Water change procedure...

[sn4265]

I'm wondering exactly HOW people go about performing their water changes. Do you change the water out of the sump or tank? Do you keep the pumps on or off? What about the powerheads? Is it better to do this during the daytime with the lights on or at night with the lights out? Should do it at a time away from feeding? What questions am I not asking here that I should?

Thanks in advance for the advice on this.

[LeGaCYWinZ]

I turn the return pump and skimmer off. I then siphon out 5g of tank water from the sump and dispose of it. Then I siphon 5g of water change water into the sump to the correct water level. It takes me about 15 minutes total.

[dkh0331]

I pump out of the sump and leave everything running. Unless your water levels are going to leave pumps dry, no reason to turn them off, IMPHO.

[Ritten]

I don't have a sump so I siphon out of my tank. I always feed first in the morning with the lights off and then do my water change with all the pumps off.

[Dino]

Like Ritten, I don't have a sump so I have to siphon out of my tank. I typically turn the pumps off (simple, they're all plugged into the same power strip, just have to hit the switch on the strip) as siphoning out ~5 gallons on a 36 gallon drops the water level several inches. That's far enough that even if pumps aren't actually out of water they're close enough they'll suck air in from the surface. Never really paid attention to the time of day I've done it but its usually in the late morning, though the only lights on my tank for most of the day are low powered actinics. The main MH doesn't kick on until mid-evening. :)

[demonnite57]

I usually siphon out of my sump. I turn the return pump off and my powerheads. The time is usually a couple hours before I feed them and such.

[snorvich]

I siphon from my sumps (which are in the basement) and try to clean the sump at the same time. A clean sump is a GOOD thing. I always remove exactly the same amount and replace the same amount (which in my case is 75 gallons on each tank).

[lagatbezan]

I do it from the sump. I shut the return and the skimmer off but keep the closed loop pump on, i see no reason to turn it off. I change about 30g every 3-4 weeks on my 180g. takes me about 10 min. as for day or night, i usually do it when the lights are on so i can see what i'm doing and the fish dont mind it at all :)

[redfishblewfish]

Let me see if I can explain this.

I have an MRC skimmer with a big gate valve to control the skimmer. For the first five gallons of water that I remove, I crank the skimmer valve 180 degrees, causing the skimmer to overflow. The hose coming off the skimmer cup is put into a five gallon bucket. About ten minutes, the bucket is full. This cleans the skimmer and gets the “marginal” skimmate out of the tank. The valve then gets turned back to its “normal” position and then I turn off all pumps and siphon out the remaining ten gallons from the DT. Some times I do a light cleaning of the sand surface. The only reason I don’t siphon from the sump is that it is too low to keep a siphon going. I use a Python to siphon out the water and then use it to pump clean water back into the tank using a MAG 7. I had to make a hose adaptor for the MAG and you can see that simple DIY HERE (http://www.njreefers.org/joomla/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=26&topic=22819.0). And, I always do it when the lights are on.

[agreeive?fish]

make up water before hand

on day of water change
use powerhead/utility pump to start flow in hose..use hose to syphon up trash then let water drain to mark

drain hose

take powerhead/utility pump and hook to hose, drop into new water, plug in powerhead/utility pump fill tank..easy as drinking a cup of coffee while watching the process

yes the sump return pump is off during the process

[agreeive?fish]

double post

[Reefir]

i usually do a bigger than usual turkey baster feeding to my coral the night before and turn my return pump off and power heads , my sump is not large enought to change 15 gallons out of my 90 g with a 29 g sump , with all the baffles and stuff . i syphon the 15 gallons out of my DT. I marked the back and drain to my mark . (its like low tide to them )and replace new water untill my overflow is full and then turn on again .( always make a little more water than less , just in case ) the return pump side of my sump reveals my water level in the end and top off as needed . every setup will be a little different . time of day dosent matter its being consistent , your fish and coral will get used to every two weeks or three weeks whatever you choose and almost expect it . they will start to look sad when u break scedule . so whatever scedule and amount u pick be regular and your livestock wont even flinch . just my way and it works for me

[Indymann99]

http://www.fmas1955.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/WATER-CHANGE-SYSTEMS2.pdf

[hvacman250]

My way seems too easy, but I cant imagine anything is wrong with my method.

Two identical 20 gallon containers. Saltwater in one, one empty. Siphon, while cleaning, in the main tank while pumping saltwater into the sump. Stop siphoning when the "waste" container is at the level the saltwater tank started.

All pumps running, system live. Takes about 5-10 minutes. Then rather than carrying 20 gallons of waste water, I put the pump and tubing into the waste container and pump the waste water down the sink in the bathroom in the next room.

[sn4265]

My way seems too easy, but I cant imagine anything is wrong with my method.

Two identical 20 gallon containers. Saltwater in one, one empty. Siphon, while cleaning, in the main tank while pumping saltwater into the sump. Stop siphoning when the "waste" container is at the level the saltwater tank started.

All pumps running, system live. Takes about 5-10 minutes. Then rather than carrying 20 gallons of waste water, I put the pump and tubing into the waste container and pump the waste water down the sink in the bathroom in the next room.

Now that one is pretty unique. I definitely hadn't heard of doing it quite like that before. I guess my thought on that would be that towards the end of the process you are dumping some of the same water that you just pumped in. This would be minimal of course, but this seems like it might very well be a great way to handle larger water changes especially if you had a pretty low flowrate on the pumps.

[hvacman250]

Now that one is pretty unique. I definitely hadn't heard of doing it quite like that before. I guess my thought on that would be that towards the end of the process you are dumping some of the same water that you just pumped in. This would be minimal of course, but this seems like it might very well be a great way to handle larger water changes especially if you had a pretty low flowrate on the pumps.

I'm sure I waste a couple gallons max of newly made saltwater, but its a breeze doing a water change:)

[Fish4Me2]

Three times a month, I turn off system pumps, skimmer, and power head. I use a power head and hose to blast the rocks in the display first, and then siphon out the newly dirty water from the display. Then I turn the system pump back on, while pumping clean water into my sump. The DT fills up from the sump with the system pump running.

The fourth week in the month, I use the powerhead/hose combo to siphon any dirt that's built up in my sump, and then fill directly back into the sump. So far the tank seems happy.

[dzfish17]

First I flip a valve on the closed loop which takes out the water. I have a 35g garbage can with make-up water ready to go. I go inside the fish room flip a switch and the water is pumped into the tank thru a 3/4 pipe. I like things simple.

Dave

[jpfelix]

i left everything running while i opened the drain valve on my sump--let it drain to the standpipe level--closed the valve--turned on the pump in the barrel--let it fill to the overflow level--turn off the pump

[naprestsleep]

I have a drain on my sump and refug. I turn off my return and skimmer, the vortechs, lights, heaters, etc stay on. 90% of the time I drain from my sump, 10% refug if it needs it. I then refill via a dedicated pump from a toter under the stand. I usually refill too much, and then let the system run a few minutes before letting a little more water out to balance all the water levels out.

When done I open the RO/DI value to refill the toter, which has a shut off. Then add salt, turn a power head on, and leave it until the next water change.

Lately my "old" tank water has become my "new" QT water so it takes me a few more minutes and some manual labor. Once of these days I will automate that too, as I am lazy.