Auto water change for 200gallon tank?

[MichaelB]

Does anyone do auto water changes if so how did you set it up what equipment is used etc.

I don't mean taking out a gallon and replacing it with a gallon. Think something along the lines of 20-25 gallons changed at a time.

By auto I mean a easier way than breaking out buckets and sphion hoses, etc to do it. I'm looking for thoughts or Ideas to make the whole proccess of making salt water and getting it changed easier.

For my 30 gallon tanks I siphon water outta of my 55 gallon rodi storage drum into a 5gallon bucket. I than scoop salt into the bucket and stir the bucket with a long handle spoon. I measure it to ensure salinity matches my tank. Add heater and put a lid on the bucket. The next day I kill the power to all the wave makers, return pumps, and ato. Than I siphon water out of the tank into a matching 5 gallon bucket next to the one with the new saltwater. I stop draining water when the levels of the water in both buckets seem equal. Than I take a 16oz cup and scoop new water back into the tank than I turn the pumps and ato back on after ensuring salinity and water level is correct.

I listed all the steps to show it's managable on smaller tanks. I would definitely like to plan a easier way for this larger tank so it's not a major task that doesn’t take a hour or more.

I wouldn't mind if it involved hoses or pumps I had to break out. Hopefully I wouldn’t have to stir water with a spoon a bucket at a time and hand scoop new water into the tank as not to upset coral by just dumping the bucket into tank.

I'm Looking for a easier way to do this or a way to get it to where I plug something, hit a switch, or just unroll a hose.

I'm open to any suggestions or links to a good videos on the entire proccess or a break down of your setup. I have a extra 55 gallon drum that I intended to use for making salt water but I haven't done anything with it yet.

I do have several extra return pumps that came with the tank so hopefully something can be rigged up, or there is something I can get that will make this easier.


Sorry if this request comes off ad confusing, I would be happy to explain what I'm looking to do better if needed or share pictures of the pumps I have if useful for any of this.

There would also be a 50- 60gallon frag system I would like this to work for as well with a 10-15 gallon water change volume.

 

[Fish Boss]

It’s always nice to have a drain nearby for AWC that you can tap into directly. Maybe mark your sump for a set gallonage of what you want to change out, so you can turn your return pump on to pump out your waste water

 

[MichaelB]

It’s always nice to have a drain nearby for AWC that you can tap into directly. Maybe mark your sump for a set gallonage of what you want to change out, so you can turn your return pump on to pump out your waste water

I didn't know the tanks return pump could be used to do that?

 

[Fish Boss]

I didn't know the tanks return pump could be used to do that?

I should have specified, I meant one of the extra return pumps that you have. But I’d imagine if you have a manifold, you could tee off of it for a waste line

 

[JVU]

You can absolutely have it setup to be basically automatic. I almost set it up that way but got lazy. I’ll let others who have that set up guide you through it if they want to.

What I do isn’t automatic, but it’s quite easy with no buckets or stirring-

I have a 32g Brute can on caster wheels. I leave a heater and a small silent DC pump in it, on. I have a T off my RODI system that can be push-fit connected to a float valve that’s installed on the Brute. To make a batch of water, I connect it, turn the valve from the RODI unit on, and it fills overnight. I add a pre-measured amount of salt (tape mark on a 1g jug), and let the heater and pump mix/heat it. I check the salinity and add a little salt or water as needed to get to 35 PSU.

Then I roll it over to my tank, connect the pump to a short 1/2” hose that I clamp to my sump overflow chamber, and let it pump the water into the tank. Can slow down the DC pump or even turn it off to balance outflow.

Meanwhile, I have a longer 1/2” hose going into the top of the display part of the tank, and ending in a nearby sink below its level. Start the siphon by just putting the tube up to the return nozzle, then clamp to the tank.

At this point, I have water going out to drain, and water coming in from the Brute. I just keep an eye on the level in the return chamber and stop one or the other when they need to catch up. When done, just remove the tubes, wheel away the Brute to refill, and put stuff away.

I wrote out each step because you asked, but basically it’s pretty brain dead simple and only takes a couple minutes of effort and 20 min or so of watching.

If you wanted, you could hard-plumb any of the above tubes so you didn’t even have to do the setup and wheeling around.

 

[Reefer Madness]

You can absolutely have it setup to be basically automatic. I almost set it up that way but got lazy. I’ll let others who have that set up guide you through it if they want to.

What I do isn’t automatic, but it’s quite easy with no buckets or stirring-

I have a 32g Brute can on caster wheels. I leave a heater and a small silent DC pump in it, on. I have a T off my RODI system that can be push-fit connected to a float valve that’s installed on the Brute. To make a batch of water, I connect it, turn the valve from the RODI unit on, and it fills overnight. I add a pre-measured amount of salt (tape mark on a 1g jug), and let the heater and pump mix/heat it. I check the salinity and add a little salt or water as needed to get to 35 PSU.

