Tank Maintenance - Apartment Style

[walnuts24]

Just moved into an apartment from my parents house and was wondering how people managed their tank maintenance routine with limited space.

My tank at their house was a 29 G biocube, so 5 gallon bi-weekly water changes was sufficient. I had an extra bathtub that I kept the buckets, salt, and ro/di unit in. Two buckets and twenty minutes was all it took to do the water change, clean the tank, change the carbon, and empty the skimmer cup.

I am planning on getting a 57 rimless up and running. I am expecting to do 15 gallon water changes bi-weekly, meaning 6 buckets (3 for SW and 3 for dirty water). I have a place to keep the RODI unit, but no place to mix the SW.

I was just wondering what some of you guys with larger tanks and apartments do for their maintenance routine?

Any pieces of euipment that I "must have"?

Thanks

 

[ECFENCING]

If you could get one of those pythons....I think that's the name. You hook it up to a sink and place the other end in the sump or display tank and then you can drain as many gallons as you need to. Also you can purchase 2 20 gallon brute cans (food safe NSF version) on wheels if you don't want to carry around 5 gallon buckets. Have one container ready with saltwater newly mixed and the other empty. Bring them both over to the tank. Drain water into the empty one and fill the tank with the new one. Roll them both away.

For the brute you should also get a float valve..that way if you forget to turn your faucet off you won't have a spill on your floor

 

[lnevo]

I like TommyP (I think it was his) idea of the brute can end table... Just put a nice table cloth over it and you've got a 20-30g mixing station.

 

[brett7768]

Why you wanna do 15gal every other week? Seems like a lot. Trying to keep n03 down? Get a BP reactor. I do maybe 10-15gal a month on my 120gal, and that's just to vac detritus out of the sump. And yea I live in an apt also. To mix SW I use a large sturdy storage bin.

 

[cmantis]

You only need one bucket for the water you are taking out. Just empty it and reuse another two times. I would usually just mix the water over night go to work and when I came home do the water change. Then stack the buckets and put back in my closet. Wasn't really a big deal.

 

[ctcorals]

5 garlon water change bi-weekly just perfit for ur tank size.

 

[TommyP]

I like TommyP (I think it was his) idea of the brute can end table... Just put a nice table cloth over it and you've got a 20-30g mixing station.

Haha yea this is correct. 20g brute but that's for my ATO
I roll 2 brute pails over as previously described for my water changes. Roll 1 into the closet (for fresh sw next week) and roll the other and dump it down the tub.