Different Water Change Method

[jackson6745]

I came across a thread on RC where a member with a really nice tank told his method of WC. He runs his skimmer very wet until 5 gals of water is removed while the auto top off replaces the removed aquarium water. An estimate of 5 gals worth of salt is dumped directly into the sump (on a large system salinity effect is minimal). This is done once every 2-3 days.

This made a lot of sense to me because I believe you can remove more organics from the system from a wet skimmate than siphioning a small amount of detritus. Anyway I decided to give it a shot

Check it out!
I set my skimmer so I will get this amount of skimmate in about 25mins.

This is only the second WC that I have done like this in 4 days but I already see an improvement in my water clarity, not to mention that I don't have to lug around 25gal rubbermaids


Any thoughts?

 

[nanoreefer22]

Seems like a really good idea. Too bad my skimmer cup doesn't have a barb to let the skimmate get out of the cup. I think I might have to mod it to allow me to.

 

[House of Laughter]

All I do is mix my water, turn a ball valve, drain anywhere between 15-30 gallons and replace - it takes me about 15 mins. cause I mix the salt water overnight.

looks interesting though, wonder if you bought a salifert organics test and tested it what it would read before and after.

House

 

[jawwad2004]

Hey Jackson, are you running an Aquac Protein Skimmer?

 

[Josh]

Cool idea, I guess you are only going to increase the amount of organics and waste you remove if you tap right into wet skimmate.

Only issue I could see is that the skimmer is not going to extract 100% of the salt content of the water (even when running very wet) so you just need to keep an eye on salinity levels if you do it over the course of months.

 

[jackson6745]

Yeah Josh you do have to watch the salinity especially in a smaller tank.

Jawwad that is a My Reef Creations beckett skimmer

House next time I change the water like this I will test the po4 and no3 of the wet skim water vs. tank water to see the difference.

 

[Deanos]

Am I reading this method correctly...you're trading faster organics removal for increased salt expenditure? 5 gallons worth of salt every 25 minutes sounds expensive.

 

[jackson6745]

lol no Dean i do this once every 2-3 days....adds up to the same amount of salt as my bi-weekly WC's

 

[spykes]

rich i been using this method for at least 5 months now LOL works great tho.

 

[jackson6745]

rich i been using this method for at least 5 months now LOL works great tho.

thanks for telling me about it butthead

 

[jhale]

you are dumping the salt straight into the sump?

 

[jackson6745]

you are dumping the salt straight into the sump?

Yeah...my sump is like a whirlpool.

 

[Nsr250NYC]

can't you just dump premixed saltwater into it? to replace what is taken out

 

[jackson6745]

can't you just dump premixed saltwater into it? to replace what is taken out

Sure but its easier to let my auto topoff replace with RO water and just add a little bit of salt to the sump.

Even if I took out 5 gals of tank water and replace with only fresh water my SG would only go from 1.025 down to 1.024 (130gals volume) I've always added small amounts of salt directly to my sump from time to time in the past with no ill effects to any SPS.....they don't even slime.

 

[alrha]

why not just add a super high salinity mixture? (mix say the same amount of salt in a pitcher to at least dissolve it first)
you can also just run your skimmer wet continuously so that it pulls out 10 gals a week, and you can add about 5 gals of salt bi-weekly.

 

[Tonyscoots84]

seems like a good idea.. but i think much more work then needed. i only have a 30 gallon up and running so its Easy... i gues with a 130 gallon volume u need more water changes...

 

[jackson6745]

why not just add a super high salinity mixture? (mix say the same amount of salt in a pitcher to at least dissolve it first)

this is probably not a bad idea I do have 2500GPH running through my 30gal sump (skimmer + return) so the salt really dissolves on contact.

you can also just run your skimmer wet continuously so that it pulls out 10 gals a week, and you can add about 5 gals of salt bi-weekly.

This is almost impossible to do and I would risk a flood. I would NEVER leave a beckett skimmer running too wet unattended unless it was hooked up to a waste collector to shut it down. My waste collector is only about 1/2 gallon so it's not large enough to do the job. I understand the concept you're getting at but it's just too dangerous

 

[jackson6745]

seems like a good idea.. but i think much more work then needed. i only have a 30 gallon up and running so its Easy... i gues with a 130 gallon volume u need more water changes...

Tony it's actually much less work than my regular water changes. I simply turn the valve on my skimmer, let it fill up a 5 gal bucket of wet skimmate, dump some salt in the sump, and readjust the valve to a normal skimmate.
This will only work on skimmers that are able to run "wet"

 

[herman]

It all sounds good. Now I need a couple of people to try it and confirm that its easy.... :icon16: Cause man I hate the traditional water change.

 

[kimoyo]

I set my skimmer so I will get this amount of skimmate in about 25mins.

Damn, your skimmer pulled that in 25mins? Can recirculating skimmers do the also.

BTW, at least the ap600 only uses 20W as opposed to your 300W. That thing is like an SUV.