A water change has happened, did you feel the disturbance in the force?

I did it. I changed water in my reef. Crazy, but true. lol

As I mentioned yesterday during the livestream, I was going to do a water change this weekend. I ended up changing 62-gallons, which is basically what the skimmer section and the return section of my sump holds.

Before the water change though, I tested the alkalinity of my new saltwater and saw that I needed to buffer it up. So I used the Reef Chemistry Calculator to determine how much baked baking soda I needed, added that amount to the poly tank and let it mix in for 20 minutes or so.

Last night, I cleaned out the french drain completely, which had all sorts of crud in it that had accumulated over the past 10 years. I was happy that the grates I popped out of the concrete didn't have to be re-glued with silicone; a rubber mallet put them right back where they belonged, and seem secure. I pulled out about 2 lbs of crud from that drain, which you can see in that small bucket.

The old water was pumped out of the sump into the clean floor drain, and new saltwater was pumped into the sump. The difference in temperature between the tank and the new water was .3 of a degree. :)  I always recommend matching salinity, temperature and pH (or alkalinity) when doing a water change.

This little acrylic box holds the tubing over the drain, and traps bigger stuff on a screen if anything is siphoned out of the sump. Water drains right down through the plastic grate of the french drain.

Happy Fathers Day to me.  Hope the reef liked it.