all perfect. curently house a fuzzy lion and a clarki clown,a few turbos in a 55

[thebkramer]

What is your salinity at? Can you actually list your params for us? Are you topping off inbetween water changes? and what kinda water are you using?

Edit: thanks mthomp, forgot about that. I topoff about 5g every week also. Sometimes a gallon everyday, sometimes every other day.

[mthomp]

dont do anything yet. have you checked your sg/salinity? when your water evaporates the salt doesnt go with it. what you need to do is top your tank off with fresh water.

I go through about 5gals a week on my 55. and yes. can you post your perfect water params for us?

[Bigrich693]

havent topped off yet. currently have to use tap (dechlorinated of course). cant afford an ro unit yet.
Ammonia-0 nitrites-0 nitrates pH 8.2 and last but not least, the salinity is at 1.022.

thanks a mil

[mthomp]

is this a fish only tank? if so your salinity is good but if not it is way low. btw you can get ro water from most lfs. tap water is going to give many many issues in a short amount of time. declorinising the water just is not enough. there are heavy metals in tap water that can wipe out your tank.

[thebkramer]

I also use tap (dechlorinate and have it tested at LFS weekly) and have so for 2.5 yrs with no problems. Just have your tap water tested to be safe, if you haven't already. Your salinity is actually on the low side IMO. Actually, are you keeping corals? If so, it should be 1.025 +/- .001
What are you using to test your salinity level? Have you compared it to LFS? or another instrument? If you bring up your salinity, do it slowly.
If you are losing water in DT, you should be topping off with non saltwater. So if it looks like a 1/2 g a day is evaporating, you should add equivalent of fresh water back into tank.
BTW.. where is your alk and calcium at?

[Palting]

Here we go again with the RO/DI water. If you can't get it, can't afford it, and unless your tap water is the hardest ever or drawn from a well next to a septic tank, then tap water is fine. Any problems, like algae, can easily be dealt with. I did this for 3 years, guys, on a fish only with BIOBALLS :eek: filter 20myears ago. I guess I will be the maverick on this board, unless I get kicked out first :).

Now, when you start having finicky corals, then yes, go for it. RO/DI, kalkwasser, dosers, reactors, refractometers, probes, wavemakers, quarantine tanks, mixing tanks, topoff tanks....... the list is endless.

Anyway, the question was, what to do with the water change. You replace evaporated water between water changes with fresh water, no salt. When you do a water change and you notice your water level is low before you begin, just go ahead with your water change with new saltwater. You can either re-fill up to the low level before the water change then make up the rest with freshwater, or just refill all the way to the top with new saltwater depending the salinity you started with.

[Palting]

HAH!. thebkramer, my fellow tap water maverick.