How I Do Water Changes On My Reef Tanks (Manual & Automatic)

[@ProxoDJ]

I run the RODI tubing through the house to fill up my ATO container every 3-4week, the tubing is bright blue after all so if somebody falls over it it's there own fault :D

[@-CliveBixby-]

I like this "Rolli" under . Greetings from Tübingen/Germany, danke für deine Videos. Always useful.

[@MTXCraze]

I always love how everyone has their own method for changes. mine takes about 20 mins. I just roll a hose outside, hand pump start a siphon. While that is draining i roll out my brute can filled with new water and by that time its done draining so i start filling with a maxijet from the can. I then roll up the hose and again by that time its done filling, so i just roll everything back into the water room. done.

[@pjshooter6]

I also do a reservoir with saltwater, 30g and have an ato float valve on it. I syphon 5gal a day out of my display, then let thes float valve top the sump off. I've got a cutoff valve on the hose and shut my freshwater ato off via timer to keep the right one going in. This takes about 10min of my time to do each day. 1200gal system.

[@CarlEves]

Glad I’ve seen this. I’ve always wanted to make a large amount of premixed water to make it easier. I was told though if you do that it starts to deteriorate pretty quickly. Looking at your tanks that’s obviously not the case. 👍🏻

[@ReefDork]

BRS did an experiment on that - some salt mixes maintain their parameters better than others...

[@poor_mansreef8908]

Alkalinity will always drop no matter what. Its because the water is just sitting with low ph and carbonic acid starts eating away. I check my storage bins alkalinity once a month.

[@marcopalazzo9349]

@@ReefDork BRS video is a good watch for anyone who wants to store Salt water.

[@whatsgoodmyguy4391]

I never understood the temperature kooks... Real saltwater waves are both hot and cold

[@Hulltiger_Aquatics]

I do love my reefloat AWC aswell 👍 I only do water change every other week though, but I'm just lazy 🤣

[@insectkiller2005]

Anti glug Jerry cans are great.

[@ReefDork]

Good shout - they look great!

[@masonj19]

I wouldnt really call that an automatic water change. Seems like it's still a bit of a hassle to be fair. I use Autoaqua automatic water changer or you can use something similar with the old water pumped in to a sink drain and new water straight from my salt water mixing and storage. Easy and literally need to do nothing except mix

[@Mikebarry83]

On my nano I drop my ato pump into a barrel of premixed salt water and use my TMC drip acclimator to slowly remove water into an empty barrel, it changes around 10itres an hour and after an hour or two I just remove the drip acclimator and put the pump back into my rodi reservoir.. job done! P.S loving your videos

[@paulmansell8393]

Great video, I need you up my water change game, manual water changes are horse work and give me a bad back.

[@gap9992]

I follow the manual method. I syphon out into a bucket because it's an opportunity to clean the sand bed a bit, although I always seem to dump some sand on corals! It's easy to take out exactly the right amount of water this way I make my RODI in the garage so if it's a lot colder than the tank I just microwave a bowl or two of it until it feels bout the same as in the sump Putting back I just use a small bowl to transfer from bucket to sump and then tip what's left in the bucket straight into the tank The buckets stack inside each other and other stuff sits in a bucket so quite efficient on storage. The only electric device needed for the job is the mixing powerhead - a cheapy form Amazon

[@PracticalReefer]

Nice video! Been looking at one of the reefloats, now I'm getting a bigger tank to save time and hassle 👍

[@TofuInc]

Pressurized RO tank makes everything quicker. I have 2 150gpd membranes in a water saver configuration with a 6 gallon tank and the auto shutoff. It's just like turning on my faucet until I use ~4 gallons of RO water. Very convenient to have pressurized RO water to be able to spray things off. I have it setup behind my fridge and use it for ice and drinking water as well. Just have a coiled hose I can pull out T'ed into it to fill containers.

[@PazLeBon]

buit 6 gallon is tiny?

