Semi-automatic Water Changes
Let’s face it very few of us (if any) enjoy doing water changes in our tanks, especially once you get into a larger tank. Many months ago I started researching ways to at least partially automate this chore. My original thought was to mimic some of the systems I’ve seen that 
employ a container of some sort that can be taken off line, drained, refilled with new salt water, then placed back on line. This essentially allows a good sized water change to be accomplished by just turning a few valves. While this is, in of itself, a great system I was intrigued by what is referred to as a “continuous water change system”. Some of these systems are quite complicated with peristaltic pumps that continually add and remove small amounts of water. In my case I went for something a bit more simple. I drilled a hole in the top end of my 55 gallon sump and installed an overflow. I then plumbed a pump from the basement to the display tank. I have a 30 gallon trash can with a power-head and heater that I mix and hold new saltwater in. Every day at 11AM the pump kicks on for 2 minutes and pumps approx. 3 gallons of fresh saltwater up to the display. That, in turn, displaces the same amount of water in the sump and causes it to overflow. Presto! Two minute water change and I didn’t even have to be home. I still have to do some vacuuming/siphoning and other water removing maintenance but even that has been simplified, as I can siphon out what I need to and then just manually activate the pump to refill.
So why do I like this method over the typical weekly, bi-weekly or even monthly large water changes. In a word “stability”. I find it keeps things very stable, adds trace minerals daily and overall keeps my livestock looking healthier. I actually did a test for a while where I manually hauled a bucket upstairs each day and did a 2 gallon water change. During this time I noticed that my corals looked better and polyp extension was noticeably increased. With the new system up and running for a couple of weeks now, polyp extension is phenomenal. There are of course down sides. Nutrient reduction is not as effective this way as each days small water change is diluted before the next one happens. There are some graphs and figures out there (reef central even has an interactive calculator for water changes) that show to what extent, but I have a big skimmer and I’m careful to limit nutrient input as much as possible, so the slight decrease in nutrient export doesn’t worry me.
There are lots of ways to run a successful reef tank and this may not be for some folks, but I’m very happy with what it’s done for my tank and the automation has left me more time to enjoy the hobby.
Happy Reefing!
fan of the Condylactis or Condy anemones…I’ve owned a couple over the years, but I’m always afraid of their tendency to go “walk-about”…enter my wife! She see’s several at the local fish store the other day and falls in loves with the bright white one’s with the pink/purple tips/hue…Pat, the store owner, says “I’ll make you a deal” (big surprise there, huh?)…long story short, we ended up with what Pat says is the largest Condy he’s ever seen…at any rate, so far so good…I knew exactly where I wanted it in the tank, and after 
some minor adjustments to rock placement and flow it seems to be happy there…I’ve included a couple of photos to show it’s size, but it’s hard to tell all the same (you can see some snails in the pics for reference)…I would estimate it to be close to 12″-14″ across and I’m afraid it has yet to fully inflate…oh and it eats like a pig, so I think we are out of the woods, and it may just be happy right where it is.
that everything they say is true. They consume algae like a vacuum cleaner, are very gentle hardly ever disturbing or knocking anything over and are tough as all get out. The tough comment comes after my Sea Hare (named Jaba, after Jaba the Hut by my kids) has twice been sucked up to a pump intake. Both times he was so stuck I had to dismantle the equipment and perform surgery to remove him. I can also report that the pretty purple colored ink they release when stressed is not toxic or damaging (at least not in a 200 gallon system). Anyway, Jaba has nearly completed his work in my tank and will soon be moving on to the other two tanks in our house (both my kids have nano reefs these days). After he is finished in those tanks we will have to see what happens as we may not have enough algae to sustain him. In that case we will find him a new home in someone else tank that needs his algae cleaning services.
months of research I almost went with an LED setup, but in the end decided against it. Metal Halide has it’s place, but I’m not really a huge fan of MH’s (heat issues, energy consumption, etc). So I ended up choosing a High Output T-5 arrangement. It a six bulb setup with individual reflectors all built into one retro fit unit that tucks neatly into my canopy. I did a lot of reading and asking questions about bulbs, and it seems the consensus is ATI bulbs are tops, with Giesemann and UV not far behind (the first two are German made, and the Germs are well known for their advancement of the reef hobby). I’ve chosen to run 4 x ATI Aquablue Special bulbs and 2 x Giesemann Actinic Plus. The Aquablue’s are a very cool white 14,000K bulb and the Actinic Plus is a 60% blue and 40% true actinic. The all actinic’s are too pink to suit me, but this bulb is very blue to the eye but still adds some nice fluorescence to most corals. All in all, I’m very pleased with the new lighting, Thanks hunny!
I’m tired of trying to beat the spammers at their own game, so I going to fix them once and for all. From now on if you wish to leave a comment on this site you’ll have to be signed in. Sorry for the inconvenience, but I’m sick and tired of deleting spam comments. Thanks for your understanding!