How Do You Do Your Saltwater Waterchanges?

So I am planning on setting up a 65G (36x18x25) saltwater aquarium for my green spot puffer. I plan to have a HOB protein skimmer and HOB Fluval 70, do not plan to have a sump. I think it will be just him in there. I think I will keep the salinity at 1.022 when he gets 4"+, he is about 3" now. I will probably try to give him a tank mate, maybe like a damsel or two (just something small and cheap), but if things go south I can always set up like a 20 gallon tank for them.

One problem I have thought about is the best way to do a water change. This is the main reason I do not want to do a large reef tank is because I don't want to be a slave to mixing salt and whatnot, plus salt costs money.

My idea is to have a 20 gallon tank (inside of the stand) that I pre-mix saltwater for so it is ready to go for water changes. I plan to have a small submersed pump I can just run to pump the water into. As for draining I will mark the tank to 20 gallons with something to signify where 20 gallons drained is so it is consistent every time.

This is just my current idea since I have never done saltwater, but I am open to any other suggestions or criticism with this plan! Thank your for reading and feedback is appreciated!

 

My GSP is pretty friendly, other than a bit of fin nipping. I'd look into damsels and more aggressive clowns.

I always just mix my saltwater in a 5 gallon bucket. When doing large WCs, it's a pain, but for your average change, it's easy. A good salt will mix clear in just a few minutes, so I can mix 5 gallons of SW in about 3 minutes. It's really not bad.

 

Most salt mixes very quickly, and Red Sea advises not to mix water more than 4 hours, so I wouldn’t stress about making plans to store lots of water.

If I planned on 20g water changes, I’d buy a smaller brute trash can (like the 25-35 range), put it on a roller, and use it for mixing/transferring.

As for cost, keep in mind that Chewy has super cheap Instant Ocean/Reef Crystals, and PetCo will price match, so a 50gal bag of salt comes in under $14. I see no need to drop lots of money on TropicMarin, or any of the blends targeted at reef keeping.

 

Most salt mixes very quickly, and Red Sea advises not to mix water more than 4 hours, so I wouldn’t stress about making plans to store lots of water.

If I planned on 20g water changes, I’d buy a smaller brute trash can (like the 25-35 range), put it on a roller, and use it for mixing/transferring.

As for cost, keep in mind that Chewy has super cheap Instant Ocean/Reef Crystals, and PetCo will price match, so a 50gal bag of salt comes in under $14. I see no need to drop lots of money on TropicMarin, or any of the blends targeted at reef keeping.

The tank is going to be in the living room (on carpet), so can't do a trash bin, and I suppose I could just have it mixing the day I plan to do the w/c. Have like a little powerhead in there blowing it around just to mix up.

 

I usually keep a bin of rodi water on stand by since it takes a while to make, then just mix up some salt in a bucket with a power head when needed.

 

Ball pump siphon to drain and pond pump for refill. Here is mine in action:

 

I usually do a gravel vac, with a 5gal bucket RO nearby with some instant ocean salt in it (About 1/2 cup per gallon but I pretty much eyeball it). I mix it with my hand, let it dissolve, and if it's at right salinity, I fill the tank back up with it.

 

So I am planning on setting up a 65G (36x18x25) saltwater aquarium for my green spot puffer. I plan to have a HOB protein skimmer and HOB Fluval 70, do not plan to have a sump. I think it will be just him in there. I think I will keep the salinity at 1.022 when he gets 4"+, he is about 3" now. I will probably try to give him a tank mate, maybe like a damsel or two (just something small and cheap), but if things go south I can always set up like a 20 gallon tank for them.

One problem I have thought about is the best way to do a water change. This is the main reason I do not want to do a large reef tank is because I don't want to be a slave to mixing salt and whatnot, plus salt costs money.

My idea is to have a 20 gallon tank (inside of the stand) that I pre-mix saltwater for so it is ready to go for water changes. I plan to have a small submersed pump I can just run to pump the water into. As for draining I will mark the tank to 20 gallons with something to signify where 20 gallons drained is so it is consistent every time.

