Doing A Water Change Before The Co2 Turns On

rs18alpha

Subscriber
Feb 3, 2017
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Pennsylvania
I couldn't find a water change thread, so I'm hoping this will do.
I do my WC before the CO2 and lights come on. But if I need to clean things up I turn the light on for a short time until I'm done.

The reason I do this is because if I wait until the co2 and lights are on then I have to turn the co2 off until I'm done with the WC and any maintenance.

I was wondering if I can just leave every thing on while I do a WC?

Thanks..
 

nel

New Member
Sep 16, 2018
5
2
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30
Poland
I'm leaving the CO2, filters and everything else on when doing a water change. I'm turning off the filter only in two cases. When I do such a big water change, that the filter will get air and when I'm trimming plants.

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nel

New Member
Sep 16, 2018
5
2
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30
Poland
I'm doing weekly 30-50% depending on my mood ;-) so the water level goes down pretty much.

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FxFocus

New Member
Aug 17, 2018
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United Kingdom
Well it's not for everyone as a lot depends on how the water change is done (straight to tank or buckets etc.) but what I'm suggesting if your method is suitable is to drain and fill at the same time.
Intuitively you would be right to think this would be less efficient but the difference is way less than you might think.
So for instance to achieve an equivalent 30% you would need to run 35% new water through the system.
So you use 5% more water but there can be a significant time saving.
 

Tim Harrison

Lifetime Member
Lifetime Member
Jul 7, 2017
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UK
Just do your water change and maintenance before the gas comes on. It's okay to put the lights on during maintenance, so you can see what you're doing, so long as they are turned off afterward.
If you leave the gas on you're just wasting it. Whether you leave the filter on or not depends if you drain below the filter intake. I just turn everything off, and my gas is set to leave me plenty of time to do maintenance before it come on.
 

Phishless

Lifetime Member
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Jul 13, 2017
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Arnold, MD
I've thought about this in the very beginning and figured what the hell.
I do it at peak times with CO2 on and lights a blazing, just turn off the filter.

My spraybar is @ the 10 gallon mark so if it's ten gallons I do nothing.