Add water instead of water change? (1 Viewer)

[reefer]

If this is a stupid question then I'm sorry but I'm curious about this.

I just moved and took down my 60 gallon tank, instead of putting it back up in the new house I put all rock and livestock in a 100 gallon tote because my new tank will be here soon and didn't want to move all the livestock two more times. I am due for a water change and I was curious about something, normally I change ten gallons out but now that the livestock is in a 100 gallon tote I'm wondering if I can just add 10 gallons of new saltwater to try to add to the volume in preperation for the new larger tank. Would the extra water volume dilute the bad water to the point that it would be similar to doing a water change?

 

[frankc]

It would be similar, but to a smaller extent. When you pull 10 gallons of old water and replace it, you're basically adding 10 gallons of new water to 50 gallons of old water. What you're talking about would be adding 10 gallons of new water to 60 gallons of old, so a little less dilution.

The bigger disadvantage of this would be that you are not vacuuming out any detritus like you might be when removing the old water.

 

[reefer]

I see what your saying about the water. As far as the detritus goes I don't think there really is any right now because I just removed everything from the tank and put all the rock and livestock in a tub that's bare bottom. They have only been in about a week

 

[Reefahholic]

When you add the NSW, it will dilute the OSW like you mentioned above and reduce the NO3 and PO4 levels. I don't believe it's as affective as a WC though. If I were you, I would set up skimmer, plus Carbon and GFO reactors on the stock tank and also use some liquid NO3/PO4 remover. Only very little amounts or you will kill ur fish via oxygen depletion.

If you have ur stock tank running for a couple months, you will begin to get hair algae like I did. If I ever have to do it again, ill sump it and the whole 9 yards. Trust me, GHA sucks.

 

[reefer]

When you add the NSW, it will dilute the OSW like you mentioned above and reduce the NO3 and PO4 levels. I don't believe it's as affective as a WC though. If I were you, I would set up skimmer, plus Carbon and GFO reactors on the stock tank and also use some liquid NO3/PO4 remover. Only very little amounts or you will kill ur fish via oxygen depletion.

If you have ur stock tank running for a couple months, you will begin to get hair algae like I did. If I ever have to do it again, ill sump it and the whole 9 yards. Trust me, GHA sucks.

I have the skimmer and reactors set up on it already. Basically what I did was took everything out of my 60 gallon and instead of setting it all back up nice and neat I just put everything in a 100 gallon tub until my new tank arrives. I'm trying to get more water volume into the 100 gallon tub so I can use that water in the new tank.

 

[Mark L.]

I would do a normal water change (10 gal) to remove any waste. Then, add in the 20 gallons of fresh saltwater to give you more volume.