24G AquaPod w/ 150w MH no mayo
- Thread starter shift_9k
- Start date
You especially need to make sure the nitrates are as low as possible.
Ok... holy ****...I'm the prime minister of noobs. Its been documented and proven tonight.
There has to be a better way of doing water changes then what I did tonight. I'm really freakin embarassed to even say it. Why do I make things hard for myself? I dont know... but here it goes.
I'm on the phone while using the turkey baster to take out water into an empty 5g bucket. After about a half gallon later that got really annoying, thankfully my phone died (my reasoning behind using the turkey baster was that it wouldnt cause too much of a ruckus in the tank).. So I had a 5 gallon bucket of saltwater mixing for a day, brought that over. Started using this pint mug I have to take water out. So great the water is coming out ok the corals seem to be ok, havent retracted yet.
And then my water level in the back chambers starts dropping slowly but surely, since I didnt unplug anything, then I remember what a dumbass I am, and how I had forgotten to take out these big blue sponges that came with the tank, that I had been using while the sand cleared up. So I go to take them out which was a pain since they're big as ****, and I dump all the goopy sand crap into the tank while I'm struggling with these devil sponges. Now my tank is really freakin cloudy again.
So I take em out finally, wash both of em put one of em back to help clear the tank out again. Kept one out and clean to replace this one on my next water change. After that I started adding my saltwater which was the same SG as the water in the tank. As I'm adding, I look at my coral and they have pretty much shrunk to the smallest I've ever seen them.....excellent. I had found a great nook for the ricordea, so I top off the water and move the bugger into his final permanent location (not too far from where he was being acclimated).
I accidentally touched the polyps, and now my fingers are stinging a little, I dont know if it was the ric or something else. Regardless the water is now in the tank, the params are fine, cept for the SG which was a little high.
In conclusion, I made a mess, my fingers hurt, my phone is dead, my corals have shrivled up, the tank is cloudy, and its almost 2am in the morn, and I have to be up at 7am. The only good thing that I can even think of right now is... that at least the temp stayed constant.
**** ME!
Someone, anyone, please streamline this process for me. I dont wanna go through it again.
There has to be a better way of doing water changes then what I did tonight. I'm really freakin embarassed to even say it. Why do I make things hard for myself? I dont know... but here it goes.
I'm on the phone while using the turkey baster to take out water into an empty 5g bucket. After about a half gallon later that got really annoying, thankfully my phone died (my reasoning behind using the turkey baster was that it wouldnt cause too much of a ruckus in the tank).. So I had a 5 gallon bucket of saltwater mixing for a day, brought that over. Started using this pint mug I have to take water out. So great the water is coming out ok the corals seem to be ok, havent retracted yet.
And then my water level in the back chambers starts dropping slowly but surely, since I didnt unplug anything, then I remember what a dumbass I am, and how I had forgotten to take out these big blue sponges that came with the tank, that I had been using while the sand cleared up. So I go to take them out which was a pain since they're big as ****, and I dump all the goopy sand crap into the tank while I'm struggling with these devil sponges. Now my tank is really freakin cloudy again.
So I take em out finally, wash both of em put one of em back to help clear the tank out again. Kept one out and clean to replace this one on my next water change. After that I started adding my saltwater which was the same SG as the water in the tank. As I'm adding, I look at my coral and they have pretty much shrunk to the smallest I've ever seen them.....excellent. I had found a great nook for the ricordea, so I top off the water and move the bugger into his final permanent location (not too far from where he was being acclimated).
I accidentally touched the polyps, and now my fingers are stinging a little, I dont know if it was the ric or something else. Regardless the water is now in the tank, the params are fine, cept for the SG which was a little high.
In conclusion, I made a mess, my fingers hurt, my phone is dead, my corals have shrivled up, the tank is cloudy, and its almost 2am in the morn, and I have to be up at 7am. The only good thing that I can even think of right now is... that at least the temp stayed constant.
**** ME!
Someone, anyone, please streamline this process for me. I dont wanna go through it again.
lol u used a turkey baster? just siphon it out. i use 1/8 soft air tube (only one i can find thats long enough.)
it takes a while to take out 2g-3g but its ok. i put the tube thats sucking at the point in the tank where i want it to stop so when it reaches that level the siphon will break. no flooding.
and i also siphon the new water in so the water temp wont swing...and no pH or SG shock.
it takes me about an hour to do a water change with that method (but most of the time im just watching TV)
u can use a bigger tube 1/2" is fine but try not to go over that (hard to keep it prime and getting it started is a real pain too).
get some filter floss to remove the stuff. but make sure u take it out in like an hour or so. it builds nitrate really really fast.
this is from experiance and trial N error.
it takes a while to take out 2g-3g but its ok. i put the tube thats sucking at the point in the tank where i want it to stop so when it reaches that level the siphon will break. no flooding.
and i also siphon the new water in so the water temp wont swing...and no pH or SG shock.
it takes me about an hour to do a water change with that method (but most of the time im just watching TV)
u can use a bigger tube 1/2" is fine but try not to go over that (hard to keep it prime and getting it started is a real pain too).
get some filter floss to remove the stuff. but make sure u take it out in like an hour or so. it builds nitrate really really fast.
this is from experiance and trial N error.
Take out the sponge or the floss? I didnt get any nitrate readings with the sponges in there for about two weeks, so I finally took them both out to clean them. I have this gravel cleaning thing that siphons water out but I gotta jerk it up and down in the water pretty rough to get it going, which is why I didnt use it this time around, ya think I should give it another shot?
how do u get the siphon going? i just prefill the tube with water and seal both ends and just stick on end in the tank. or u can try the old school method sucking on end XD
the sponge that came with your tank is probably made so that it doesnt become a nitrate trap. but filter floss is not. it can get pretty bad if u dont take it out. but on the plus side it clears up the water pretty well.
the sponge that came with your tank is probably made so that it doesnt become a nitrate trap. but filter floss is not. it can get pretty bad if u dont take it out. but on the plus side it clears up the water pretty well.
