III. Maintenance – Water change procedure

This article discusses Preparing for a Water Change, Siphoning Water, Refilling the Tank

 

     As your tank matures you will need to maintain various balances within your aquarium. The number one, hands-down easiest way to maintain this balance is through regularly scheduled water changes. A quality salt mix, as well as properly filtered water, is required, however, the choice to purchase pre-mixed saltwater or to filter your own water and mix saltwater yourself is your prerogative. Many pet stores offer quality salt mixes, filtered freshwater, or premixed saltwater, however, you may also discuss the water quality from the tap in your area to decide what type of filtration is best suited for home use if you choose this instead.

 

     Personally, I feel the control of being able to adjust the ratios as needed means that filtering and mixing your own water is more advantageous. A simple mixing station consists of a large container to store clean Reverse Osmosis/Deionized water and a second container in which to mix the salt and R.O./D.I. water. These may be new, clean five-gallon paint buckets or larger contractor trash bins. When storing water it is important to keep the water well aerated. An air pump attached to a large air stone will suffice for most situations.

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Preparing for a Water Change

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     As long as we only change between ten and fifteen percent of the system volume, bringing the clean saltwater to room temperature will usually suffice and preheating the water may not be necessary. In situations of larger water changes or colder climates then heating the water with a small aquarium heater before using is highly recommended. If you are changing anywhere between fifteen and fifty percent of the tank be certain the new water is brought up to the same temperature as the tank before starting. It is not recommended to change more than fifty percent of the tank unless an emergency has occurred and a trusted aquarium professional has advised you to do so.

 

     Before changing the water it is important to ensure we are not going to raise or lower the salinity, do prevent this you will want to start by topping off the sump or tank with freshwater, it is important to top of your tank as part of daily maintenance and does not await weekly water changes. As when water evaporates the salts are left behind raising the salinity slowly over time and this can have a negative impact on the inhabitants of your tank. Check that the salinity in your tank is between thirty-two and thirty-five parts per thousand, then assure that the clean saltwater does not need further adjustment to the temperature or salinity before use.

 

     Beginning the water change starts with shutting off power to the system and allowing the overflow system to drain into the sump. If you use a canister filter be certain to engage the flow restrictor that stops the flow within the system creating a vacuum keeping the system primed. You may find this time useful to give the sides of your aquarium a pass with an algae scrubber being careful not to stir up too much detritus and accumulated waste on the sand bed and rocks. The more detritus and algae we stir up now the longer it will take to settle out and the less effective our siphon will be at removing it later.

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Siphoning Water

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     Starting a siphon is one of the least enjoyable experience for an aquarist. The standard model is to submerge one end of a tube into the tank and carefully suck on the other end of the tube. Water will fill up the tube and over the rim, once the water in the tube has started its downward motion and has passed the surface level of the tank, quickly remove your mouth and aim the siphon down to the bucket. Repeating as needed. This leaves a bad taste in many hobbyists mouths and fortunately, there are other methods of siphoning now.

Many manufacturers sell a "self-starting" siphon that consists of a diaphragm within a squeezable ball. The tube is put into the water and the ball is squeezed repeatedly, the diaphragm pulls air out but is quickly sealed when pressure is released from the ball. Squeeze the ball several times until again the water is in route with gravity and below the water level of the tank, aim the tube down to the bucket and begin siphoning.

 

     Lastly, there is one more method to siphoning that required some practice but eliminates the risk of tank water in your mouth and does not require any special purchase. Simply take the length of tubing to be used and roll it into a ring. Completely submerge this ring in the tank shifting from side to side to allow all the air bubble to escape. Carefully plug both ends with the index finger of either hand. Remove one end and angle it down into the bucket while holding the other end just below the water surface. Remove your finger from the bottom end first, the hand in the tank will be making a vacuum and no water should leave the tube at this time. Remove your finger from the tank end of the tube and the water should begin to flow into the bucket. This may take practice to get the hang of but I assure you it is much easier and less degrading than taking a shot of dirty salt water.

