# Water Changes on large tanks



## buzz1167 (Sep 23, 2011)

So to anyone who has a tank that is 80G or more. How do you do your water changes? I'm still buying for my 210G tank, but in a month or so it will be filled with water. I'm daunted by the task of changing the water. 
Right now I use a 5Gal bucket, which is a bit more than 5 gallons, but that's neither here nor there. I will have 210Gal with a 55 Gal sump.

I also treat all the water with decholrinator or the combo dechlor + bacteria. Is this excessive in a big tank? What do you do on the big ones? RO?

Regards,


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## Ghost Knife (Mar 12, 2008)

buzz1167 said:


> So to anyone who has a tank that is 80G or more. How do you do your water changes? I'm still buying for my 210G tank, but in a month or so it will be filled with water. I'm daunted by the task of changing the water.
> Right now I use a 5Gal bucket, which is a bit more than 5 gallons, but that's neither here nor there. I will have 210Gal with a 55 Gal sump.
> 
> I also treat all the water with decholrinator or the combo dechlor + bacteria. Is this excessive in a big tank? What do you do on the big ones? RO?
> ...


I change about 20% of my water every 2 weeks in my 125G. I change the filter cartridges every other cleaning so once every 4 weeks otherwise they become over-saturated. I also use Tap Water Conditioner with my water I add back to the tank. I have been doing this for over 2 years without any problems.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

I have one hose with an electric, submersible powehead to pump water out of tanks and a second hose with shutoff on both ends and a hose adapter y to put on the sink. Would you guess my largest tank is 75? Its a big help, esp. when I want to drain and refill a tank with no fish. For small changes I often just use buckets. Filling directly from the tap is doable, but somewhat risky. You dose the tank with enough dechlor for the whole volume, adjust the temp and hope today's water isn't too far off in pH or low in oxygen.


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

they no longer make the python ; but aqueon has a pretty nice one...drain and fill with one unit and no buckets to carry....


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

I fill with the aqueon one. I'm on my second hose. I replaced the suction part with a y. Draining with water siphon is too slow and it wastes water, furthermore the right-angle bend slows the filling hose too much. A 45 degree bend in a y means faster filling. You can buy a water-bed fill kit that is awfully similar to aqueon one.


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## buzz1167 (Sep 23, 2011)

Ok so, would switching just the sump tank water be sufficient then? I could keep it reasonably isolated that way. Lets say I put a T in the Pump line and two shutoff valves, one for the tank and one for a dump line.

Hook up the dump line to an outside hose and just swap the shutoff valves when i want to dump it. Since it'll have some chambers, I'll probably also have to do some creative piping to make it all drain...

I could just dose the pump chamber with dechlor, tap a straight cold water line and fill the sump tank. Turn the pump back on in 30 minutes after the heaters have figured everything out, right? Will the bacteria in the sump take a hit like that, complete drain and fill? I don't really know, I would obviously fill from the pumping side as to take the dechlor with it.

Am I missing something? I still don't know how to properly correct for PH. If its only changing 20% could I just fix it later? Or is the PH varying that much bad? Ive heard someone say that it is...

Does an RO system take out chlorine?

Thanks for the input so far,


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Ok, so you'd replace the 55 gallons in the sump and leave the 210 alone. That is about 20% of the water in the system. 

Advantages: you can isolate the water, treat only the water you add (save on dechor), adjust the water chem if needed, and the temp (a heater in the sump is good practice) before you send it to the tank.

Disadvantage: You filtration is in the sump, so you may be turning off the pump (or recirculating) and hitting your filter bacteria, however briefly, with chlorine. 

Still, its probably the way to go. Draining the sump will be like cleaning a filter and get out the gunk. Fast the fish on water change day to give the filter time to recover. 

RO does take out chlorine, but it takes out everything else, too. You either blend RO with tap water or use a supplement like Equilibrium to put back needed minerals. Fishkeepers mostly use RO for softwater fish like discus where the water supply is hard.

