I barely actually started looking into starting my own reef tank this past week , and I was sort of stressing with everything in general as far as maintenance, equip , and methods to maintaining , however I sat down and took notes on these 5 mins videos , and I can’t help stop smiling at the fact that I’m getting less stressed each time I watch these videos , you don’t understand how greatly appreciative I am of these info videos
I used to HATE cleaning and siphoning the sand bed. I discovered that ever since I got my watchman goby and pistol shrimp, I rarely have to clean the sand bed. The shrimp does such a good job of turning over the sand, it stays pretty clean. And he doesn't dramatically change the aquascape like some people complain about. They are actually 2 of the most interesting and fun livestock in my tank! Not to mention, 2 of the cheapest I've ever bought!
Totally agree with this. I just started a reef tank in January of 2021. It has been almost 10 years since I had my last aquarium. I had a 55 gal, 20 gal, and a 10 gal (all freshwater). I had no idea what RODI water was and did very few of any water changes. My wife bought me a 50 gal AIO Clear for Life tanks with a stand for my birthday this year. I decided I would have a reef tank. I had zero experience with saltwater aquariums and didn’t know where to begin. My LFS mentioned BRS as a source for reef tank advice. She suggested I start with your series on your 160. Needless to say, I have spent the last 8 months watching and then rewatching your 5 minute guides. I am pleased to report that after almost 9 months of reefing, your videos have helped me 1) combat a very difficult green hair algae problem. 2) Helped my significantly with my flow issues 3) showed me how to properly acclimate new corals and fish 4) Gave me a new appreciation of the benefits of regular water changes 5) and much, much more! And overall given me help that had been more than helpful with my first endeavor with a reef tank. Thank you BRSTV! This testimonial was given by an unpaid reefer All rights reserved Copyright 2021 Beaver Falls, Idaho 38221
😁 Thank you for saying all of those nice things! We're just glad we could be part of the journey. Here's to many more years of successful reef keeping! 🥂
just watching this video and looking to do in the morning. I turned to look at my tank and I had about 20 gallons all over the carpet. Tank had cracked right across the bottom. I am just glad it did not happen when I was in bed. I was thinking of getting a bigger tank. not much choice now, I think.
Lol Now I really feel like the grim reaper of coral. 8 months never missed a 10% Sunday water change. After quite a few losses I almost gave up until I seen the lighting video (to bright) Improvements already. Keep them vids coming :)
I actually bought and used the python water change system. it definitely works, but is significantly slower at siphoning the water. Beyond that, it wastes a TON of water since you have the faucet running the whole time. The alternative is to run back and disconnect the tubing from the faucet but then you have a long length of tubing with a relatively small vertical drop giving a very slow flow rate.
Yes!!!! I gave a new reefer the advice of 10% a week or 20% every other week but the RUclipsr said I was wrong and that was a freshwater thing. I was sure I gave solid advice but didn't want to be disrespectful n argue or anything. But glad to know I wasn't giving bad advice lol.
Its not that your wrong or the youtuber is wrong. is just that for a new tank and hobbbiest weekly or biweekly water changes are best. But for an experienced hobbyist less water changes a month is better even on a new tank. Simply because you know what you. Are look for and test for. Your advice to the new hobbiest was solid.
My tank is 370 gallons and I’m a new reefer , the water change today by my own effort without my vendors was a 6 hour task ! 🥲🥲🥲 very daunting .. I need proper barrels !
I would love it if you could address reefers that have septic tanks and are not on a city sewer system. Flushing the salt water down the drain can destroy the bacteria present in the septic tank.
Flushing salt water down your septic tank can kill off the bacteria do it sparingly. It will kill your lawn if you pour it in one spot you have to speard it out then water the lawn or turn your spriklers on. Trust me i have a dead patch in my back yard lol.
Most volumes of saltwater hobbyists would drain are not enough to have a large impact on your septic system. This would be an interesting topic to address! Thank you for the feedback. (:
If I use the method where you scoop the 5 gals out and replace it , what about cleaning the sand bed ? You had mentioned to do that while the water is draining. If I scoop the 5 gals out how do I clean the sand bed without draining more water ?
Do you start weekly water changes while the tank is cycling, or wait until nitrates are measurable in a tank started with Dr. Tim’s and a couple of clowns?