[@c3dpo]

❤️ my Reefloat, but why not just use the outlet of it to mix the salt? I just dump that in there switch to normal and it will mix perfectly so no need for powerhead in there 😜

[@ReefDork]

I'm always paranoid the hose will come out and spray water everywhere! Unlikely I know but it makes me feel better!

[@cripnikka86]

I always do my water change less than 20 minutes. I have marked my display tank to see where is the waterline to do 10% 20% and 40% water change. 1. Bring my mixing container filled with RO/DI next to my tank. This container is also marked, so I know how much fresh water do I need for a 10% 20% or 40% water change. 2. I also use digital scale to measure how much salt do I need 3. Put a wave maker in the mixing container, while waiting for the salt to completely dissolved. And then turn off the return pump, clean the glass, turkey baster the detritus off the LR, and sand. 4. Drain the water from the tank with Sicce Ultra Zero (dump water outside the house) 5. By the time I have finished draining the water from the display tank, the saltwater in the mixing container is ready, check the salinity real quick with the digital refractometer 6. Fill back the display tank with Sicce Ultra Zero. I've got to admit that this pump is a QoL to my reefing hobby in terms of water change. I used to spend more than 45 minutes doing water change, draining with phyton, and then use maxijet to fill back the tank (through the sump), not mention that the maxijet can't drain the water completely, so I have to it manually dump the water back to sump / display tank.

[@alexl.9317]

Why not use a hose to dump the water directly to drain and fill the tank from a barrel, for salt water, identical to the one of your automatic water change system? It is way faster and you spend lest time being active and on the maintenance overall. Waiting two hours, even if not actively doing anything is nuts. For me is water out, few minutes, water in few minutes and in about 10-15 max all the water change is done. Also, don't loose the 10%. I have some pressurized RO reservoirs (can't fit a gravity fed one) that provide about 50L of RO at any time.

[@enzomontini758]

Iv got a 200 litre barrel for rodi in the garage and a 100 litre barrel for salt water I put my rodi machine on every Saturday on a timer 3 hours producing 2 hours rest and 3 hours back on etc so Iv always got 300 litres ready and available,, I drain the tank with a hose outside and pump the heated salt water back in

[@sdavey10]

Very useful RD, thank you very much.....

[@sammora470]

Love this, cheers

[@jules2545]

Alex, I have been following your Kalkwaser series and was wondering what happens to your pH when you water change?

[@ReefDork]

Nothing!

[@markleong6004]

I once did the same like you and measured the right amount of salt before mixing. 4 months down and my salinity tested 1.015 and almost crashed the tank. Turns out that the salt content is not consistent in every batch. I test my salinity everytime now regardless how small a water change I do.

[@ReefDork]

Hmm, not sure that's right to be honest...

[@Lee-he2qp]

More likely your scales went out of calibration or your salt absorbed more moisture from the air, so affected the weight.

[@smokeandkippers]

I’m looking forward to seeing your video on your RO unit as mine takes 4 hours in winter to produce just 20 litres! One question as well if you don’t mind on the Reef Float. Does it turn off automatically after the water change or sound an alarm? I’m really considering the same size version as yours together with the Auto Shut Off for filling it for my 100l tank as sometimes my nitrates get to 20ppm and the smaller Reef Float won’t make a dent in it. £300 though. Ooooof!!

[@ReefDork]

The pump turns off after 2 hours - no alarm, but the display changes so I just set a timer on my phone to remind me

[@smokeandkippers]

@@ReefDork 👍🏻

[@smokeandkippers]

@@ReefDork Thanks. One last question! Can I half fill it and then turn it off manually after an hour assuming that’s roughly how long it takes to change 25 litres?

[@ReefDork]

@@smokeandkippers no, it'll just drain the other half from your tank - you have to get the right size AWC from the start...

