Water changes

M

mike0082

Do I do my % of water changes based on the size of the tank, or how much actual water I put in?

My rock displaced some water... So in a 90 gallon tank, I may have only put in 50 gallons of water.

So if I'm doing a 20% change, do I do 18 gallons (20% of 90) or 10 gallons (20% of 50)

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The rock we use is very porous so you probably have more like 70 or 80 gallons. Do you have a sump? If so include that volume also.
 
good point about the porousness and also the sump.

Mike, do you do your changes from the sump, or from the display tank?
 
My total volume is 175. I do between 20 and 25 gallons each week. I don't think you have to be exact. I usually mix 25 gallons and then try to keep a couple on hand in case of emergency or if I add any livestock to the tank.


Matt
 
I'm sure it will go bad at some point but not in a week or two. I keep what's leftover in a jug. When I mix up the next batch of water, I mix in the old stuff and start over.


Matt
 
@mike0082 wrote:
good point about the porousness and also the sump. Mike said:
Both depending on what is going on. I like to vacuum stuff out of the sand bed (not running a deep sand bed) every now and then or get built-up detritus out of nooks and crannies in the rocks. If I want to make it quick and easy then I just get the water from the sump through a valve I have setup in one of my return line manifolds which also allows me to get rid of any detritus that has built-up in the sump as well.

Matt makes a good point about keeping spare water on hand. I just keep a lot of RO/DI water around and can mix up more salt water quickly if I need it.
Click to expand...
 
I just got my ro/di setup today and I am making some water as I type this.

Thanks for the info guys

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I know I am full of questions ....

I made some water last night RO/DI ... I tested it. Everything came up perfect. No ammonia, no nitrites, no nitrates, etc.

I added salt today and have had it mixing with a powerhead for the past 6 or so hours .... I tested the water, and the ammonia is now elevated (.25ppm) - is that something to do with the addition of the salt mixture? also, is that normal?
 
Add some prime....I do with every water change.

http://www.seachem.com/Products/product_pages/Prime.html

Petco, Petsmart carries it.
 
Adding prime to your RO/DI water is good cheap insurance. Water municipalities will add more chemicals during droughts due to the lakes becoming increasingly turbid, they may also flush the lines with ammonia after doing repairs/maintenance. I got lucky and caught it in time, but I had ammonia getting through my RODI system once even though my filters still had useful life.
 
What was weird was I tested the RO/DI water and it was clean....after I added the salt, it spiked the ammonia slightly.

I do have some Prime - I will add it to this batch.
 
What brand salt are you using?

Per rhf

There are a variety of sources of ammonia in reef aquaria. Minor sources include: 1) tap water (especially if it contains chloramine and is not treated with a deionizing resin) and 2) impurities in salt mixes and other additives. It has previously been shown that the total NH4-N ranged from 0.55 to 11.9 micromole/kg (0.008 to 0.17 ppm total NH4-N) in an analysis of eight brands of artificial seawater mixes. At the higher end of the scale, those levels will be detected with an ammonia test kit and can present potential toxicity concerns if fish are kept at those levels (see below). These levels of ammonia may be introduced from impurities in calcium chloride and magnesium chloride, where ammonia is a well known impurity resulting from some of the commercial manufacturing processes used (such as the Solvay process, which involves ammonia).

Calcium and magnesium additives can also be a significant source of ammonia, especially for aquarists who are trying to use inexpensive sources of bulk calcium or magnesium chloride. I discussed testing calcium chloride for ammonia in a previous article.


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Always check your newly mixed saltwater. I found out the hard way. I was using Kent Reef Salt and didn't check it. I used it to do a pretty large water change on my 75 gallon tank (100 TWV). I change around 30-40 gallons and something didn't look right, all my SPS coral bleached and everything looked down right sad. I checked the tank and levels were way off. Checked the left over saltwater I made and alk was around 3 dkh. I don't remember the other numbers, but everything was way off.

Needless to say, I almost had a massive tank crash due to the salt.

Always test!
 
So, I think my test kit is bad.

When I test my water, ammonia is at .25 - .50, and pH is good, at 8.2 - 8.4

When I take my water to Dallas North, my ammonia is at 0, and my pH is at 7.8. I went to Rift 2 Reef in Flower Mound as a tie breaker - again, ammonia was good, and pH was low. So I guess its time for a new test kit!
 
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