Water changes on 375 gallon tank

[Nanook]

Hi. I'm trying to wrap my head around the logistics of water changes on the 375 gallon tank. I'm looking at a cyphotilapia gibberosa tank, probably by themselves, but would be nice to mix some other species in as I'm not interested at all in raising fry.

My tap water is pretty hard, I also have two 225 gallon holding tanks plumbed in to pump water to my existing 375 and 470 gallon Reef tanks. I typically shut my system down now and let the overflows drain into the sumps, then pump out 225 gallons, then pump in 225 gallons of saltwater. Does this system sound good for the tank I'm looking at now? Any buffers or additives needed, how about water temp?

 

[duanes]

It sounds like a good system to me, and if the water is already dechlorinated, and hard, I see no reason for buffers. And as long as the temp is not that far from the main tank, why worry. I used to do those size water changes on my tanks right from the tap, mixing hot and cold to get close, with only a dechlorinator added.

 

[DJRansome]

As long as tap water matches tank water for pH and pH >= 7.6 then I agree, no additives except dechlorinator.

 

[stempy]

Saltwater guys know how to simplify water changes! Roll with what you have set up it'll work perfectly. No additives either since your tap is already hard. Stability is far more important

 

[markstrimaran]

I have a 55 gallon drum plumbed into a 75 gallon aquarium on a gravity fed closed loop maybe 30 gph flow.
This gives me 130 total gallons. On water change days I close 2 valves isolating the 55 gallon drum, it is then pumped to the garden.
Refilled aged for 24 hrs, then put back in the loop.
This give me the ability to water change, any time of the week, even when I am too busy, to bother with fish keeping.
2 minutes to dump, wait 45 minutes, 7 minutes to fill, wait 24 hours, 4 minutes to open loop

 

[monkeybike]

Why not setup a continuous drip system? Do you have a drain nearby?

 

[Nanook]

Yes, I have a drain right there, several actually. Do you have a link on a proven technique for doing this? Thanks!

 

[stempy]

I use a drip on mine, I'd never go back to "normal" water changes. It's quite simple actually if you have a sump. I simply run a ice maker kit line from my hot water line(to help heaters out, gas is cheaper than electricity!) into my sump above the bio tower so that it can degas the chlorine. I drilled a hole in the sump to the water line I wanted and added a fitting to connect a hose to and ran the hose to the drain.

 

[monkeybike]

My setup is similar. I only do the occasional siphon clean to get a couple pleco poo dead zones that the flow doesn't push into the filters