Water Change Prep
 

Would there be any problems with mixing your water change water a week early??

I mix up a bucket and use half this week and half next. I can't see any problems especially b/c the bucket is covered during the week but thought I'd ask others?

I do it without problems. I think it's better than not mixing enough? As long as a PH is kept running in it

I normally mix mine up a week before the change then it sits with a PH for aeration and heater.

I used to make ro water and then add salt 24 h later, and then leave the buckets covered for anywhere from 7-14 days with no ph going and had no problems. I now make the ro water, let it stand for around 24 hours and then add the salt and proceed to do a waterchange around 1 day later (no ph), and have not had any problems.

I constantly keep 15g circulating in a rubbermade garbage can. water change whenever I need it. Usually every 3-4 weeks

See I don't really want to keep a ph running in 5 gallons of water for a week... seems like a waste of power. Do I really need to keep it circulating? What happens if you don't?

What if I put a timer on it so the power head starts up a few hours before my water change... or maybe for just an hour each day?

yeah I'd rather not use a ph for such a small amount of water. I use one to help mix the salt when I first put it in but if I had to leave it running all week I'd rather just mix up the water just before each water change

if you dont want to use a powerhead yo could maybe use one of those bubblers?

I doubt the PH I keep running is more than 15 watts, likely a lot less...a mere drop in the bucket of my allready spectacular hydro bill ;)

Salt settles fast if not constantly mixed. Only need a little powerhead. I run a Mag350 in my waterchange bucket. uses like 18W or something??? A Koralia 1 or2 would be even better. But the Mag is all I had. Plus, I use it to pump the fresh change water to the tank

I used to make 100G of saltwater at once and then use about 30G or so once a month. So some of the water would sit for a few months before being used and never had problems. I did have a small PH going the whole time though.

I have tried it without a PH once and the water kind of turned a funny color after a week. Maybe just a freak thing that time though.

Saltwater, once mixed, should not settle out any salt. I've stored mixed sw for months before with no settling.