Heating stored water?

I understand if you are doing a water change you need to match the temp of the new water to the water in your system, but what about top offs? 1g at room temp added to 40g+ doesn't seem like enough to throw off the temp very much.

In the long term should the stored water be heated or not? I know the properties of the water change as the temp changes but why does that matter if the parameters go back to normal when the water is heated?

I also know I need to heat the water while mixing the salt to be sure the SG is correct.

Thanks
Doratus

 

For top-off I see no problem in not using a heater. There is no salt in our top-off water so salinity level is not a matter in that part, and will not change. If you are dosing for elements(calc., mag., etc.), well that is a different story.

 

So you use freshwater for tops to compensate for the concentration of salt due to evaporation?

 

Yes, that is correct.

 

I'm gonna hijack my own thread a little here. How often do you do an actual water change, and how much water when you do? I have a pretty good idea of how it's done I just want to know what you do in particular.

 

The norm is 10% each week. But some people do 20% a week and some people do either one just less often...like once a month. Some do less..

 

In my 75 gallon, I do a 5 gallon change a week.

 

i change about 20% every 2 weeks, i have a 24 gallon.....prolly should do a littlw more often since its a low quantity tank

 

I dont heat my top off water. it is a 55 gallon drum. on my old system, I never heated it either and never saw any issues. it is such a small ammount over an extended period of time, I doing think it matters..

Oh and I am not a fan of changing water. on my old tank, it was not changed for several years. tank was AWESOME. sold it when I moved. working on the same setup here.

I am not advising anyone to not change the water. it worked for me for a long period of time. one thing to consider is that it does require a very well established tank (several years old) to successfully accomplish IMO.