First water change help

[surfandshine77]

Hi guys; I'm about to do my first water change in a couple of hours.. i made my own salt water with natures ocean salt mix and i was wondering if i needed to actually heat the water thats going in my tank. i know you HAVE to do it when you have fish,corals,inverts but all i have is live rock and one little snail hitchhiker in there. Also i was wondering how much of a water change i should do for the first one.. i have a TON of diatoms and the water is cloudy...

Thank you for your help

 

[Bectan01]

What kind of water are you using to mix? You could get away with not heating this time but I would do it anyway, you will need to get into the habit of doing it when you have livestock. As for how big a change, I take it you've just finished your cycle? What are your nitrates at? Usually you would have high nitrates at the end of the cycle so a large water change is needed - perhaps 30 -40% ? Depends on your readings...

 

[mr_X]

If the water is cloudy, i would do a pretty large change also. BTW, you should really let the water mix overnight (and in that time be heated) with livestock present.

 

[surfandshine77]

My nitrates were at 40 ppm so i did a 30% water change and i do know about mixing the water and letting it sit over night . I am going to start doing that i just need to go buy a large container for it. My water is starting to clear up a lot. The water change was needed. Thank you guys for your help!