Hah! Joe sent me to "chemistry class"! All this fun on the forums inspired me to do a water change tonight all by myself! My husband was sick and I just HAD to do it and it was such a mess! Plus, I won't sleep tonight worrying that I did something wrong and all my fish will be dead in the morning. Here's what I do when I change the water - I know there will be a laundry list of things I did wrong but I want you to tell me anyway! Here's your challenge: I have five sons - 3 married (one in Iraq) with two grandchildren due in January, an 8 year old with high functioning autism (who LOVES the tank), and a 3 year old MONSTER! All this to say that my time and finances are extremely limited - my dream is to survive 'til the last kid's out of school so I can have cool stuff like you guys have!!! You have to give me goals that I can actually achieve.... ready?? 55 gal FOWLR, biowheel 330, prism protein skimmer, powerhead, $30.00 lightbulb, 30 lbs live rock, 4 fish, 3 shrimp, 4 crabs. 3 snails, and a starfish. *I take out my decorative coral (3 pieces and some barnacles) and soak them in bleach water and rinse well. *Wash down the hood, lids, light fixture, nozzles on the equipment. *Wash the inside glass with a clean washcloth (!) until the slimy brown & green stuff is gone. *Get 2 empty buckets and the horrible siphon hose vacuum and start filling them alternately (while my nephew dumps them outside). *Mix 3-4 gallons at a time of salt, tap water, & chlorine remover and dump it in until it's almost full. (Usually between 25-40% water change) *Add marine buffer. *Change the filter cartridges. *Rearrange rock & decoration. *Let it filter overnight and then check the salt before I add the last of the water (to adjust salt level as needed) *test kit the next day to allow it to settle a bit (ammonia, ph, nitrate, nitrite). There has got to be a better way! I might get to buy new equipment for Christmas.. what do I need to do in the meantime and what is the next important purchase for my little waterworld? Ready....? GO :!:
A mag float is best for this. I wouldn't use a wash cloth inside the tank. The fish are very sensitive to checmicals that might still be in it. You can use an aquarium glass scraper or razor blade to get the hard green agae off. Be very careful around the silicone tho. Get you a new plastic garbage can, an aquarium pump and a hose (at Lowes) long enough to reach your tub or sink. Use the pump and hose to pump the water from the tank to your sink or tub. Be sure to run water in the sink or tub for a little bit. Salt water is hard on pipes. You can have your new water mixed in the new garbage can, then just pump it into your tank. Make sure your temp is right first. LOT easier and faster! RO/DI water is the best. Tap water contain's a lot of medals and chemicals that are not good. That is probably what could be causing part of your algae problem. Most of our Pet stores sell it reasonably. Do you add water when your water level get's low? If so your water should stay at 1.025. If your new water is mixed the same your Gravity should be ok. Hope this helps
Have you ever checked your nitrate and phosphate levels? Sounds like they could be high if you're using unfiltered tap water which is contributing to the algae problems. Here's how we do our water changes on our 46g tank. The actual water change takes about 20 minutes: - mix up three to four 5-gallon buckets of 1.025 saltwater using reverse osmosis/de-ionized water (RO/DI) and Reef Crystals at least 24 hrs in advance. I use Maxi-Jet 1200s to mix the water in the buckets. Using a DI-only filter (look for a product called the Tap Water Filter at your LFS) is very good as well and is much cheaper and doesn't waste water like RO. - we use a MJ1200 to pump water from the tank into buckets for disposal and then replace the tank water with the new saltwater using the same MJ1200 to pump the other direction. We do pretty much the same on our 120g except we drain the water directly to the sink drain.
To answer your question about what to get to help things, you don't really need much. I would get: - water filter (Tap Water Filter should be around $40, a full RO/DI system runs ~$120-$200 and more) - regular water changes Also if it was me and my lazy self, I wouldn't have decorations that need bleaching on a regular basis to look good. That's just too much work. Have you thought about replacing them with more live rock?
I agree with the trashcan idea. Pick up a Maxi Jet 1200 powerhead at the LFS to use as your pump. Take the little impeller cover with you to Lowes or Home Depot and find some tubing (usually around plumbing aisle) that fits snugly on the nozzle. you might grab a hose clamp just in case. Here is an idea if you have a window or door nearby, just run the end of the hose outside. No carting buckets. RO/DI water is the best, but (I know everyone is going to go nuts when I say this :roll: ) you can use tap water. As long as you use a water conditioner you should be safe except for phosphates and nitrates in the tap water. You might pick yourself up a phosphate test kit or have your fish store test your tap water for Ammonia, nitrate, phosphate. I know that the tap water at my mom's house has a phosphate level of 2ppm out of the tap. This can cause problems with nuisance algae. You should check the salinity before adding it to the tank hence the reason for mixing your saltwater 24 hours ahead of time. This is probably the most important improvement you could make and will save you much heartache!
Beanhead is right that many people (me especially) will go nuts about you using tap water. I would just recommend that you migrate to purchasing RO/DI water or getting a filter as your next major purchase. The idea of anything unknown, particularly the possibility of metals being added to my aquarium scares me. You need to be doing lots of water changes to counteract how fast they can build up. For more info come to the Reef Fest event and I will be discussing this in my presentation, or just ask me.
Here I go hijacking another thread... I live in an apartment and have wanted to invest in an RO/DI unit, but am concerned about the ramifications of installing one under my sink. Will the unit have any irreparable (or otherwise expensive to repair) effects on the plumbing once I move out and take the unit with me? It is my understanding that I have to pierce through the pipes to install it, but I'm not so sure that I would know how to change them out or repair them if/when the unit were moved.
depending on how often and how much water that you use, you can get a adapter to go the the water faucet itself. It will just be a little more of a hassle.
I would recommend mentioning it to your land lord before piercing any pipes. Too much risk of being held liable if something were to go wrong. Otherwise go with the directly connected to the faucet solution.
you can get a garden hose Y and use it in your laundry to hook up the RODI. just get the water faucet adapter and hook it up to the cold water side of the washing machine. and you can run the waste down the waste line for the washing machine. just a thought.
Get the hose bib adapter (you know the one that connects the tubing to a water hose connection) and then get a WYE ("Y") adapter valve for a water hose and put your unit in the washroom and connect it to your washer connections. stick the waste line down the washer drain and you are done. No permanent anything
Back to seeless thread. Stick with RO/DI water. Get you a couple od 5 gallon buckets or large water containers, Throw the family in the car and make a morning out of running down to Northside and get a couple of weeks worth of water. They sell premixed and just plain top off water. You can also pick up anything thing elso that a salt wter addict might need. This is what I have to do. I also live in Russellville. And am hoping to get a RODI system for my Bday
