saltwater water change?

[Anthony357]

i have a 55g saltwater tank and was going to do a slight water change....in doing so, i heard that you can take lets just say 20 gallons out, and add a new 20 in, but my question is is that do you have to add more salt to that water after conditioning it? or can you just add the API aquarium salt to the mix and that does the job just as fine, thats what i have and thats what i thought was right, but just wanted to double check...thanks!!

 

[Bifferwine]

You need to get the new water up to a specific gravity of 1.023 to 1.026, which should match the existing water in your display tank. You have a hydrometer or refractometer to measure the salinity, right?

When you add water to compensate for evaporation, you need to add fresh water (no salt). Because when water evaporates, it leaves behind the salt.

So, for evaporation, use fresh water. For water changes, use salt water.

 

[yote]

DO NOT USE THAT API AQUARIUM SALT.
Us salt that is specificly for a marine aquarium.
What do you have in the tank?

 

[Bifferwine]

Oh yeah. API is only for freshwater! Not saltwater. Thanks Yote!

 

[Anthony357]

ahh ok, gotcha! yea, im planning on adding 20lbs more of live rock as well as another clown and anemone, was going to do a water change probably tomorrow or tues, so i should get some marine salt to do the water change with ?

 

[yote]

Exactly.
You might want to trade that anemone in too while at the LFS.
I'm guessing your tanks not been up long enough to support it.

What kind of lighting do you have?
If you dont have at the very least 6 watts of light per gallon,then the anemone is going to die and kill everyting in your tank.

 

[Bifferwine]

Yote is right. Anemones are not for new tanks. They really only do well in tanks that are at least 10 months old and have at least 6 to 8 watts per gallon of lighting. And when they die, they wipe out the entire tank with them. If I were you, I'd take the anemone back pronto. They are not easy animals to keep alive unless you are experienced in the hobby.

 

[Bifferwine]

You NEED marine salt if you are going to mix up your own water. It's not saltwater without it :D.

 

[hotimportknight]

Biff, maybe you should make a sticky post about all the info on Anemones for newbies to reefing (including how to learn to spell it, cause I have to copy/paste every time i want to...) That way when there is reason to suspect someone is trying to buy an Anemone prematurely you can just post a big link to the sticky and say "Please read this" instead of explaining the whole mature tank of 6-10 months, 6-8 watts/gallon, wiping out the whole tank ordeal...

 

[hotimportknight]

right below the "Forum Courtesies" part should be a sticky for "OWNING AN ANEMONE!! READ THIS!!!"

 

[Bifferwine]

Actually, there is an article about anemones in the "Helpful Articles" section.

 

[Doc]

its true, many of the newbie questions have been answered already, and by doing a bit of research on the site, people can find answers. There seems to be a personal touch when you get a "live" person to answer the question, tho. I don't mind the exercise anyways.

BTW, for a 55 gallon, I think doing a 1 time 20 gallon change is a bit much. 5-10 will be sufficient weekly or bi-monthly. Just my :twocents:

-Dr Marco :sfish:

 

[hotimportknight]

Yeah 20 gallons is really excessive! I usually shoot for 10% a week or 5 gallons in my tank. Works out good cause I can actually move a 5 gallon bucket down my steps and outside to feed the lawn some saltwater.

 

[Doc]

I used to throw salt water on my lawn, and it all died. I toss it in the street now.

-Dr Marco :sfish:

 

[hotimportknight]

Lol, the street is a long walk down my driveway. I guess the gravel wont mind a whole lot.

 

[Bifferwine]

I just pour it down the sink. Is that bad?

 

[Oscarsdad608]

No you should put it dowm the sink or toliet. Otherwise everything ends up in the local water supply, wich is very bad. When you put it down the toliet it goes to the water treatment plant. Slime algae grows in fresh water too in the form of blue green algae and has been killing dogs in Wisconsin, thank importknight I think you just killed your neighbors dog.lol

 

[Doc]

not to mention possibly clogging your toliet with sand.

-Dr Marco :sfish:

 

[fishbait]

also you said you were conditioning the water. you may want to switch to ro/di water instead of conditioned tap. tap water will cause you major algae and water quality issues. there are way to many heavy metals and dissolved organics in tap water to successfully support a reef tank.

 

[hotimportknight]

We have a septic tank, so if I dumped 5 gallons a week down the toilet it would cost a bunch more every month to have it cleaned out, (and dumped on a farmers field) because thats what they do with it when its not frozen over here...