Most tap water is pretty consistent. if you pick fish that like your water parameters, you don't need to adjust it. But occasionally a water company will switch water supplies without warning because of drought or a problem. If they go from a lake to a well or vice-versa, the pH and hardness can swing a lot. The also do fun things like switching to chloramine from chlorine. 20% water changes are less likely to kill fish than larger ones, but you will have to be regular about them and keep up with them.

Fishkeepers who keep fish in water different from there tap often have a pre-treatment water container so they can adjust the parameters away from the fish. Spot checking temp, pH and TDS (electronic pens are easy to use) before opening the valves would be good practice even if you don't adjust anything.

How cold is your cold water? A heater that keeps 265 gallons warm will likely warm 55 fairly quickly, but your filter would be 'out of the loop' until it does.


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## Invic (Sep 20, 2011)

My Favorite way to water change is no lifting with a chair 

The easy step guide to being a lazy bum.

1) Buy 2-3 5 gallon buckets or 2 15 gallon tubs.
2) Buy a pond pump (usually cheap and gets the job done) 
3) Buy clear flex hose Enough to reach from your tank to your bath tub (add some footage to make it a bit easier)


Basically I stick the pump on the inside of my tank in the water column. Run the hose to my bath tub and plug it in, and watch the water go away 

Then pull the pump, and sit on the side of your bathtub, fill buckets or tubs with water (Watch your temperature, slightly colder is better then to hot, as your heater can help pick up the slack) Add in your Prime/Decholr as the buckets fill up. Personally I try to stir them around, and make sure the dechlor has had time to work. 

Drop your pump in a bucket pump it down as you fill the next bucket. When your pump breaks the surface, move it to the new bucket/tub. Take the remaining water, that which the pump could not get out, and slowly pour it into the new bucket the pump is in, until gone. Then fill and rotate and repeat. Pump GPH is the only factor. 

When using the pumps the pond pumps frequently have 10-15+ Foot cords so its easier to get them plug in. Their cheap, but remember to watch the vertical pump height, and GPH. Good rule of thumb is get one 25%-50% higher GPH and Pumping height then you need. The distance your pumping and height your pumping to will greatly lower the pumps speed/GPH.

My 55g I use a $30 pond pump 300-400GPH with a 6'6" Pump height, with 35' of 1/2" hose ($8). After swapping water a few times I can tell how many buckets I need just by a glance, or you can discreetly mark increments on the tank in a back corner.

I 100% cycle the water in the tank (I do not do this, just an example) In about 10mins. I just sit on the edge of my Tub and move a bucket under the faucet once in awhile and move the pump back and forth. Its really painless.


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## buzz1167 (Sep 23, 2011)

I'm worried about the question that you have about how cold the cold water is, I'm betting I'll have to run a cold and hot line that I can adjust, probably just put a mixer valve on it like a faucet and mess with it periodically throughout the year. I'll still be doing water changes in the winter, so I'm betting the cold water will get down to 40-50.

What if I were not drop the entire RO idea but just use the Sediment (5-10 mcron) and Block carbon filter from to de-chlorinate and remove "big" stuff? They usually have good specs on how long they last, and I don't think their too expensive. That would cut down on at least one thing I have to do.

If I did those two things it would probably cut down tremendously on the hit to the bacteria. What do you think? Is just removing the water a big enough problem? I think if i went this route i could also use the filtered water to top off the tank automatically with a float valve.

Looking at this setup, actually, Pretty cheap to replace dechlor for a year and save the bacteria every time. Plus you could actually do the whole house 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Whole-House...all_Kitchen_Appliances_US&hash=item25682a9d5d

float valve, probably want a backup solenoid too...
http://www.ebay.com/itm/shut-off-Fl...all_Kitchen_Appliances_US&hash=item19c53e4263


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

is there any reason why you are going about this water change thing in such a complicated manner ? i mean ; it is very simple...water out....water in....10 gallon or 210 gallon..it doesn't matter...anything less than 40% i don't dechlorinate...but that doesn't mean everybody should do it like that...i live in Cleveland Ohio...i use nothing but good old cleveland tap water....i don't screw with it..no ph up or down..none of that stuff...
the more you mess with stuff...doesn't matter chemical or mechanical...the more problems that you create for yourself.....mainly because when something goes wrong(and it will) it is a lot of extra hassle to resolve the issue.....
you are only doing a water change....keep it simple...
get yourself a cheap garden hose and a pond pump and a fitting that adapts a garden hose to your sink..kitchen or bath...drain and fill..easy as that..


