Water changing routines

[Troender]

What do you actually do when you change water on your brackish puffers? My way of doing it seems so ineffective, and inaccurate. So I would like to hear how all you other people do it (thinking about the process of adding salt, and how to keep the water at a stable salinity, without messing too much around). I need some input to get new ideas

[CoreyK]

What do you mean ineffective?

For my 45g brackish tank, I have an 18g rubbermaid bin, a powerhead and a heater.
I fill up the bin and put the same amount of salt in every time (1.5 cups of Instant Ocean) which gives it a salinity of ~ 1.005, and dechlor. Let it dissolve in the bin for a few hours (I usually just let it sit overnight) with the powerhead and heater running.
Then I syphon out ~30-40% of the water out of the tank connect a tube to the powerhead in the bin, and pump the water into the tank. Voila, you're done.

IMO as long as you're within ~.002 or so of the tank's salinity you're fine, because it's only a portion of the total water so it won't change it much, and their salinity would vary in the wild anyway. You'd have to be WAY off to alter the tank's salinity enough to kill the bacteria when you're only changing out 30-40%.

[Myaj]

Same here. I mix up a bucket of water to the salinity I want, let it sit overnight with an airstone (or if for some reason I need to do it NOW I will after a good stirring).

Then I siphon out the tank to however much I want out, and dump the bucket in.

I just make sure to test both the tank and the bucket and make adjustments to the bucket before I dump it in.

On the Figure 8's tank, if I want to do a bigger water change, I'll mix up a bucket at double the strength (say 1.008). Then I'll siphon out two buckets worth from the tank. I'll dump half my premixed 1.008 water into a bucket, and top off with freshwater, add that to the tank, then top off the remaining 1.008 water with freshwater and add that.. so basically I'm adding two buckets of 1.004 water.

[tanhql]

i change the water of my brackish 20 gallon tank every two weeks. here's how i change:

1) on thursday night , mix 40 teaspoon of red sea salt with around 8 litres of water. mix with pump in bucket.

2) on sat night, off and remove pump, let water sit overnight (pump will heat up water; let it sit to cool down)

3) before changing tank water on sunday, stir the 'sea water' (around sg 1.027) in the bucket with hand in clockwise direction(or anticlockwise, as long as one direction only, so the water swirl)), and sediments/undissolved salt will gather at in the middle of the bucket. remove these particles. add 5ml of seachem prime (enough for 50 gallons) and seachem trace element solution into the bucket.

4) change prefilter of canister filter (got two sponge prefilters which i switch out and wash)

5) drain about half volume of tank water directly to the toilet.

6) while filling tank directly from tap, fill in the 'sea water' at regular marked intervals (according to water level). the prime in the 'sea water' will neutralise any chlorine/chloramine/ammonia. no worries with chlorine/chloramine since prime's used in excess. the 'sea water' mixes with the tapwater directly in the tank.

this way, i don't need large buckets to do my water change. i just need a python-like hose to drain/fill the tank (luckily my tank is near my bathroom).

[Hilly]

Measure out salt.
Boil kettle.
Dissolve salt in boiling water and pour into bucket.
Fill bucket with hot and cold water til at about the right temperature.
Add powerhead, leave to simmer for 30 mins.
Clean out tank, fill other buckets with fresh clean water.
Treat tank with prime.
Add one fresh followed by the brackish water followed by fresh.
Open Beer.

Brackish tank cleaning.... Done.

[Pufferpunk]

i change the water of my brackish 20 gallon tank every two weeks.

I suggest doing weekly water changes.

1) on thursday night , mix 40 teaspoon of red sea salt with around 8 litres of water. mix with pump in bucket.

I suggest finding out how many cups that makes. Much easier to measure out.

2) on sat night, off and remove pump, let water sit overnight (pump will heat up water; let it sit to cool down)

The pump really shouldn't heat it higher than the tank water is. I'd keep it mixing the water until you need it.

3) before changing tank water on sunday, stir the 'sea water' (around sg 1.027) in the bucket with hand in clockwise direction(or anticlockwise, as long as one direction only, so the water swirl)), and sediments/undissolved salt will gather at in the middle of the bucket. remove these particles. add 5ml of seachem prime (enough for 50 gallons) and seachem trace element solution into the bucket.

All trace elements you need are already in the salt.

4) change prefilter of canister filter (got two sponge prefilters which i switch out and wash)
5) drain about half volume of tank water directly to the toilet.
6) while filling tank directly from tap, fill in the 'sea water' at regular marked intervals (according to water level). the prime in the 'sea water' will neutralise any chlorine/chloramine/ammonia. no worries with chlorine/chloramine since prime's used in excess. the 'sea water' mixes with the tapwater directly in the tank.
this way, i don't need large buckets to do my water change. i just need a python-like hose to drain/fill the tank (luckily my tank is near my bathroom).

It looks to me that you are doing way more work than necessary.

[tanhql]

I suggest doing weekly water changes.

i've a diy mini denitrator going (since last december), so i'm trying to mature it by not doing too much water change. also, i've seachem purigen at the top basket of my canister filter (so water runs through it first), so the nitrates rises to 20 pmm max just before water change.

I suggest finding out how many cups that makes. Much easier to measure out.

i know, but i put the salt in a small container for easy access (the rest are in the package). if the salt in the container gets low, i simply add more from the package bag. it's easier to use a teaspoon than a cup.

The pump really shouldn't heat it higher than the tank water is. I'd keep it mixing the water until you need it.

i use 1000 gph pump in a 2 gallon bucket. it'll really heat it to higher then tank temp.

All trace elements you need are already in the salt.

this is just a 'just in case' procedure. there may be some trace minerals not present in the red sea salt, that are in the trace element solution.

It looks to me that you are doing way more work than necessary.

i cannot afford to have a huge container to mix water (i've no space to store it, and the biggest container in my house can only fill up to 1/4 of the tank water, and they're used for washing clothes), so i''ve got to improvise. also, this way, i only carry a 2 gallon bucket to change 10 gallons. i don't need to use any pump to pump the new water into the tank.

[my name is mike]

a tube attached to a powerhead! -- brilliant -- i was looking into a python but couldnt figure out how that would do me any good for brackish changes ---

[Pufferpunk]

Although many will disagree with my method--I do a 50% WC on my F8 tank & while the tank is filling (after adding Prime), I pour the salt into my Aquaclear. Keeping things simple!

[my name is mike]

ahhhh that sounds easy too (the you can use the python right?)--- does pouring concentrated salt over the filter kill any bacteria in that filter though, or does death not come that quick ?

[Pufferpunk]

I pour it intot the little space by the intake, where it agitates. Even if some gets on the filter material, it's only a little on the top.

Yes, with 9 tanks, I'd die w/o my Python!

[my name is mike]

nice ,,, that makes sense ---

do you do changes on your marine tanks with the same method?

[Pufferpunk]

No way! I have a 33g mixing bucket in the basement & I turn a knob & the water flows upstairs.

[my name is mike]

snazzy set up -- very cool

[Pufferpunk]

Helps to have a hubby that's a pipefitter.