afraid to change water

[MyCatsDrool]

After having FW tanks and being able to do large water changes that the livestock actually rather enjoy, i am terrified of changing water in my SW tank.

There are a lot of things to keep in mind in a FW planted tank, as far as dosing ferts, CO2, etc, but, if I mess one up, I might lose a few plants, which are cheap and easy to replace.

In my new SW tank (2 months or so old), if i screw up, i am looking at replacing $20 shrimp, $50 corals, $30 fish.

so, when I change water in my SW tank, I do pre-mix and temperate the water beforehand. However, I am still afraid. What if i accidentally screw up and knock the pH off balance? Or the SG isn't 100% dead on? Or the calcium level drops 3 drops worth on the test kit?


AAAAAH! what if i stick my dirty finger in the water????????????


i am terrified. Is it all as delicate as this? Are corals so tender that if i swing the SG +-.002-.003 or the PH +-.1 that i am doomed to a crashed tank?

Help me overcome my fear. A few weeks ago, I felt "LIFE WANTS TO LIVE, YOU AREN'T GOING TO KILL IT SO EASILY" but now.... i am scared to change water.

[trick440]

Whatever you do.. Do not stick your dirty finger in the water!!! You'll probably give them ... GonorrheaSphia'aids'iliteis. .. very contagous.

Mix the salt well, use a powerhead and get it up to proper tempature and you should be all good. Your livestock will enjoy it, just like the freshies.

[saltycreefer]

Dont worry about it . Start out by changing 10% or so until you get the feel of it. You're not going to crash your tank.

[cody-the-roo]

Try to get your water close (if not exact, but at least close) to the SG and temperature. A 10% water change is a nice sized change and even if you are off a little, it isn't going to seriously harm anything.

For example....

Let's say your SG = 1.025 and your Temp = 80C

Let's say your water change parameters are SG = 1.023 and Temp = 78C

(90% * original) + (10% * change) = new

SG
(0.90 * 1.025) + (0.10 * 1.023) = 0.9225 + 0.1023 = 1.0248 = 1.025

Temp
(0.90 * 80C) + (0.1 * 78C) = 72.0 + 7.8 = 79.8 = 80C

As long as you are close.....the difference will be minor. Now go do your water change and celebrate with some fine quality beer on a job well done.

Cheers!

:dance:

[HornetMech242]

All above is great advice. I will put in how i do my water changes. I have a rubber made container and i start making my new water a week in advance. So i use water for the change then i start new water for the following week. In this container i have a power head and heater. And over the week i get the parameters equal to the average of the tank peramiters for the week using a tracking thing i made with Microsoft Excel. Testing Alk, CA and salinity to get it where it needs to be during the mixing week. I might go overboard but it gives me piece of mind for my water changes. Oh, and for the fear of putting your dirty finger into the water, just go grab some of the coralife rubber gloves from the LFS. Mine were only ten bucks. I do not have the Excel spread sheet with me since i am in Iraq and someone is watching my tank, i did not expect them to keep that up since its alot more work than alot of people do.

Chris

[demonsp]

Well i would be scared that in 2 months you havent changed water . Water changes are a very important part because you are replaceing many trace elements that coral and coraline need to thrive. I would do a good 25% change every week for 1 month at first with good Ro water. I think the most important thing to remember you can remove from tank at any speed but whene adding water back slow the rate not to shock your stock.I didnt see any readings from your thread or if you have sps's or lps's that like good calcium readings.Checking water condition helps ditermine amount of water changing needed. ( excuse my spelling)

[demonsp]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8353081#post8353081 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by trick440
Whatever you do.. Do not stick your dirty finger in the water!!! You'll probably give them ... GonorrheaSphia'aids'iliteis. .. very contagous.

Mix the salt well, use a powerhead and get it up to proper tempature and you should be all good. Your livestock will enjoy it, just like the freshies.


Ok i think i have that.Thats a empty wallet syndrome right. hehe

[MyCatsDrool]

NOT THE DREADED GHONORREAH'SHPIA'AIDS'ILITIS

OMGOMGOMG NOOOOOOO!


Anywho, I have been doing water changes, and cringe the whole time in fear.

I guess I was just seeking reassurance. I am not at all afraid of my planted FW tanks, but terrified of my SW.

I have only softies (xenia, anthelia, colt leather) and an open brain coral, plus a bengaii cardinal, an ocellaris and a 6 line with a smorgasboard of inverts

My params are generally around the following:

SG - 1.026-.027 (it just happens to rest a bit high today)
pH 8.2
Ca 430ish (20-23 drops depending on my mood of waiting for perfect blue or just darkly purple)
NH4 - 0
N02 - 0
No3 - 0-10 any given sunday
PO4 - 0
KH takes 12 drops of the test kit

[demonsp]

Those reading with no water change are great.Mb a good 25% monthly with those reading would be fine.I have sps's and lps's that suck up calcium and its hard keeping around 400.This may be due to proper feeding and cleanup crew. Gl and change isnt always so bad. :)

[MyCatsDrool]

FWIW, i does seachem marine buffer 3x week, change water every 10 days (try to do about 5 gallons in my 20 gallon tank/10 gallon sump. i change the water out of the sump)

90% of my stuff is DIY (i started with a fission nano skimmer, and rebuilt it into a much larger skimmer with the same principle, and some of the parts), including my "rubbermaid poor girl special" 10 gallon sump/fuge. I inherited much of my live rock, and forgot to add my anemones (1 condy, 1 tube) and my flame scallop earlier in my stock list

I feed variations on the following, barely a pinky fingernail (i got tiny fingers too) of whatever I feel should be on the menu that day:

Freeze dried cyclop-eeze (man that stuff stinks something turrible)
marine supreme (frozen)
spirulina enriched brine shrimp (frozen)
mysis (frozen)
krill (1 each) for the anemone (condy), and for the coral banded shrimps

target feed liquid PhycoPure to the corals, flame scallop, feather duster and tube anemone, and dose 1 tsp once a week or so

I also periodically add 1 ml iodine (kent marine) and Mark Weiss coralvital (1/4 tsp, once a week or so)

I use red sea or coralife salt and RO from the grocery store.

I made 2 wave makers out of old HOB filters I had laying around. I popped off the motor housing, attached some hard airline tubing over the impeller housing and capped it off with some knitters net (hard plastic crafters netting).

2 nova t-5 dual 50/50 strips over the top. I'll post a pic in a bit.

[littlemannin]

Don't do it and see what happens... Just kidding. Change the water. sounds like you got a handle of what you need to do.