I learned the 10% weakly is not as effective. You're removing some of the water you added the week before. Doing a 20% water change you're removing more of the negatives in the water. I still do 5 gallons a week in a 40 gallon, but I started doing two 5 gallon changes in a week once a month. I did this after having new fish I added die in a couple of days and having a lot of algae issues. It made my tank overall more healthy.
I started off with 10% weekly when I barely had any coral and fish in my 20 gallon AIO. 3 years later my tank is packed with coral and lots of fish and inverts. I decided to do bi-weekly water changes at 20% and noticed my SPS skyrocket in growth. Every tank will be different on how often you'll need to change, 10% weekly is just a baseline rule of thumb.
That would be a Trachyphyllia. They're really awesome LPS corals that are available in a variety of colors. They can get a little spendy, but are relatively easy to take care of.
If you're removing saltwater, then you'll need to add salt to the water that you replace it with. If you're topping the tank off because of evaporation, you'll want to use freshwater as salt doesn't evaporate.
I know this is an old video but I am new to the hobby and would like to know what the name of the siphon with the black vacuum is? Not the python one but the other one being used in the video? I have been looking for something and that seems as if it works well.
If it's a sandbed that you've not maintained for a while, you should start slowly and in small sections at a time. If you have an established deep sandbed, you might be best off not disturbing it.
Question; I don't mind performing water changes for my nano tank and I can't wait to upgrade corals but when doing a water change how long can you leave corals exposed before it becomes harmful for them?
There isn't a hard and fast rule, but 10-15 minutes shouldn't be an issue. If you're concerned, you can splash them with some tank water to keep them wet and keep the lights off during the water change.
Assuming the new saltwater is room temperature (~68-72 degrees), heating isn't likely necessary. We don't heat our fresh saltwater reservoir here at BRS.
Just about any beneficial nitrifying bacteria product will work. Dr. Tim's one and only, Biospira, MicroBacter7, etc. If it's a very small increase in nitrites, you might even be able to just wait it out.
I have noticed recently that I am getting a bronze colored skim on the top of my "new" water which I make in a 30gal, plastic garbage can. I use a titanium heater to heat the water and Reef Crystals salt out of the bag. Just curious what this is and why it happens.
If you mix reef crystal for an extended period of time and heat the water you get some precipitation of the additives in the salt. The brown stuff is normal if ypu mix for 12 or more hours. It happens faster the wamer the water is
This is likely some organic, or contaminants from the salt mix. We would check out our video on mixing different brands of salt. Using something like Tropic Marin Reef Pro could help to stop this.
You'll inevitably siphon out some of the very fine particles. You may have to add a bit of sand back to the tank eventually, but it'll likely take years to get to that point.
A water change is simply the process of taking some of the tank water out and replacing with new clean water. Most reefers will use a vinyl tube or Python system to drain the water out (usually 10-25%). From there, we'll use a small pump to pump our freshly mixed saltwater back into the tank. The information in this video will cover some tips and tricks on how to perform a water change :)
About how long can i go without water changes if i carbon dose to keep nitrates and phosphate down? Also my LFS guy told me to never touch the sandbed as i can cause a nitrate spike and that my cleanupcrew aswell as my diamond goby will take care of it.
It depends on your specific tank and the inhabitant s if you have a high bioload of fish but your filtration is under powered then do more frequent water changes even with the carbon dosing. If you have a light bioload and your filtration is able to keep up the you can get away with a biweekly or monthly water change schedule and even 2-3 months if you are dosing alk, cal, mag and trace elements
This could vary, but even if keeping nutrient levels down your trace elements levels will need to be replenished in the tank. Given you are supplementing these you could go a fair portion of time without a water change.
Only 10% weekly in saltwater aquarium? But a freshwater with cichlids needs a 75% weekly? Why is that? There's not nitrates or toxins in saltwater aquariums? I'm still learning about saltwater aquarium 😅
I have a question but it doesn’t pertain to this video when you have a sump and the power goes out how does the siphon break and doesn’t flood your sump
Ultimately, you'll want to make sure that your sump is large enough to handle the influx of extra water. Check valves can be used to help reduce this. While check valves aren't prone to failure very often, they can fail, so relying on them 100% isn't a great idea.
@@RGMLLC If you're not familiar with sumps, check this video out. I think it'll answer many of your questions. ruclips.net/video/z6foHVHg1Rw/видео.html
You can't pump freshwater directly to your saltwater aquarium without causing issues. That said, you can easily attach the python tubing to a pump like the Sicce Ultra Zero to pump water from your saltwater mixing container to your tank.
