silly water change question

[taichimaster]

I have had a 20 gallon for roughly a year now and water changes have been pretty basic. I am planning to upgrade to a 75 gallon with a 20 gallon sump. My question is: do I turn everything off when doing a water change? if not, can i just suck the water out of the sump and replenish the new water into the sump? If everything is turned off then Do I suck the water out of the main tank? when I replenish the water, do I pour it into the main tank or the sump?

 

[ROLLINS]

IMO, turn everything off, take the water out of the display, since it is much easier and more room to do everything. Also, it provides you with a good opportunity to siphon the gravel and clean things up a bit. Then pump your new saltwater back into the display, and turn everything back on. Should take no longer than 10 minutes once you get things figured out. I like to keep away from my sump so I do not disturb my pod reproduction. Good luck
Rollins

 

[saltybell]

I don't believe there is a wrong way to do a water change. I also turn most the equipment off however, I do remove and replenish the water from my sump. I have a sand bed so I do not siphon it and I can leave my powerheads running the main display while doing my water change. If you have a refugium in the sump the main display is probably the place to do the water change. I like adding the new water to the sump, so the new and old water can mix together slower than dumping it directly into the main tank. I don't know if this method matters or not but it makes me feel better.

 

[Scooterman]

You will want to shut off the main pump from the sump return, otherwise it will continue to empty the sump. It is good to blow off your rocks before you do a water change & suck out as much as you can on a regular basis, also it you have any deposits on the sb or clumping you want to suck them out. SO IMO you should siphon the sump clean then siphon the main tank also to make up for all of what you put into the tank. Long term it will pay off & you'll have less algae to deal with.

 

[NaH2O]

I also like to siphon out of both. I blast off the rocks in the display to free up as much gunk as I can. I siphon out of the display, and I also siphon out any detritus that has collected in the sump. I add water back to the sump, but on occasion have also added it back to the display.

I do turn off most everything to get the maximum amount of water out. I have a 120 with a very large sump. I wouldn't have to turn off anything if I was only doing a 5 gallon water change, but since I do close to 30 gallons, I need to turn off everything.

Hope this helps!

 

[Allenfamily]

We usually remove water from the sump because it's easier in our case, and I agree with Saltybell, ( I like adding the new water to the sump, so the new and old water can mix together slower than dumping it directly into the main tank. I don't know if this method matters or not but it makes me feel better). However it is nice to vacuum the sand in the display every once in awhile so about every third or fourth change we do out of the display.

 

[NC2WA]

From my water changes, I turn the power off to everything.

I vacuum the detrius from the bottom of the sump once every 2-3 wks

I remove water from the sump and add new water into the sump. I then turn on the main return pump that pumps water back to the tank. Takes me about 10 mins to do a 30-35 gallon water change. (This is the Readers Digest version).

If you want, I can send you a Word .doc file that includes my steps with pictures.

HTH
Kirk