 

     Your siphon will move water based on the diameter of the tube, larger tubes move more water faster for higher suction but you will need to move very fast to assure all areas of the tank are reached before draining too much water. Smaller diameter tubing like airline remove water very slowly but the lower suction means that this method does not tend to remove much debris or detritus. A good siphon size is between ⅜” and ½”, this creates adequate suction with a slow enough flow rate to make for ideal siphon performance.

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     Working systematically from the highest points of your tank to the lowest use your siphon to vacuum the surface of the rocks being sure to get into the crevices where detritus can settle. You may find it useful to affix your siphon tube to a soft bristle brush such as a toothbrush to help stir up detritus using the siphon to vacuum the disrupted area. The aim would be to vacuum every square inch of rock in the tank but this can be daunting and thus some people operate on a cleaning rotation. Additionally, there is a debate on whether you should disturb your sand bed at all during the siphoning process. While I believe that there is little need to disrupt the benthic layer of bacteria in our tank extensively, simply siphoning any algae or accumulated off the surface of the sand is not discouraged.

 

     Once you have removed an amount of water equal to the amount of water you have prepared, break the siphon by removing the tank end from the water and allowing the water in the tube to drain into the bucket used. Move these buckets out of the way and get your equipment together to refill the tank. This may be buckets or a small pump with appropriate sized tubing.

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Refilling the Tank

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     If refilling your aquarium manually you should choose a small and manageable pitcher for water transport between your prepared water to the aquarium. A large volume of water added to the aquarium quickly will not only cause a mess of excessive splashing but the current created will displace sand and reduce visibility in the tank for some time afterward. Instead, a slow steady stream should be our objective. It is for this reason I prefer using a small water pump to move water from my buckets to the aquarium. A simple twenty or thirty dollar pond pump capable of moving any amount of water above ahead of five to six feet will suffice to refill your tank with added patience. I would not use larger pumps designed for aquarium circulation however, these would cause the same current problem and disrupt too much of the tank in the process of refilling.

 

     From this point refilling the tank will largely depend on the manufacturer suggestions for your system with regard to maximum and minimum operating water levels. When you have refilled the tank to the optimum operating level assure that any heaters used are properly submerged. If you use a canister filter you may now turn off the flow restrictor and gravity should allow the canister to self-prime. Power on your circulation pumps and/or canister filter first. Once all water levels have reached the appropriate balance, power on your powerheads and any advanced components like protein skimmers or reactors. It may be necessary to add more water to the system at this time to assure operational water levels in the system. Once you are certain that the water levels will not fluctuate to a point that a heater may be exposed you may power those on as well.

   

Proper Scheduling

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     Moving forward you will want to repeat this process weekly, in doing so you will remove waste, increase dissolved oxygen levels, maintain pH and alkalinity at stable and desirable levels and constantly replenish both trace and major mineral compounds vital to coral growth. It should be stressed that the vast majority of tank problems can be avoided with frequent water changes. Over many years I have seen the same situation play out over and over. A hobbyist will go several months or more without doing a proper water change. They cannot keep new purchases alive and eventually commit to a water change so that they can make new additions again. The unfortunate downside is when you do not change water for a very long time you may have healthy coral and fish that survive and adapt if the change is slow enough. Any specimen that adapts to this new environment will be under significant and constant stress, will be operating with diminished energy, and would be considered overall less healthy. A large water change now may lead to  "rebound shock" as the strained specimen simply cannot muster the energy to adapt again as the tank levels rebound.

 

     If you should ever fall behind on water changes for any reason, do not attempt to rectify this in short order with one large change. As outlined above it will be less stressful to any inhabitant that may have adapted to the poor conditions to instead space a large volume out over a longer period of time. For example, if you usually change ten percent a week and you fall one month behind, do not attempt to change between thirty-five to forty percent of the tank at once. Instead, do three water changes over the next week leaving a full day in between each change. Change ten-fifteen percent each change. This will have the same curative effect on the water chemistry without the risk of rebound shock.