how to water change

[Caige]

I have a 125G dual drilled. I am performing 20g water changes every week. I am great with siphoning the water out. However, my question is when I put the water back in ... how should I do it?

Currently I am pouring some into the sump and then turning on the pump and then just keep adding water. BUT the problem is when the water comes out of the return nozzles in the tank it causes a big stream of bubbles and waves that seem to not only scare the fish but knock some LPS's down.

Am I doing it the right way? Maybe i'm supposed to add the water into the overflows?? or maybe i'm supposed to have a mechanical filter sponge covering the pump hole in the sump?

 

[match55]

do u have a valve to control the flow from the return pump to your DT?
I siphon the water from the DT and add water in my sump.
I turn my valve to low and slowly open it all up and there will be less bubble blasting out.
if u don't have one, I guess u can use something to block the place where the bubbles r come out. (not all the way, u still want some water come out little amount at a time.)

I use a different siphon to suck the mixed new water to the sump to prevent getting water everywhere.

 

[Caige]

OMG - i never thought about closing the valve a little... LOL i fee sooooo dumb.

 

[melosu58]

I just remove water from the DT and add water back in the DT. I mix in 5 gallon buckets. I do have the same tank and dual overflows just like you.

 

[Caige]

Mike - do you mix like 25gallons and then distribute to the 5 gal buckets?

 

[match55]

Mike - do you mix like 25gallons and then distribute to the 5 gal buckets?

I know you r not asking me, but just wanna tell u my experience.
I think either way will work??
I used to mix mine in a 18gal bucket and when I need to do water change I dist to some 4gal bucket, but thats just an extra step right?
so I just mix in the 4gal bucket now.

mix in one big bucket u won't need extra heater, just heater the big on up and u r good to go; if u have an extra heater like me, why not just mix in smaller bucker?

 

[melosu58]

I do 5 gallon buckets. I`ll do 3 of them during the weekend and 2 in the middle of the week.

 

[thincat]

I do all my PWC's through my sump. I siphon from the sump and refill in the sump. I like the process so I do my mixing in 5g buckets. Better for my back. LOL

 

[Caige]

so you all put a power head / heater in each 5gal bucket and let it go for 24 + hrs before using?

 

[match55]

wait till the water get to the right temp. or the all salt have melt.

 

[Zer0]

What you need to do, is match the salinity and the temperature, to exactly what it is like inside of the tank already. If not exactly, VERY close. This will minimize stress on your inhabitants. Pouring in water that is cold.. and even 2 degrees less in salinity could be the determining factor as to whether or not your fish is stressed or it's happy. I did it once, and my clownfish bugged out. Next water change i matched the temperature and the salinity exactly as it was in the tank, and when i poured the water in, they came out and played in the water and ate all the bubbles. So really, it does make a big difference to match the waters up accordingly. Also, 24 hours is usually a good time to let the water sit. You need to be able to visually see that there is nothing left in the water. And if you add more salt because the salinity wasn't were it needed to be, that's 24 hours again. You need to be as safe as possible when it comes to mixing salt, because salt is caustic to livestock and can burn and damage their gills and other parts.