proper water changing procedure

[philly]

i know this sounds stupid but i want to make sure i know the proper way to add water to my 90 gal. reef setup

 

[seafan]

Look at monster island forum.

 

[MattP725]

If you are just adding all you have to do is add RO/DI water to your tank... The salt shouldn't really evaporate so adding more will just increase the levels. If you are talking chaning then that is kinda a different thing. In that case just get a gravel vac (could just use a syphon but kill two birds with one stone) and vac the bed until you are about 10-20% down. Before you do that you have to have the other water prepared though. It is best to let it aerate first. Some people put RO/DI water into a bucket... fix the salt mixture to the desired level... and run a powerhead to help with aeration. Also you can (are supposed to) heat the water before hand but honestly if it is a small change I usually don't. You just can't flex the temp too much cause it is stressful for the fish. I am not sure if I am forgetting anything. I actually bought a brand new (obviously has to be) gasoline container that holds six gallons of water. Obviously that is a bit more than 10% of a 55 gallon so I do a change about once a week since it isn't much. Makes pouring much easier because of the spout. I was sick of spilling the bucket on myself . Also easier to store away than a bucket because it is taller and thinner.

 

[phases99]

In that case just get a gravel vac (could just use a syphon but kill two birds with one stone) and vac the bed until you are about 10-20% down.

If you have a sand bed you probably want to skip this step. With a sufficient clean up crew and good water flow you should not have any debris on the sand to vacuum. CC will need periodic vacuuming.

 

[MattP725]

Ya, I have a sandbed but I don't have a good crew yet (and I have part CC in mine) so I do vac. You do lose a sizable amount of sand while vacing but I use Atlantic Ocean sand in my tank and it looks as good as store bought and I haven't had any issues with bacteria or any matter like that (I have a descent beach in the area that is untouched by dirtbags). Point being sand is free for me.

 

[philly]

what the hell is ro and di

 

[philly]

what the hell is ro and di

 

[philly]

what the hell is ro and di

 

[Lindsikins00]

ro-reverse osmosis
di- distilled

 

[Lindsikins00]

errr deionized

 

[MattP725]

RO/DI is reverse osmosis and deionized water. It is the best water for your tank. You can either buy it from local grociery stores or you can get a unit for your home that does the same job. Many people who are starting out just use the declorinating chemicals but that really isn't healthy for the tank because there are so many other elements in the water that should be removed.

 

[Lindsikins00]

ro-reverse osmosis
di-dionized

I thought dionized was the same as distilled, but not 100%

 

[MattP725]

Not really. Distilled is like the most basic form of purifying water. While I don't remember how it is done... I am pretty sure that everything in the water is just killed off or neutralized. where as ro/di is removed from the water.

 

[MattP725]

BTW distilled is arguably better than using tap water but ro/di is ideal.

 

[philly]

ya but how do i make tap water into ro or di water?

 

[BillyZ]

you need an RO/DI filter. you can get them at lots of online retailers or some LFS. They're typically 100-200 US.


distilled water is actually made by boiling water. The steam is collected and passed through a cooling tube where it then condenses and returns to liquid form. Most impurities etc are not carried with the steam so the water is then purer than it was originally. Distilled would be better, but RO/DI would be best.