With a water change, we're physically removing the saltwater, so you'll want to replace it with saltwater. With evaporation, you're correct. The salt will stay in the tank and you'll top off with freshwater.
Hate the fact the you say water change but you don’t do it step by step like don’t say why you doing and how… you should do that step by step no much of talking we trying to learn just by watching how to do it
I like to get started with water changes right away to get a maintenance rhythm going. While water changes may not be necessary in the first few weeks, there is something to be said about getting yourself into good habits from the start.
Auto water changes are for the top 5% of reefers and not practical for the other 95% of reefers. Why even mention this? Someone who can automate water changes doesn’t need your videos
I barely actually started looking into starting my own reef tank this past week , and I was sort of stressing with everything in general as far as maintenance, equip , and methods to maintaining , however I sat down and took notes on these 5 mins videos , and I can’t help stop smiling at the fact that I’m getting less stressed each time I watch these videos , you don’t understand how greatly appreciative I am of these info videos
Glad to hear that the videos have helped!
A reef tank is simple and you don’t need all the fancy crap!!! I run my reef on a canister filter no sump or skimmer
I used to HATE cleaning and siphoning the sand bed. I discovered that ever since I got my watchman goby and pistol shrimp, I rarely have to clean the sand bed. The shrimp does such a good job of turning over the sand, it stays pretty clean. And he doesn't dramatically change the aquascape like some people complain about. They are actually 2 of the most interesting and fun livestock in my tank! Not to mention, 2 of the cheapest I've ever bought!
Loving the 5 min series, guys! 💕
Totally agree with this. I just started a reef tank in January of 2021. It has been almost 10 years since I had my last aquarium. I had a 55 gal, 20 gal, and a 10 gal (all freshwater). I had no idea what RODI water was and did very few of any water changes.
My wife bought me a 50 gal AIO Clear for Life tanks with a stand for my birthday this year. I decided I would have a reef tank. I had zero experience with saltwater aquariums and didn’t know where to begin. My LFS mentioned BRS as a source for reef tank advice. She suggested I start with your series on your 160.
Needless to say, I have spent the last 8 months watching and then rewatching your 5 minute guides. I am pleased to report that after almost 9 months of reefing, your videos have helped me
1) combat a very difficult green hair algae problem.
2) Helped my significantly with my flow issues
3) showed me how to properly acclimate new corals and fish
4) Gave me a new appreciation of the benefits of regular water changes
5) and much, much more!
And overall given me help that had been more than helpful with my first endeavor with a reef tank.
Thank you BRSTV!
This testimonial was given by an unpaid reefer
All rights reserved
Copyright 2021
Beaver Falls, Idaho
38221
😁 Thank you for saying all of those nice things! We're just glad we could be part of the journey. Here's to many more years of successful reef keeping! 🥂
FUCK THAT! Real gangster do their water changes on Saturday mornings after WAKE N BAKE'n
just watching this video and looking to do in the morning. I turned to look at my tank and I had about 20 gallons all over the carpet. Tank had cracked right across the bottom. I am just glad it did not happen when I was in bed. I was thinking of getting a bigger tank. not much choice now, I think.
Lol Now I really feel like the grim reaper of coral. 8 months never missed a 10% Sunday water change. After quite a few losses I almost gave up until I seen the lighting video (to bright) Improvements already. Keep them vids coming :)
I actually bought and used the python water change system. it definitely works, but is significantly slower at siphoning the water. Beyond that, it wastes a TON of water since you have the faucet running the whole time. The alternative is to run back and disconnect the tubing from the faucet but then you have a long length of tubing with a relatively small vertical drop giving a very slow flow rate.
Lol I rewind it to hear again and then realize u said “let me say it again” haha 100% agree with water changes for newbies.
Great info!!
Yes!!!! I gave a new reefer the advice of 10% a week or 20% every other week but the RUclipsr said I was wrong and that was a freshwater thing. I was sure I gave solid advice but didn't want to be disrespectful n argue or anything. But glad to know I wasn't giving bad advice lol.
Its not that your wrong or the youtuber is wrong. is just that for a new tank and hobbbiest weekly or biweekly water changes are best. But for an experienced hobbyist less water changes a month is better even on a new tank. Simply because you know what you. Are look for and test for. Your advice to the new hobbiest was solid.
My tank is 370 gallons and I’m a new reefer , the water change today by my own effort without my vendors was a 6 hour task ! 🥲🥲🥲 very daunting .. I need proper barrels !
