Poll: How long does a water change take you?

[masterswimmer]

I had the pleasure of having a fellow reefer over to my house today. We got to talking about water changes. I told him that it took me approximately 10 minutes to do a water change. He was a little taken back by that. He said it took him quite a bit longer.

Without saying anything else, I said to start his watch. Well, without rushing AT ALL, I did my water change in 4 minutes.

Just curious to know, how long it takes others to do theirs. And if you were able to do them faster, would you do them more frequently?

Russ

 

[ezee]

Russ,

I usually use the water change to do other things (mostly siphoning detritus, etc), so it takes me a bit longer.

E

 

[cali_reef]

I can do a 35 gallon water change in 10 minuets.

A little spill in the basement never hurts anything

 

[ShaunW]

50 gallons in less than 5 mins.

Takes two days, however, to make the replacement water! :banghead:

 

[NYPDFrogman]

50 gallons in about 20 mins includes water testing before and after, clean up, and incidentals

 

[Deanos]

Not taking into account the time spent making saltwater, I voted 10-30 minutes.

 

[steveo32]

russ you loser lol jk. It's not my fauly it takes me a day to do a 44 gal change

 

[masterswimmer]

Steve, :shhh: Nobody needs to know! :lol:

Eugene, I'm talking straight water change. I siphon out detritus once every 3 or 4 wc's, not every one.

50 gallons in less than 5 mins.

Takes two days, however, to make the replacement water! :banghead:

That's pumping 600 gph out! A 5 gallon bucket every 30 seconds. whoa, I bow to the new master!!!! :party:

Sounds like you need a booster pump on your RO/DI filter though. Or, do you really have a 25 gpd unit? I've got a 100 gpd unit with a booster pump, so I'm pushing the full 100. I know the rejection rate isn't as good as a 75 gpd, but my water is well water and the waste runs right back down into the ground.......semi recycling.

Russ

 

[ezee]

Russ,

Well the one time I didn't siphon it took me about 5 mins. I only do about 5 gallons a week.

E

 

[House of Laughter]

I had the luxury of plumbing my pump from the sump to my frag tank with a ball valve and 1/2 PVC that goes straight to the since drain. So, I make the water the night before. Refract it while the water is draining out of the sup and replace in about 2 mins. Maybe I am closer to 7 mins, but that is a 30g change.

House

 

[jhale]

hey guys,

I was thinking about water changes too the other day.
If I drain my sump that's about a 40 gallon change.
Lets say I want to do a really large change. How do you feel about
draining the tank itself pretty far down and pumping the new water back in
immediately. I don't think this would hurt the coral at all, and any clams in the way I would place on the bottom. It would be like a very fast low tide. what do you think?

 

[NYPDFrogman]

I try to match the chemistry as close as possible when I do my water changes to avoid such a condition, I make sure alk, Ca, Ph, temp, SG are as close as possible
I've done more than 50% with no ill effects

 

[jhale]

hey Frank, how are you?

of course I would make sure all the parameters are the same,
and also mix the water for a few days minimum.

 

[pecan2phat]

:lol:, it takes me all day!
Once a month I disappear into my basement for the entire day, then peek my head out for dinner :lol2:

I have a LM3 that I was considering to set up as a water exchange unit to do a continous 1 or 1.5g a day, anyone have any experience with this method or any comments?
Some peeps told me that the small percentage that is continously changed has little or no effect as a regular 10% to 20% at once would, any truth to this?

 

[superfiend1313]

I replied that I never do water changes. I should say rarely. Last one was like 3 months ago and it lasted all freaking night. I wish I lived in a house because the water pressure coming out of my sink sucks for a python, RO, even washing dishes.
Dan

 

[masterswimmer]

Jon, I do some very big water changes once or twice a year. I lower the levels in my tank such that 1/2 the tank is emptied. Not only are my sps in low tide, but a lot of my lps are also. I've had no ill effects on anything.

Warren, doing a continuous w/c of even 1 - 1.5 gpd wouldn't be as effective as doing one or two w/c's per week. The reason for this is that you're removing the freshly added SW (diluted of course) from the tank sooner than the system has a chance to utilize the trace elements you just added, IMO. If you were to do this continually I think your water would be just great, just not utilizing it as much as you could by leaving it in there for a longer period of time.
No scientific data to support this, just an educated guess on my part.

master

 

[jhale]

hey Russ, if it were not for the fish I would try close to a 100% water change, anybody have a spare 120 I can use for mixing?

so how many gph can a toilet handle going down the drain?

 

[masterswimmer]

hey Russ, if it were not for the fish I would try close to a 100% water change, anybody have a spare 120 I can use for mixing?

so how many gph can a toilet handle going down the drain?

Depends how many :chefico: we've had first! :thrash:

Believe it or not, toilets restrict the amount the plumbing can handle more than the plumbing itself. Most, not all, but most new waterclosets (I've always hated that term) have a 2" trap. That handles probably close to 1500 gph. A 1" line handles ~ 600 gph. 2" more than doubles it.

Even Anthony Calfo recommends virtual 100% w/c's. Obviously can't pull everything out at once, like you said, the fishies are very restrictive :eek1:

Russ

 

[jhale]

my tanks a little more than a year old. I think it's time for one serious water change, and a little storm action to flush all the debris from the rocks.

 

[masterswimmer]

my tanks a little more than a year old. I think it's time for one serious water change, and a little storm action to flush all the debris from the rocks.

Go for it. I do it at least twice a year. Storms in nature do it more often than that. I find that the tank never looks better a couple of hours after doing a huge water change with a nice sandstorm. The corals actually open up even more. They seem to find a ton of micro organisms that is like food to them after the storm.

Russ