[ererer]

Title says it all. For those of you that aren't "blessed" with having 7.8+ ph, extra hard water right out of your tap, and so you have to use a buffer of some kind, what's the best/easiest way for you to do your water changes?

Currently, my ph from the tap is 7.4, kh and gh both around 7 degrees. I'm following the basic buffer recipe and adding about 1 tsp each of baking soda, epsom salt, and instant ocean salt mix (I also have reef tanks) to a 5 gallon bucket of tap water and then adding that to the tank. I'm on a well, so no dechlorinator is needed, and I mix the water to temp before adding to the bucket. I'm about to move from doing 5 gallon water changes on the 20 gallon tanks to a ~12 gallon change on the 55 and I'd like to know if there's an easier way, or should I just buy a cheap submersible pond pump and get another couple buckets?

 

[Auballagh]

You are doing it right. Get the cheap pond submersible pump with a length of vinyl hose, and purchase a larger reservoir. A Rubbermaid, 20 gallon trash can ought to do the trick pretty nicely.

 

[nodima]

If you have wild fish, you are on right track, with just using a larger vessel.

If you have tank raised fish, they are much more tolerant of "non ideal" water conditions and IME consistency is more important than textbook perfect parameters. I have larger tanks, and use hoses for water changes, going directly into the tank. I do add epsom salt to my 180 gal, but that gets thrown into the sump and starts circulating after everything is restarted. I do 50% changes, and don't care for the extra hassle etc. of a storage vessel and pump directly into tank. I turn the water on, get the temp close by feel (back of hand) and add all the dechlor up front and let the tank fill. Occasionally I get distracted and add the dechlor late, but can't say any issues have been caused by this.

Your parameters are not terrible for tangs, but certainly not textbook either. Again, with wild fish, the vessel approach and doctoring your water may be necessary.