[@smokeandkippers]

@@ReefDork gotcha. Cheers for taking the time out to answer. It’s my 50th coming up in May and I fancy a Reef Float. Maybe the smaller one will do but then I’ll kick myself if I upgrade to a larger tank!

[@jeremycummings0377]

Finally first comment! I bought the reefloat awc and LOVE it. What is the filter on top of your awc tank?

[@ReefDork]

It came with the AWC - I think they might have changed the design since. Not convinced it does much but I suppose it stops stuff potentially clogging the AWC pump.

[@PazLeBon]

Im always amazed how much effort some people seem to think doing water change sis nowadays lol I'm stupid so I keep it simple. My RO goes into a bin and when it reaches x amount of litres I add salt. with an average tank size of around 75 gallons per tank, its literally 3 10l watering cans to remove and fill :) Prob quicker than all the fangled tubes and pumps etc and 'greener' mf's

[@NihilusMike]

Noob question.... When you (and other content creators) talk about 450l or 120g, is that generally aquarium volume or is it total system volume? So if a tang needs 180g, is that the aquarium alone or total system volume needed? Cheers!

[@edwardenglish1330]

Usually its total system volume. My reefer 350 is a 90g but actual inhabitable volume is 75g

[@NihilusMike]

@@edwardenglish1330 Perfect, thanks - so my system volume would be my 450l aquarium, plus my 141l sump for a total volume of 591l. That's about 156 gallons, so should be ok for a purple tang?

[@ReefDork]

I mean total system volume. Swimming space is what matters for sizing fish so exclude the sump.

[@edwardenglish1330]

@@NihilusMike i have a yellow and blue tang in my 75g Its depends on a few things really How big it is, if it gets too big will you rehome… Both mine were smaller than clownfish when i bought them and now planning a larger tank Also think about you aquascape…they need alot of room to swim so less would be great

[@Mike__B]

Ok forget water changes, what's that orange clip on the bucket that holds the hose so that it won't accidentally (or purposefully as I feel they naturally want to ruin your floors by flopping out!) come out? That said, what's the math like on that 53 liter water "shuffle" ? How do you come up with that 10% number?

[@ReefDork]

😅 It came with the Fluval syphon thing. It doesn't fit very tight though so I don't really trust it. Maths wise, don't try to understand it, just accept it or your head will pop 😁

[@Mike__B]

@@ReefDork I'm just wondering if there's a rational for that number other than "I just felt like saying a number"

[@marklonghurst6443]

I also have that syphon with the clip thing. And your right….i dont fully trust it,however my hose has come out the bucket a lot less times since using it.

[@ReefDork]

@@Mike__B it's +/- 2%

[@Mike__B]

@@ReefDork Ok, I was really curious about this so I did run the math. It seems that the reduction of pollutants (or replenishing of "useful stuff") is about 10.5% with the water change of this size the way you do it versus 11.8% if you pulled 53 liters out and put 53 new liters back in. So yeah about 10%, and if I was doing this for water changes I wouldn't worry about that missing 1.3% difference. It's only when you start doing larger changes does the difference start to get that significant (like 1/3 volume change). Well done!

[@rudra7615]

Wait, so the automatic feeds water down to the tank and pumps new water into the same tank at the same time? So aren't you ending up with 50L that is mixed with your old water...which you dispose? Why not take 50l out from the tank into a new tank, and then put the new 50L? Did I miss something?

[@ReefDork]

You probably waste 5 litres of new water every week. But this way you only need one container.

[@rudra7615]

@@ReefDork I get it, the ease makes up for it and last thing you want is more empty tanks to store...but it's the mixing I query. Essentially with the auto water change, you are adding an extra 50l of new salt water, mixing it with the old and removing 50l so it is essentially diluting..do you think this contributes to the phosphate increase you keep having? I mean, if you were to siphon 50L out into a separate tank and then add 50l brand new salt water back in, would your phosphates/ would it be a far better way to do it? I wonder...🤔

[@ReefDork]

@@rudra7615 no, the reason I have high phosphate is 6 cubes of frozen and no Rowaphos 😅

[@Mg2hsuk]

Love your videos!!

