Water change
 

Well it's been 41 days since my last water change (yea purists hate me) I finally did a 15% change this morning and it never ceases to amaze at what comes out of the woodwork to feed on the resultant floaties from said water change.

Saw literally hundreds of brittle star arms pop out of very nook and cranny in the rock work including at least a 7 inch brittle star. Three I believe porcelain crabs showed up that I didn't even know I had that we're having a field day chasing detritus around and maybe most surprising of all baby shrimp (Durban ridge back) came out of the rocks en masse (free fish food)

I hope I never get tired of being surprised

Cleaned my sump last week, and was surprised how large those brittle stars get.

Did my 4th water change this week, there's a lot of mysis shrimp in my system

It always amazes me what crud gets blown out of my returns every time I shut them down and restart them for a water change. That does remind me, I should do one of those this weekend..

I'm actually considering REDUCING my w/c's to once a month. Doing 25% every two weeks currently.

Right now I'm doing once a month. Not exactly deliberately. I'm just lazy. And busy. Two terrible combinations for reefing actually. That's why I run a prayer reactor.

I freely admit I'm lazy that s why so long between water changes its usually when I feel like doing it

I do 50% every two weeks. Except when I don't. But mostly do. Doing one today, just for fun.

...because you haven't done enough today already?

Tell me about it. Finally done, 6 hours later.

Totally! the last time I did a water change, my frag tank looked like a bomb went off when I turned my returns back on lol.

This is why I automated mine as much as possible. Just mix salt, go upstairs and flick some switches... 40 gallon water change in 5 minutes :-)

Was going to do one this weekend but now with work and a big windstorm on the way, I'm postponing till Monday or Tuesday.

41 days between water change - you son of a B . Don't have to brag .

I was doing every 2 weeks and have changed to once a monthish mainly because I'm lazy and my tank seems to be surviving and doing fine. :wink:

I'm usually in the 19 to 25 day range. Target is 21 days, not sure why, just a number that seems about right. Generally I'll wait to do the change until the day my top off container is empty, causing the swing away from my 21 target, usually later.

I'm trying 3 gal per day and a 20% every 6 months... I have no idea if it's any better or worse

Hmmm! sounds like a PITA to me everyday but if it works for you what can I say :noidea:

It TOTALLY would be if I didn't have this:

http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/...psbewsr0db.jpg

and this:

http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/...pstde768do.jpg

So when I said "I" do water changes, it's actually all automated. The barrel lasts me roughly 30 days. So once a month I make 100 gal of new salt water and that's it :)

Where did you get that nice water tank from?

Got mine from Barr plastics in Vancouver, but I bet being in Chestermere you could pick something up at a UFA or something...

Oh ok that makes things a lot easier nice set up. :smile:

http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/...pstde768do.jpg

What is this? And where can I get 1? =)

It's a Stenner peristaltic pump, maybe you can ask for one for Christmas... If someone reeeeallly loves you, they're quite expensive....

Nice setup daplatapus!

What isn't expensive in this hobby :lol::lol::lol:

Winner, winner, chicken dinner! The one I got is 100gpd. There's tons of different ones. I went with this one as that's all the water I have made anyway, lol. I just have it on a timer.
I always find the word "expensive" extremely subjective. If I remember correctly it cost me almost $300 delivered to my door after duty and taxes. The dollar was good, work was doing good, and I totally suck at doing water changes when I should. This was one of those purchases that helps me sleep at night and takes some of the pressure of having a big tank and little spare time :)

400 USD to automate water changes? sounds like a solid deal to me.....
my first google answer was 1200 bux
http://www.lockewell.com/index.php?m...roducts_id=151

Nope, that one has the built in metering device. This is the one I have:

http://www.lockewell.com/index.php?m...roducts_id=161

So does one pump out while the other pumps in?

Sent from my SM-G870W using Tapatalk

Yup, one motor, 2 heads. I have mine drawing water from my sump where the siphons drain into it just before my filter socks, and the other one dumps water into the chamber that my return pumps are in. Set up that way, I figured my ato (Tunze osmolator) wouldn't see any change in water height in the return chamber. That way in theory they pump the exact same. Mine's been running for almost 7 months and I've noticed very little drift in my salinity

That's way cheaper than I would have thought. What equipment do you run in your NSW tank? Just powerhead?
And you run it for 45 minutes or so per day using an apex or some type of controller?

Right now I actually only have it running on a cheap programable timer. I just got my Apex back up and running within the last week or two and haven't had the time to deal with it.
And yes, 45 min is what it's running. That's a wee bit more than 3 gal, but close enough :)

In the new SW barrel there is no equipment. No heater, no power head, nothing. If I think of it, I turn on my mixing pump once a week to make sure nothing settles, but I haven't noticed anything after I have made and mixed the batch well. My original plan was to put the mixing pump on my Apex and have it come on once a day for a few minutes, but I still haven't done it yet.
I'm pumping the 3 gal water change it into roughly 300 gal of tank water so I'm thinking any low O2 or temp difference won't hurt anything.

Looks like Thats gonna be the next item on my bucket list!! I always have a fear of too much automation tho especially with something as crucial like a water change. Also with my system I would still need to monitor it as I have to shut off my return pump or ato will kick on.