Water Change Prep (Pre-Charging?)

[dougchambers]

It finally occurred to me that in all these years, we might not have been doing water changes the best way?

How many of you pre-charge your water changes with additives like Reef Builder, Turbo Calcium, IO Right, etc.?

We've used Instant Ocean for years and always pre-mix for 24-48 hours to stabilize temperature and salinity. Other than RO/DI and IO, we haven't done much for the water changes. It only makes since to pre-charge the water change to get the CA, ALK, and pH as close to the tank parameters and minimize diluting the tank, but what are others doing?

Thanks,

Doug

[Bughead]

Strangely, I thought about this a couple of weeks ago when I discovered I have a low calcium problem. I figured that after dosing and adjusting the ca level in the tank, it didn't make sense to dilute it with change water. I have a 30 gal tank with a ph and heater that I store new water in, so I drip in kalkwasser to get to ca to 450ppm. pH has always been close, but it seems adding needed supplements can't hurt.

[dougchambers]

Bughead,

Unless I'm further out to lunch that usual, I don't see that it could hurt to pre-charge the water change.

Suddenly it all seems so clear now....?

Doug

[Barry N.]

Doug, you out to lunch

What size WC are you doing?

Barry

[Steve H.]

I've thought about this in the past and did some research on it. What I found was most folks don't seem to worry about it and deal with ca/alk levels in the tank only. I was concerned about this because when I started doing small water changes every other week my ca started going up and down between 450 and 400. Those are not bad readings, but my levels are always going up or down and never level off at stable point. When I was doing monthly water changes it was not as much of a problem.

[Barry N.]

I agree with you Steve on that. I was doing large WC and now I do small one more often and have had no problems.

Feel it is better to do small one rather that large one as it won't change the water chemistry that much.

Barry

[dougchambers]

Steve and Barry,

Thanks for the insight... Our normal water changes are about 14 gallons on our 75RR.

It's all good...

Thanks,

Doug

[Barry N.]

Doug,

How often are you doing you WC?

Barry

[dougchambers]

Hello Barry,

We do 14 gallon water changes about every 4 weeks.

Doug

P.S. How are the new clams looking?

[Barry N.]

Just a suggestion, why not try 7 gal every 2 weeks.

The clams are doing well

Barry

[dougchambers]

Barry,

That's probably a better idea. I'll try that for a while and see how it goes...

Doug