Then I roll it over to my tank, connect the pump to a short 1/2” hose that I clamp to my sump overflow chamber, and let it pump the water into the tank. Can slow down the DC pump or even turn it off to balance outflow.

Meanwhile, I have a longer 1/2” hose going into the top of the display part of the tank, and ending in a nearby sink below its level. Start the siphon by just putting the tube up to the return nozzle, then clamp to the tank.

At this point, I have water going out to drain, and water coming in from the Brute. I just keep an eye on the level in the return chamber and stop one or the other when they need to catch up. When done, just remove the tubes, wheel away the Brute to refill, and put stuff away.

I wrote out each step because you asked, but basically it’s pretty brain dead simple and only takes a couple minutes of effort and 20 min or so of watching.

If you wanted, you could hard-plumb any of the above tubes so you didn’t even have to do the setup and wheeling around.

I do the same thing with this kit here and two 32 gallon brute containers with wheels. The water change in done in a mater of minutes.

 

[L/B Block]

Not sure if you mean totally automatic?
I do have a doser taking water out and it goes into the drain in the laundry room in the other room.

I then have a pump that is pushing water through my mini fridge - to push food and then flush the lines-all going into the sump. The estimated volume is about 20 gal a month or 30% (more like 25% prob accounting for nsw being replaced).

This way I don’t worry about temp or matching ph/alk. It happens over 7 times a day. Not sure if this helps at all.

 

[MichaelB]

Not sure if you mean totally automatic?
I do have a doser taking water out and it goes into the drain in the laundry room in the other room.

By automatc- I just mean easier than a bucket at a time

I then have a pump that is pushing water through my mini fridge - to push food and then flush the lines-all going into the sump. The estimated volume is about 20 gal a month or 30% (more like 25% prob accounting for nsw being replaced).

This way I don’t worry about temp or matching ph/alk. It happens over 7 times a day. Not sure if this helps at all.

I honestly don't fully know what’s possible or not possible. Just hoping for something easy once set up.

What the other guys are saying makes sense. However I'm confused seems like they never actually turn off their return pump to the tanks like I've always done ? From their description it's like they drain and fill it up at the same time. I kinda get the concept but not really. In terms how how do you ensure it fills and drains at about the same rate?

Like I've always turned off all the wave makers, return pump, and ato. Than drained water from the display first. and afterwards added water back to the display than restarted all the pumps etc.
Also I've never taken or added water to the sump at all on the 65gallon during the process (I only have the ato connected to the sump in 65gallon.)

No argument from me, just trying to ensure I fully understand how to do it with minimum chance of me messing up anything lol.

@JVU @Fish Boss

 

[Reefer Madness]

I honestly don't fully know what’s possible or not possible. Just hoping for something easy once set up.

What the other guys are saying makes sense. However I'm confused seems like they never actually turn off their return pump to the tanks like I've always done ? From their description it's like they drain and fill it up at the same time. I kinda get the concept but not really. In terms how how do you ensure it fills and drains at about the same rate?

Like I've always turned off all the wave makers, return pump, and ato. Than drained water from the display first. and afterwards added water back to the display than restarted all the pumps etc.
Also I've never taken or added water to the sump at all on the 65gallon during the process (I only have the ato connected to the sump in 65gallon.)

No argument from me, just trying to ensure I fully understand how to do it with minimum chance of me messing up anything lol.

@JVU @Fish Boss

I turn everything off as well and have a mark on the trash cans where to fill. I normally pull all the water out from my sump since I have a large sump. Unless there is a reason I need to pull water from display but when I do the I'm doing it with a siphon for cleaning and whatnot.

 

[MarcosDelgado0]

I do the same thing with this kit here and two 32 gallon brute containers with wheels. The water change in done in a mater of minutes. View attachment 64347

I use that kit as well. Very easy to do water changes

 

[Reefer Madness]

I use that kit as well. Very easy to do water changes

Yeah it really does. I feel like an idiot i wasn't using this sooner. The whole five gallon bucket thing is insanity!

 

[MichaelB]

I use that kit as well. Very easy to do water changes

I do have one of these with a 25ft nylon hose. I used to drain the 200g tank. I've never used it to fill the tanks once they had fish or coral cause It's too strong.


Thats what i use to drain water from the display takes about 4minutes to fill a 5gallon bucket. The larger one above I use for or draining a tank. It fills a 5gallon bucket in like 15 seconds. The larger electric pump isn’t really feasibe to use on my 32 gallon tanks.

But with a 48 gallon sump on this 200gal tank I suspect the black pump could possibly be used in it.

The 65gallon tank's sump is only 15 gallons filled half way so only really 7gallons of water- so I never considered using it in that sump either.


Is the purpose of the green hook just to to keep it the hose in the tank?