[@stacywilliams1613]

Hey Alex...could you post your RO setup spec and please tell me where to buy the exact same?

[@Semustard1]

I’m trying to learn about water for saltwater tank as a newbie who wants to start but it’s pretty complicated, you make a lot of things easier to understand 👍 just wondering the difference between taking out saltwater and adding some new saltwater and having a container of rodi water that adds water to the tank to keep the level of the water correct?

[@ReefDork]

The RO/DI is just freshwater so it replaces the freshwater that evaporates throughout the day. When freshwater evaporates, it leaves the salt behind so you need to replace it with freshwater not saltwater. But replacing some saltwater with newly mixed saltwater is just a water change to freshen things up. I change 10% of the water volume each week.

[@Semustard1]

Thanks that helps a lot, just wondering if an RO filter will do or if I must have an RODI filter?

[@jbh613b]

I like your system. I see that you are using TM salt and was curious if you run your system parameters at the salt's default values or if you dose to bump up things like the Alk? I have a 25 gallon reservoir for my pre-mixed salt and find myself adding 2-part directly in there so that what I add as new salt is on par with my 8.8 alkalinity.

[@ReefDork]

Roughly, but I never test the salt and I don't pay any attention if my alk is much higher than the salt mix. No need to dose new salt mix 🙂

[@jbh613b]

@@ReefDork Makes sense. My TM salt mixes around 6.8-7.3 alk so its a decent amount lower than my display tank.

[@Saltydog547]

Only problem with automatic water change is you don't get to siphon the sandbed and remove any detritus from the tank. Only remove tank water.

[@pauldeacon8764]

That automatic water change looks great Alex! 😀👍👍

[@osmanlatif7427]

Your 5th week is painful running upstairs with a 10litre container. Have you thought of running your RO directly into that reservoir? Also I would chuck in a redundancy so Mrs Reef Dork doesn’t come home to an indoor swimming pool 😉

[@ReefDork]

Yeah, tried it but my booster pump was nowhere near strong enough!

[@tangbp1]

Hi I got some queries hope you can help advise the salt in the tank will still remain in the tank so when you do water change do you just add in RO/DI water only or still mix with salt? New to this hobby😅

[@ReefDork]

For water changes, because you're removing saltwater you need to replace it with saltwater. But when water evaporates (as it does throughout the day) you need to use freshwater (rodi) in your auto top off to replace that because as you say it's just freshwater that evaporates.

[@tangbp1]

@@ReefDork thanks for advice that’s mean I still need to mix salt with water to replace the water that I drain out Really thanks for your advice 👍

[@youronlycow]

hi. so you do 10% water change every how many weeks?

[@ReefDork]

Every week

[@Anomis2008]

Not sure if you’ll see this as your video is 2 months old but interested in your thoughts of making salt at home vs just buying all you water from a LFS I guess it depends on how close your LFS is and if you’re on a water meter or not. My LFS is 20 min drive away and sells 25l of RO for £3 and salt is £7 water changed take me 10-15min I just drain into an empty 25l Jerry can and then chuck the 25L full can fully into the sump. Do you ever vac your sand as the auto water changer obviously won’t be able to do it or does your clean up crew do a really good job of your sand?

[@ReefDork]

It's much, much cheaper to filter your own water regardless of whether you're on a meter or not. And your water will be better quality than what your LFS makes. I don't vac my sand.

[@jasonwright1753]

Am i overthinking the reefloat, seems very convenient but strange you'll be doing a water change to remove old water but essentially taking it out of the tank mixing it with the freshly made saltwater and pumping some of that back in, isng that weird? Or maybe you overcome that hurdle in my head by oversizing the unit so you do a 20% change instead of a 10%???

