She's Caved In

[westiemarble]

Last September I got myself an Orca 450 and moved into the world of marines much to my wife's annoyance - how much for some bloody rock, etc!!

Anyway, no sooner was I up and running then I wanted BIGGER but couldn't dare approach the 'one who is to be obeyed'. Over the months she has got more and more involved since my shift work means she has to feed them a lot of the time. During the UK's unusual good weather over the last few weeks it's been a struggle to control the tank temperature and it's been my good lady who has had to deal with this whilst I'm at work. Seeing an opportunity to tell a few little white lies I explained how our 'very high' water temp of 27-28 C was causing her little babies (she has named everything including the bristle worm - Broom!) a lot of distress and that a larger tank wouldn't have this problem

Whilst a marriage is based on trust I feel this small deceit is allowable

So my mind is now racing away planning my bigger tank - need to soft soap her a little more to agree the tank size but I think a 300-400 litre will be agreeable.

Just had a great idea - I could kill two birds with one stone and get her the tank for Christmas

Now to my question - a 30% water change for my Orca was simply a visit to my LFS and £5 later I had my 4G of salt water - easy. However, how do you guys with larger tanks store and mix your own water? If, say, a 25% change requires 100litres what container do you use to take your RO water? If you use several smaller containers how do you control filling them up with the RO unit working away on its own and do you have a power head and heater in each container?

Off to cuddle , creep and soft soap a little more

 

[youngfisher]

Oooh.
Keep us updated.

YF

 

[bagu]

there is a useful vid on youtube about RO water production i think its melevsreef =/

but you could buy your own containers and store the RO water as its pure it wont go off; so buy a months worth and store it that way you control the amount of time you go to your LFS =]

congrats anyway mate!
sorry i couldnt be of more help

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Once you get to a certain size of tank doing weekly water changes becomes too difficult. A lot of people with tanks in the 300L+ region only do a large water change maybe a few times a year (if that) and use things like large skimmers, phosphate/nitrate reactors and mineral dosing to keep the water perfect.

I'm having to do water changes on my 100g (+50g sump) at the moment because of high nitrates and phosphates (stupid uncured liverock). About the best I can manage at the moment is 50l changes as I have two 25l "stacker" boxes to mix the water in (yes 2 powerheads and 2 heaters as well). If you are planning to do large water changes (not a bad thing but can be a massive pita and cost a load on RO and salt) you will want to get yourself a large water storage container to mix up a big load in one go (I want to get a wheelie bin to mix up saltwater in as its easier to move but not sure how reef safe the plastic is going to be).

 

[Trod]

I have just been curing 50kg of LR in my 5" tank at one stage I was doing daily 25% water changes I bought a large 80L container I have a small filter, a powerhead and a heater in there. I make my own RO water, which I store in 25L containers. Strangely enough the more you do the easier it gets But my dining room does look like a LFS most of the time Now my LR is cured I shall do far less changes as Barney has said, probably monthly depending on water quality.

Yes I have spent a LARGE fortune on salt best not to think about it (buries head in sand )

 

[VictorMeldrew]

I do a waterchange ever two weeks at the moment, I have two 25l cans and get them filled up at the lfs for a fiver, I can live with that. The tank is 400l so i guess my little 50l water changes just freshen things up a little. The only thing i get hacked off with is lifting full containers from the car to my house, i swear my arms are getting longer as a result. I borrow another two containers from a fellow reefer if I need to change more.

VM

 

[kj23502]

When I go to my larger tank I'll get my own R/O unit. I already have a 32 gallon Brute garbage can that I keep saltwater mixed in. I think it'll be easier to do wc at a whim with it already mixed. Plus if I have a crisis at some point I already have water. It can keep for awhile if you keep the lid on it.

Right now since all I have is the 29g tank, I buy water from my fish store. I have 3 containers that hold 16 gallons worth. Am thinking of buying another 7g container. I pay 50 cents a gallon. It would be $1 a gallon if I bought their premixed water. I would only buy their premixed if I had a distaster and needed water fast and easy. Hope that never happens, though



When I get my ro unit I'll buy another 32g brute garbage can and have the unit feed the water right into that one. You can fix them w/float switches to stop them from overflowing.

 

[tropic_john]

$0.50 a gallon!!!
At my LFS, its £3.50 per 25 litres.
Also, can you use big tubs of table salt with the right amount of calcium etc added in. Just a thought

 

[Trod]

Also, can you use big tubs of table salt with the right amount of calcium etc added in. Just a thought

I found this bit of info, sorry for the copy and paste

Salinity is not the same thing as specific gravity. In fact salinity does not even apply when measuring "salts" in an aquarium so is truly useless except to measure the concentration of ions in the water. What you measure when you take a reading with your hydrometer is the density of the water, which increases as you add more OCEAN salt. Table salt (sodioum chloride) is only one salt found in the ocean, and actually forms only a very small percentage of the total salts found in commercial aquarium mixtures. The major salts are potassium salts (also called bitter salts) such as potassium chloride, potassium iodide, etc. Epsom salt is an example of a bitter salt, but you can't use that alone either. Bottom Line No, you cannot substitute table salt or any single salt for a commercial mix, because you would throw off the ratio of these naturally-occuring salts and that will eventually kill your fish.

 

[tropic_john]

Also, can you use big tubs of table salt with the right amount of calcium etc added in. Just a thought

I found this bit of info, sorry for the copy and paste

Salinity is not the same thing as specific gravity. In fact salinity does not even apply when measuring "salts" in an aquarium so is truly useless except to measure the concentration of ions in the water. What you measure when you take a reading with your hydrometer is the density of the water, which increases as you add more OCEAN salt. Table salt (sodioum chloride) is only one salt found in the ocean, and actually forms only a very small percentage of the total salts found in commercial aquarium mixtures. The major salts are potassium salts (also called bitter salts) such as potassium chloride, potassium iodide, etc. Epsom salt is an example of a bitter salt, but you can't use that alone either. Bottom Line No, you cannot substitute table salt or any single salt for a commercial mix, because you would throw off the ratio of these naturally-occuring salts and that will eventually kill your fish.