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## Guest (Oct 17, 2011)

5 galling bucket kills, back pain. 
Best way is to use a water pump with a 3/4 bulk head.
Y 3/4? Will all outside water hose will fit. 
25 ft for $5 is cheap, no need for $20 hose.
25ft is enought.
Small water pump $20 shipped is good as long you ain't pumping 10ft up.
Another thing is make sure to panties hose the water hose.


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## Mikaila31 (Nov 29, 2009)

Why are you all using a waterpump? I use a clear vinyl hose that cost me 30 cents a foot. Just picked the right adapters for shower heard and to attach the other end to a regular gravel vac. I drain just with regular siphon into bathtub, this has always been plenty fast for me. To refill I just unscrew the shower head and attach the hose to refill the tank. I get temp in the general range. I use to use a sink adapter, but it was a lot more hassle. The shower also has a LOT more water pressure behind it then the sink I use to use. I run the shower valve maybe 1/3 to 1/2 way open and it does about 25 gallons in 10 minuets. Any faster and I would need a wider hose. 

As far as dechlor, some people find they don't need it too much. If you use dechlor as recommended it can get kinda pricey, even decent priced ones like prime. Looking into your source water is really important. You have mentioned RO and all these other filter system, yet why do you think you need these? What is wrong with your tap water? And 'bacteria' treatment is a waste of money right from the start. I can't see the hassle and cost of RO to make up for the savings on dechlor. 

So look into your tap water. If you have been using it up to this point I would assume it is fine. If chlorine is the only issue you are looking to fix then figure out what is in your water first, chlorine or chloramines. An optional step would be to fined a friend that has a pool and borrow the chlorine test kit to test your tap. Remembering chlorine likes to evaporate pretty quickly. The max levels in your tap for either of these compounds is 4ppm I believe. Most tap water at your faucet contains 0.5ppm or less, but not always. Most dechlors neutralize MUCH more then required at regular doses. Prime neutralizes over 3ppm chlorine at regular 'recommended' dose. If you know you have only 0.5ppm chlorine then only 1/6 of the dechlor you added is actually doing something. The rest is extra or simply waste. If you treat for only the water you added and to only neutralize the amount of chlorine present, dechlors can last many times longer then what they say on the bottles. 

Also if you just have simple chlorine and no chloramines present. A dirt cheap way to dechlor is to buy dry sodium thiosulfate(the active ingredient) and mix your own dechlor. I bought a pound of this a few months ago for under $6, but haven't gotten around to using it yet. That pound should last a long time considering its enough to treat 250,000 gallons if not more.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

> Why are you all using a waterpump?


Bottom tanks. 

A tank about 4" off the floor tanks forever to siphon by gravity unless I run the hose out the window and down the hill.


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

uuuuggghhhh....emc..don't remind me of that...i have many tanks at floor level.....lol


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## buzz1167 (Sep 23, 2011)

Ok so it sounds like some dechlor, some don't, I think I'm gonna go with the carbon filter in a mixed hot/cold line to the sump only (20%) and call it done. Apparently no-one cares about ph in a freshwater tank. Sounds like it will be quite simple with just a little setup.

Thanks guys.


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## FlyFish (Nov 21, 2010)

I just use a garden hose to pump out water on my 100g.... and then use the garden hose from the outside to fill it back up. I add Prime after it's full. There is very little temp fluctuation, since it doesn't stay too cold in Houston for very long.


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## kay-bee (Dec 6, 2006)

I use a python to perform weekly 50-60% water changes on my 180gal aquarium and smaller FW tanks.


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