This is just my current idea since I have never done saltwater, but I am open to any other suggestions or criticism with this plan! Thank your for reading and feedback is appreciated!

After a 40+ year hiatus from Salts, I'm back! Things sure have changed.

I have a 50 gal Jajale high now, a sump in the stand. Fantastic system. Tank base & stand platform are predrilled for the plumbing. A 1 1/2" corner drain tube, w/ overflow at the height of the tank, has a built-in 1/2" return pipe inside The under-tank plumbing has the intake to the sump & a 1/4" flex drain line which is combined. So I drain 9 gal. in a 10 gal. plastic tub. A seperate 10 gal, tub that ran for 2-3 days has replacement water, with a small pump and a heater. I use those flat coasters to move that tub in place. I shut off my sump intake line while I pump the clean water into the sump. It works out ok. Less that 25 minutes total

 

I have a 23 gl tank in my cabinet that is a dedicated mixing tank, I have 50 gl plastic tank that I fill with ro/di filtered water, I pump 23 gl of water using a hose to the 23 gl tank, mix 11 cups of salt for how ever long it takes to get the specific gravity to 1.026, I usually plan well ahead so it could be mixing over night or 3 or 4 hours depending on my schedule, when the water is ready, I use a Mag 3 attached to a garden hose and pump 23 gl of water from my display to my shower which is about 10 ft away then pump the new batch of saltwater to my sump and into my display. If the water is ready it takes 15 minutes to do it, no buckets, you have to make water changes as easy as possible or you won’t do it. I do them every two weeks and it’s easy.

you say salt is expensive, yes it is but if you do nothing else water changes is essential, I use Ro/di, I keep my glass clean of Algea, my 3 Tangs will keep the Algae down in the tank, I run carbon and Gfo, and do regular water changes and my tank is very good except for my Phosphate level which is .25 My coraline is amazing, Calc 480, dkh 8, 1.026, temp 79 with the chiller running 24/7 in the summer, ph 8.3, nitrate 0, I have a bubble king 180 skimmer and a ATS running from 10 pm TIL 10am

 

My tank is twice the size, but I do this:
1. I have a 32 gallon trash can on a wheeled card. I make my RO/DI into this up to a mark of 25 gallons.
2. I add the salt and a cheap wave maker, and mix until all salt disappears. Adjust salinity by adding water as needed.
3. At change time I use a siphon to allow me to vacuum my sand, and remove 25 gallons.
4. I have a cheap pump and use it to pump the water from the trash can to the sump, where it gets pumped up to the display tank.

Making the RO/DI takes a while but the actual change is around 30-45 minutes for the 25 gallon change. I personally mix over 4 hours and can't see how that could matter, as it will keep circulating in the tank after adding as well.

Dan

 

So I am planning on setting up a 65G (36x18x25) saltwater aquarium for my green spot puffer. I plan to have a HOB protein skimmer and HOB Fluval 70, do not plan to have a sump. I think it will be just him in there. I think I will keep the salinity at 1.022 when he gets 4"+, he is about 3" now. I will probably try to give him a tank mate, maybe like a damsel or two (just something small and cheap), but if things go south I can always set up like a 20 gallon tank for them.

One problem I have thought about is the best way to do a water change. This is the main reason I do not want to do a large reef tank is because I don't want to be a slave to mixing salt and whatnot, plus salt costs money.

My idea is to have a 20 gallon tank (inside of the stand) that I pre-mix saltwater for so it is ready to go for water changes. I plan to have a small submersed pump I can just run to pump the water into. As for draining I will mark the tank to 20 gallons with something to signify where 20 gallons drained is so it is consistent every time.

This is just my current idea since I have never done saltwater, but I am open to any other suggestions or criticism with this plan! Thank your for reading and feedback is appreciated!

That’s about it . I use brute cans 2 30gallons on dollies.One with RO and one with salt. I mix the day before and add a power head and heater.when I do my w/c,I just use a regular gravel vac with ball pump to remove 25 gallons and a small return pump in my salt bucket to put it back. Done