water change question on how to put new water in tank

[pweezy42]

so as the title says im going to do my first water change 2mrw i have 2 5 gallon buckets mixing now, but i am wondering should i pour the new water directly into tank or by pouring into sump? i tryed to search this but found no answer thanks in advance

[crankbait]

Yeah pour it in the sump just make sure its mixed well and get it close to temp as you can

[matt880305]

i dont think it really maters whichever way it is easier for you

[EllieSuz]

If you want to change ten gallons, you should acquire a tub of some kind that holds ten gallons. A Rubbermaid bin would work for you. Saltwater needs to have a small pump in it to keep the water moving, as well as a heater. You can't let saltwater stagnate. If you have enough room in the sump, you can remove old water from there and return the fresh saltwater to the sump also. An advantage of this is that the fish are not spooked in any way. I use a small Maxi-Jet pump with an attached hose in the sump to move old water out and then just switch the pump into the fresh saltwater to pump it back into the sump.

[pweezy42]

yes in each 5gal bucket i have a heater and a petco 220gph powerhead so it should get close to temp and salinity is just about perfect. i just wasnt sure about spooking my 2 clowns and blenny, also dont want to stir up a sand storm and cause more issues.

[Zswift]

I also have a 55 gallon tank, no livestock yet, but if I have 5 gallon jugs of pre-mixed SW, do I need to heat it up? I only do 5 gallons every three days or so. I usually let it.get to room temp before adding it. And I not have a sump on it though

[sslak]

Rather than "pouring" it in, I use a maxi-jet and just pump it from my 15g rubbermaid into the sump.

As others have said, get a container that holds 10+ gallons. It's a lot easier just mixing/heating/circulating one batch of water instead of two :)

[fishgate]

I do 4 gallons per week on my 40B. I mix it the night before and leave it running all night with a powerhead in the bucket. I just dump salt in (RO/DI water) and let the powerhead mix it.

The next day, I turn off the skimmer (HOB). Then I take an empty bucket with a small siphon empty the same amount (4g). I then just slowly pour in the new water which is room temp probably 8 degrees cooler then the tank.

No problems to date with this method!

[cjk76]

[QUOTE=EllieSuz;19708287]You can't let saltwater stagnate.QUOTE]

This didn't make sense to me. Then I read this article:

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2114939

Looks like there is no reason not to mix new saltwater a week or so in advance. I always mix mine at the end of a water change to use next week.