[@ReefDork]

It's a downside for sure, but in my opinion a small price to pay for the convenience. I still use this every week and I find it SOOO much easier than manual water changes! My tank holds about 450 litres of water so I use the 53 litre AWC which changes about 48 litres of water. So I get just over a 10% water change and I waste about 200g of salt powder per water change which costs about £0.60!

[@jasonwright1753]

@@ReefDork fair enough, my tank isnt that big, plus is close to the kitchen, i reckon i could get something together with a similar water storage container, pump it into the the tank whilst another same sized pump is pumping old water down the sink, not exactly automation but half the price and would take 10 minutes tops without waste or mixing old and new, might be a decent idea - what ya think...?

[@deancaffell]

Where can you buy the salt water mixing vat? TIA

[@ReefDork]

Reefloat.com for the AWC. Tanks direct for the vat

[@dawnbarrett7115]

How do you clean the reefloat auto water changer that's safe for the fish

[@ReefDork]

I fill it with ro and add Milton's fluid then let it run for an hour or two

[@dawnbarrett7115]

@@ReefDork thank you 😊

[@trojon]

Doesn't this reduce the amount of old water you're taking out? Seems really inefficient?

[@ReefDork]

Yep, if you run the maths it's about 90% efficient in theory compared to 100% efficiency of a manual change

[@bopeep7806]

Hey whens the vibrant vid going out mate ??

[@ReefDork]

Livestream Sunday at 8pm UK time 🙂

[@bopeep7806]

@@ReefDork cant wait to find out what its all about, i presume vibrant has been proven to be a harry potter brew !!

[@bopeep7806]

@@ReefDork looking forward too 8oclock

[@Michael_k_DK]

Is it safe to use a PE “tank” to hold water for water change ?

[@ReefDork]

I always look for hdpe or ldpe which is food safe. So if that's what you're looking at, you're good 🙂

[@Scott-cy6zv]

Hey bud NEED HELP!! I woke up this morning to one of my young oscillis (hope that’s spelled right) on the floor outside the tank :(. The one that’s alive is now barely swimming around and is staying at bottom of the tank close to my Yellow Watchman Goby. Now that there the only 2 fish left in tank will the clown fish I have die because he’s sad from not having his/her mate? Or should I buy another one like the one I have and add it to my tank? My clown fish where about 3-3.5 weeks in my tank. I appreciate your professional opinion

[@ReefDork]

Just leave it - i've had fish recover from that before. And get a cover if you don't have one or it'll happen again - fish are pretty stupid!

[@Scott-cy6zv]

@@ReefDork Do you have any suggestions for my tank rocks and sand turning brown from Diatoms bud? I’ve been told they will die off on there own and to leave them. I only ask because your tanks look amazing! I did a 30% water change a few days ago

[@ReefDork]

@@Scott-cy6zv they'll burn off or your cuc will eat them

[@ralphierosario5113]

Dude. Your automatic water charger is not automatic at all😳

[@billyhenry3979]

Not a fan of the reef link, the threads are crap and usually leak so I can never just walk away, constantly watching it and nipping it up, meaning I don't use it anymore, I've spoke to a few hobbyist and they have the same issue

[@ReefDork]

Ooh, that's bad - I've never had that fortunately (or heard of it) but that would be a total deal breaker for sure.

[@jameshunter4366]

Don’t really get this . Your mixing the old water out the tank into the freshly mixed water that’s going back in so the dirty tank water is just really going back in the tank

[@keithwicks9103]

See I messed up and my tank is in my bedroom on the 2nd floor and my water supply is in the basement. I gotta go up and down two flights of stairs and I know that's not much at all but I just can't be bothered

[@ReefDork]

I feel your pain!

[@mudbug535]

Seems like a hassle with the automatic water changer

[@mariusonia7541]

I prefer manual 20 min all 40 liter out in 5 min my mix in bathroom whit longer hose pump to the tank 10 min no mess 4 hours long wait 😀

[@josephcruz2950]

3rd comment!!! I’ve never been this early 😎