Sand sifting star cleans it for me
What a great informative video!
Great video
Hi,, good question i did the water test everything is good, do you recommend do water change ??
This guys great
I would love it if you could address reefers that have septic tanks and are not on a city sewer system. Flushing the salt water down the drain can destroy the bacteria present in the septic tank.
Christopher Purdie just throw it on ur lawn or something.
@@TheGabrielberki Won't that kill it?
Flushing salt water down your septic tank can kill off the bacteria do it sparingly. It will kill your lawn if you pour it in one spot you have to speard it out then water the lawn or turn your spriklers on. Trust me i have a dead patch in my back yard lol.
Most volumes of saltwater hobbyists would drain are not enough to have a large impact on your septic system. This would be an interesting topic to address! Thank you for the feedback. (:
If I use the method where you scoop the 5 gals out and replace it , what about cleaning the sand bed ? You had mentioned to do that while the water is draining. If I scoop the 5 gals out how do I clean the sand bed without draining more water ?
Switching to Triton this year, looking forward to not schlepping buckets anymore.
When would it be the correct time to do the first water change. After the cycle is done?
Do you start weekly water changes while the tank is cycling, or wait until nitrates are measurable in a tank started with Dr. Tim’s and a couple of clowns?
I learned the 10% weakly is not as effective. You're removing some of the water you added the week before. Doing a 20% water change you're removing more of the negatives in the water. I still do 5 gallons a week in a 40 gallon, but I started doing two 5 gallon changes in a week once a month. I did this after having new fish I added die in a couple of days and having a lot of algae issues. It made my tank overall more healthy.
I started off with 10% weekly when I barely had any coral and fish in my 20 gallon AIO. 3 years later my tank is packed with coral and lots of fish and inverts. I decided to do bi-weekly water changes at 20% and noticed my SPS skyrocket in growth. Every tank will be different on how often you'll need to change, 10% weekly is just a baseline rule of thumb.
Can you tell what light u have used for those marine tanks.
In our 5 minute guide tanks, we're using the AI Primes on the 40 breeder and the Red Sea ReefLED50 on the E170.
@@BRStv ty sir.
Hey BRS, what’s the green coral on the bottom at 0:38? Any recommendations on where to get it? Thank you.
That would be a Trachyphyllia. They're really awesome LPS corals that are available in a variety of colors. They can get a little spendy, but are relatively easy to take care of.
Would it be OK to use distilled water for water changes and top off
RODI is preferred, but distilled water is certainly better than tap water.
Do I need to add salt tot he water I add??
If you're removing saltwater, then you'll need to add salt to the water that you replace it with. If you're topping the tank off because of evaporation, you'll want to use freshwater as salt doesn't evaporate.
@@BRStv wow! I didn’t expect a response, thanks man!
I know this is an old video but I am new to the hobby and would like to know what the name of the siphon with the black vacuum is? Not the python one but the other one being used in the video? I have been looking for something and that seems as if it works well.
That would be the old Aqueon siphon. It works on the same premise as the Python siphon.
Hey I have a syhpon hose but i use it for my freshwater tanks. Can I use this hose for saltwater and still use it for my freshwater
There shouldn't be much cross contamination concern between salt and freshwater, I don't see an issue with that.
Its safe to clean the sand bed?
If it's a sandbed that you've not maintained for a while, you should start slowly and in small sections at a time. If you have an established deep sandbed, you might be best off not disturbing it.
Question; I don't mind performing water changes for my nano tank and I can't wait to upgrade corals but when doing a water change how long can you leave corals exposed before it becomes harmful for them?
There isn't a hard and fast rule, but 10-15 minutes shouldn't be an issue. If you're concerned, you can splash them with some tank water to keep them wet and keep the lights off during the water change.
Am I right in saying for a 10% water change it’s ok not to heat the new water?
Assuming the new saltwater is room temperature (~68-72 degrees), heating isn't likely necessary. We don't heat our fresh saltwater reservoir here at BRS.
I hate water changes. I love healthy corals and fish.
i did my first water change,Couple days later my nitrite levels went up. what do need to do drop that?
is prime good for that.
Just about any beneficial nitrifying bacteria product will work. Dr. Tim's one and only, Biospira, MicroBacter7, etc. If it's a very small increase in nitrites, you might even be able to just wait it out.