 

[ReyDeFarts]

How far away is the 200g tank from your garage? Didn't you get a bunch of 55gal barrels recently to nuke the rocks? I'll expand further, depending on that answer. Because the whole bucket thing...I got over that quick.

 

[JVU]

I honestly don't fully know what’s possible or not possible. Just hoping for something easy once set up.

What the other guys are saying makes sense. However I'm confused seems like they never actually turn off their return pump to the tanks like I've always done ? From their description it's like they drain and fill it up at the same time. I kinda get the concept but not really. In terms how how do you ensure it fills and drains at about the same rate?

Like I've always turned off all the wave makers, return pump, and ato. Than drained water from the display first. and afterwards added water back to the display than restarted all the pumps etc.
Also I've never taken or added water to the sump at all on the 65gallon during the process (I only have the ato connected to the sump in 65gallon.)

No argument from me, just trying to ensure I fully understand how to do it with minimum chance of me messing up anything lol.

@JVU @Fish Boss

Yes, I drain and fill at the same time. You’ll just have to play with it to make the rates approximately match (the DC pump helps with this), and can pause one or the other as needed. This way the water level never gets too low or too high. And not having to shut off the return or anything else keeps it easy.

Some people don’t drain/fill at the same time because of the worry that you are replacing some of the water you just added. If you do the math with perfect mixing it’s a very minimal amount, not worth worrying about. You can make it even less by adding in the sump and removing from the display like I do.

 

[MichaelB]

How far away is the 200g tank from your garage? Didn't you get a bunch of 55gal barrels recently to nuke the rocks? I'll expand further, depending on that answer. Because the whole bucket thing...I got over that quick.

Yes I had 2 that came with the tank I gave to eric, and I bought 3, I also gave one that I bought to eric. I ended up just using $5black friday home depot storage totes for the rocks.

I figured I didn’t need 3 of these 5gallon barrels in any case.

One is in my kitchen used as rodi storage pictured about 7feet from the tank.

The other hasn't been used only filled with extra rodi water for now. Not drilled or anything.

It's in my garage also about 8 feet from the tank around a corner on the other side of a door. It’s accsseible from inside my house the inside garage door is 6 feet from the tank.

Both barrels however are probably 30 feet apart, meaning my 25 foot hose can reach from them to the tank easily. But the hose isn’t long enough to reach barrel to barrel. If that makes sense.

 

[ReyDeFarts]

My suggestion was going to be to have one barrel for RODI and another to mix SW. Have a pump in the SW with enough power (volume & pressure) to get to your tank/sump. You can use the same pump to remove water from your tank/sump to fill by just moving it back into the barrel. I can do 10-20 gal WC from my barrel that is 60+ feet away in about 10 minutes. Just a thought. Not exactly automated, but when I perform a WC, I prefer to actively siphon the sandbed or blow off the rocks and vacuum out that water. It leaves some corals exposed for about 10-15 minutes. Then I quickly fill it back up with a flip of a switch.

Also, for your smaller tanks. What I am currently doing is using a small pump inside a 5 gallon bucket with a foot switch to fill up my smaller tanks upstairs. No more trying to lift the bucket to fill tanks or using smaller transfer containers either. I have one bucket for the dirty water and the other already filled and ready. I am able to perform a 4-5 gal WC in about 10-15 minutes.

 

[richiev]

Possibly a thread hijack, but is there any reason saltwater can't be dumped down the place a sump pump would discharge to? I'm honestly not sure if it dumps into the normal sewer lines or storm drains. At some point I should go out and check the next time it rains.

I don't currently do this, but if it wasn't a big deal I could justify finally setting up a scheduled AWC.

 

[Fish Boss]

Possibly a thread hijack, but is there any reason saltwater can't be dumped down the place a sump pump would discharge to? I'm honestly not sure if it dumps into the normal sewer lines or storm drains. At some point I should go out and check the next time it rains.

I don't currently do this, but if it wasn't a big deal I could justify finally setting up a scheduled AWC

Great question, but I think you nailed it, depends where it discharges

 

[Fish Boss]

Possibly a thread hijack, but is there any reason saltwater can't be dumped down the place a sump pump would discharge to? I'm honestly not sure if it dumps into the normal sewer lines or storm drains. At some point I should go out and check the next time it rains.

I don't currently do this, but if it wasn't a big deal I could justify finally setting up a scheduled AWC.

Do you have a sump pump for a basement or something? All of the ones I have used were small portable ones that you connect a garden hose to

 

[MichaelB]

Possibly a thread hijack, but is there any reason saltwater can't be dumped down the place a sump pump would discharge to? I'm honestly not sure if it dumps into the normal sewer lines or storm drains. At some point I should go out and check the next time it rains.

I don't currently do this, but if it wasn't a big deal I could justify finally setting up a scheduled AWC.

Doesn't bother me at all lol.