Water changes... How do you do them?

[courterbobby]

Hello,
I am picking up a 225 gallon aquarium saturday. Though it will be a week or two (maybe 3, I am building the stand) before I get it up and running, I am wondering how everyone does their water changes? I currently use 5 gallon buckets to accomplish this on my 80 gallon setup, but seeing as how I will have to add water volume to my water changes makes me wonder if the 5 gallon containers will be the best way? What do yall think or do?

 

[cr500_af]

Depends on your arrangement. A large container (like a Brute trash can) nearby is ideal. You can pump the water in from it if you have it heated to the correct temp. If your home's arrangement won't let you do that, do you have a basement underneath, or something like that that would allow you to put a container within pumping distance? If you can't house a large container nearby, buckets may be your future.

It is also fantastic if you can arrange plumbing so that you can drain or pump the old water out of the sump.

If both of those work out, you can do a WC by turning on a couple of pumps.

 

[drnecropolis]

Mine is through the floor for a drain and a 32 gallon trashcan for 25 gallon changes..

 

[raisedonnintendo]

that sounds like a ton of work 5 gal at a time.. are you gonna connect a second tank under that 1 to feed water n such to it? cause if you make it easy and u do. u can just tap a drain into that one run a hose on out side or into your plumbing dont know where you r dumping that water?

 

[courterbobby]

I do not have a basement, but I do have a garage to put a large container in..... the only problem is that if I do go that route, there is no way to get the container back into the house for water changes because of steps and having to lug it up them....

 

[cr500_af]

Crawl space or slab? If it's on a crawl you could pipe underneath and come up by the tank... could take a mean pump depending on the distance, though.

 

[courterbobby]

RaisedOnNintendo;507315 wrote: that sounds like a ton of work 5 gal at a time.. are you gonna connect a second tank under that 1 to feed water n such to it? cause if you make it easy and u do. u can just tap a drain into that one run a hose on out side or into your plumbing dont know where you r dumping that water?

Yes I will have some extra tanks up under the setup... sounds like a good idea but I guess this way would have to have a pump?

 

[courterbobby]

cr500_af;507317 wrote: Crawl space or slab? If it's on a crawl you could pipe underneath and come up by the tank... could take a mean pump depending on the distance, though.

slab all concrete under there

 

[cr500_af]

Looks like if you can't steal a nearby closet and put a Brute on wheels.... buckets.

 

[courterbobby]

cr500_af;507321 wrote: Looks like if you can't steal a nearby closet and put a Brute on wheels.... buckets.

If only I had a nearby closet. You would think in a $130k house I would have a closet nearby.

 

[chymos45]

I use a long hose and siphon to a toilet to drain.
For mixing/filling, I use a 55G drum. Set it next to the sump, fill over night, mix and bring to temp one day, pump to fill. Typically start Thurs night and to a WC on Sat morning. Wife only has to see the drum for a single day, and it's typically a friday when we are doing something out of the house anyway...

 

[raisedonnintendo]

if you have a tank under u r using for filtering or extra water whatever. run a frigerator water line into that tank to fill it up go to home depot buy a tank bober for a toliet to turn it on when your tank gets low do to evap or cause your changing your water and keep your house n there u can drag it out when you want to dump. that what i did with my twenty seven split 50g tanks.well n the bow front easy to drain you can even mix n the tank on bottom just turn pump off. but thats just what i did

 

[basscyn]

Yep...as stated, a lot depends on your set up. I am going through the same struggles with mine. I have about 250 gal total volume and try to get a 20% water change every other week. I drop a mag pump in my sump and drain the water out into the woods, then pump new water back to the sump from a 55 gallon drum I got off craigs list. This never disturbs the DT and is bucketless. Just flip a couple of switches.

Also be careful where you drain all this water. I was initially pumping it into the drain at my washer dryer. My back yard became wet. Too much volume for my plumbing to handle. So , I pump it out to the woods.

With that kind of volume just be sure to set it up to make water changes as easy as possible. So you'll do them. Otherwise it will be a pain in the *** and you will slack off.

Happy building!:up:

 

[raisedonnintendo]

but then again i dont know if your using n ro unit. i never have u may need one i just used an n line filters from the depot

 

[raisedonnintendo]

yep n dont run the line into your garden cause the salt gonna kill them prized maters lol

 

[ralph atl]

I have 2, 32 gallon brute cans on wheels. They are both in my garage. I fill one with RO/DI water with an auto shut off.

I use a pump and pump the RO/DI water from one to the other when I'm making salt.

I wheel the saltwater to my front door. I use another pump to drain sump, then tank onto front sidewalk. I then begin to pump water from the saltwater brute into tank. Takes maybe 30 minutes for a 25-30 gallon water change.

 

[gnashty]

I do 40 gal changes on my 210(240 total system) at a time using a brute on wheels in the garage with RO plumbed in with a shut off. I just wheel it to the door of the garage when im ready. I use a 32 gallon rubbermaid trash can for waste water. I pump it from the tank to the 32 gal and when its full, drop the pump into the 32 and pump to toilet.....then a little more to make my 40. at the end of the day it doesnt matter where the bucket is as long as you have enough hose and a pump strong enough to get the water to/from the tank.

 

[drnecropolis]

mysterybox;507366 wrote: Takes maybe 30 minutes for a 25-30 gallon water change.

That would annoy me...

Im able to change 25 gallons in 7 minutes.. I working on getting a bigger pump so I can shave it down to 4 minutes or so..

LOL

 

[johnr2604]

Sack up and use some 5g buckets LOL. I can do a water change on my tank about 10 minutes just using buckets. Hey its good exercise and I always make it a race to get it done before my reefkeeper comes off feed mode LOL

 

[down and outman]

I set up two cans in the garage with valves. The big one on the tall stand is for RODI, which has an auto shut off on it. One valve fills the saltwater can for water changes. Another valve I can get RODI water for top offs. The saltwater can has a valve for it as well, along with two PH and a heater. My laundry room is in between the tank and the garage, so I'm considering running lines to the tank for top offs and possibly water changes. I just use a siphon into one of my blue jugs. That way I can measure how much I'm removing and add the same volume of saltwater. Been doing that since I started. Used to mix WC water in 5 gal jugs. What a hassle trying to get them all the same. Just added a shelf for my supplies.

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