Prime is brilliant to have handy in the cabinet
I have noticed recently that I am getting a bronze colored skim on the top of my "new" water which I make in a 30gal, plastic garbage can. I use a titanium heater to heat the water and Reef Crystals salt out of the bag. Just curious what this is and why it happens.
If you mix reef crystal for an extended period of time and heat the water you get some precipitation of the additives in the salt. The brown stuff is normal if ypu mix for 12 or more hours. It happens faster the wamer the water is
This is likely some organic, or contaminants from the salt mix. We would check out our video on mixing different brands of salt. Using something like Tropic Marin Reef Pro could help to stop this.
How do you not lose the fine sand?
You'll inevitably siphon out some of the very fine particles. You may have to add a bit of sand back to the tank eventually, but it'll likely take years to get to that point.
Hi, i have a 6ft x 2.5ft x 2.5ft salt tank and how to water change ?
A water change is simply the process of taking some of the tank water out and replacing with new clean water. Most reefers will use a vinyl tube or Python system to drain the water out (usually 10-25%). From there, we'll use a small pump to pump our freshly mixed saltwater back into the tank. The information in this video will cover some tips and tricks on how to perform a water change :)
Is 2.5 gallons every week in a moderately understocked 30 gallon enough?
This would not be bad, as it is close to 10%. We would test the water for nutrient levels to determine if this is enough.
@@BRStv is testing once every 2 weeks (or when their is an issue or when a new fish is introduced) enough?
About how long can i go without water changes if i carbon dose to keep nitrates and phosphate down? Also my LFS guy told me to never touch the sandbed as i can cause a nitrate spike and that my cleanupcrew aswell as my diamond goby will take care of it.
It depends on your specific tank and the inhabitant s if you have a high bioload of fish but your filtration is under powered then do more frequent water changes even with the carbon dosing. If you have a light bioload and your filtration is able to keep up the you can get away with a biweekly or monthly water change schedule and even 2-3 months if you are dosing alk, cal, mag and trace elements
This could vary, but even if keeping nutrient levels down your trace elements levels will need to be replenished in the tank. Given you are supplementing these you could go a fair portion of time without a water change.
Only 10% weekly in saltwater aquarium? But a freshwater with cichlids needs a 75% weekly? Why is that? There's not nitrates or toxins in saltwater aquariums? I'm still learning about saltwater aquarium 😅
Do you guys keep adding bacteria cause my rocks seems to bleached on some spots. Its running over 1 year now
Once a tank is done cycling, we usually don't add any nitrifying bacteria.
I have a question but it doesn’t pertain to this video when you have a sump and the power goes out how does the siphon break and doesn’t flood your sump
Ultimately, you'll want to make sure that your sump is large enough to handle the influx of extra water. Check valves can be used to help reduce this. While check valves aren't prone to failure very often, they can fail, so relying on them 100% isn't a great idea.
@@BRStv so my sump needs to be bigger than my tank i don’t know how this works because Ive never used one b4 and it’s my first reef tank
@@RGMLLC If you're not familiar with sumps, check this video out. I think it'll answer many of your questions.
ruclips.net/video/z6foHVHg1Rw/видео.html
@@BRStv thank you
How can you use a python when your directly pumping fresh water into your saltwater tank? Wont that mess up your specific gravity.
You can't pump freshwater directly to your saltwater aquarium without causing issues. That said, you can easily attach the python tubing to a pump like the Sicce Ultra Zero to pump water from your saltwater mixing container to your tank.
@@BRStv thank you
The solution to pollution is dilution.
I thought you do a water change using freshwater because the salt doesn’t evaporate?
With a water change, we're physically removing the saltwater, so you'll want to replace it with saltwater.
With evaporation, you're correct. The salt will stay in the tank and you'll top off with freshwater.
Hate the fact the you say water change but you don’t do it step by step like don’t say why you doing and how… you should do that step by step no much of talking we trying to learn just by watching how to do it
When should you do your first water change?
I like to get started with water changes right away to get a maintenance rhythm going. While water changes may not be necessary in the first few weeks, there is something to be said about getting yourself into good habits from the start.
talk too much!
Auto water changes are for the top 5% of reefers and not practical for the other 95% of reefers. Why even mention this? Someone who can automate water changes doesn’t need your videos
You'd be surprised how many "average" reefers utilize an auto water change system 🙂
Can you please tell me what kind/where you got the stand for the 40 gallon breeder?
This stand was just an off the shelf stand from our local Petco. Not exactly sure what model it is.