how can i make water changes easier on me??

[sabazerehi]

so doing water changes on the bigger tank is starting to take it's toll on my body and i've been pushing it a little too far lol. basically i do 30g wc a week (about) my rodi container is outside on the side of the house, and i have to carry buckets one (or 2) at a time to the tank about 30ft away, and i have to go down one step to get to the tank, otherwise i would roll everything to the tank.

so 6 buckets later, i start to empty the water out of the tank a little less than a bucket at a time and i carry the buckets to the bathroom to dump them, and i do this about 10 times. the rest is easy from here, because i just use a pump to pump out the water and pump it back in.

by the end of this i'm exhausted and my back is killing me. for those of you who haven't met me, i am a girl and i kinda need to start learning my limits in terms of how much my body can handle lol.

anybody have any ideas on how to make this a more efficient and less painstaking effort?? i have always done my own wc and maintenance on my tank and i plan on keeping it that way .

thanks guys!

 

[jimmy_beaner]

As far as removing the water from the tank... why not get a long hose and run a siphon? This would be much easier, and you'd just have to wait for it to drain out. I suppose you might need a way to measure how much water you've pulled out, but that shouldn't be too tough. That's half your battle right there. Depending on the height of the RODI tank and your fish tank, you could run a siphon the other way as well.

 

[moonpod]

can you use the roughnecks that have the wheel dolly on the bottom????

 

[aleonn]

I agree with using a combination of a vacuum/siphon, along with a Brute container with a dolly on the bottom. I'd avoid the Roughnecks, as they're thinner and more prone to breaking, but the regular 32 gallon Brutes are nice and sturdy. You can even get two Brutes--one for dumping old tank water, and the other to pump new water into the DT.

 

[moonpod]

whoops meant brute

 

[joshik]

+1 on a long hose and siphon. if you're draining straight from your DT, you can calculate how much your water line needs to drop to equal X amount of gallons.

you can even fit an intake strainer on the hose and then target floaties and other crap to drain out.

 

[d_signr]

get your husband/boyfriend to do it. DONE

But seriously, use a pump/siphon with long hose for both way.

 

[brgmini]

I was thinking about doing the same thing. What type of pump would you guys recommend to go from my ro/di water about 50 ft away and then up 5ft to the top of my display tank?

not trying to hijack the thread, just thought it was on topic. Thanks.

 

[7duster3]

I got a mag 5 pump and run about 25 feet of clear hose from my rodi water station outside and pump water into my tank that way. Simple as that. To get the water out of the tank i use a feed mode on my apex to turn everything off, place the pump in the sump and shoot the water out of it into the back yard. I have it measured and marked on my sump to change 30 gallons at a time. I can do a water change in less then 10 minutes.

 

[solitude127]

When draining the water out of the tank, I use a brute trash can to empty into and then pump the old water down the drain.
I mix my water in my detached garage, then I roll the Brute can to the front of my house then with a pump, pump the water into the tank. Overall, it's about 20 ft.

 

[sabazerehi]

thanks guys, i think a long siphon will work for draining the tank, i could easily just measure how far down it needs to go in the dt. my issue with getting a brute with wheels is that there's one step it would have to go down, maybe if i could fashion a temporary ramp type thing i could pump the water from the rodi container into another trashcan on wheels and then push it to the tank and mix in the salt?

and no worries brgmini, i'd like to know the answer to that question as well

thanks!!

 

[GTR]

I siphon it out the front door and then pump it back in with a Mag 3 from a 55g drum on wheels that I can roll just outside the door.

PVC hook with a strainer drains the right amount from the tank. The drum holds just the right amount so I can walk away and not have it overflow the tank.

 

[sabazerehi]

what is a pvc hook with strainer?

 

[solitude127]

thanks guys, i think a long siphon will work for draining the tank, i could easily just measure how far down it needs to go in the dt. my issue with getting a brute with wheels is that there's one step it would have to go down, maybe if i could fashion a temporary ramp type thing i could pump the water from the rodi container into another trashcan on wheels and then push it to the tank and mix in the salt?

and no worries brgmini, i'd like to know the answer to that question as well

thanks!!

How far is the step from the tank?
btw - I use a mag 7 that I had layin around for my water changes.

 

[tran383]

Here's what I do with my salt water and RO setup in the garage.
1. Pump water from main display tank into the sink using a Python hose and Mag 5.
2. Fill the salt water back up with the pump and hose from my garage.
3. Fill the top off up with the pump and hose from my garage. (top off is adjacent to tank)

You just need to figure out much to drain from your main tank. I did this with my old 120 as well and my current 225 and it works out well. While you're waiting for the main tank to drain/fill up you can do other in tank maintenance. I like using the Python hoses since they are very flexible and I can roll them up easily when I am done. Also, you can connect multiple ones together, I connect 2 of them together to get the length I need.

 

[sabazerehi]

thanks so much guys! the step is about 10 ft, and the tank is about another 4-5ft up from the step.

 

[GTR]

what is a pvc hook with strainer?

Just u-shaped pvc with a bulkhead strainer to go in the tank and the other end has a barb fitting for the hose. It hangs on the tank and the part in the tank determines how much water will siphon out. I bought a blue hose from walmart made for RV drinking water. It was the cheapest I could find and a lot cheaper than clear tubing. This is for a FW tank and I change 50g every week. Used the same thing on my SW though, just not as much or as often.

 

[sabazerehi]

thanks so much gtr! that sounds perfect and simple enough and effective. i'll check wal mart for tubing.

theoretically i shouldn't need a pump to drain my tank as long as the height is taller than the sink/toilet i'd be draining the water into correct? so it's looking like my best option would be to roll a brute trashcan from outside to the step, and then mix the salt in and get a pump that's strong enough to pump from the step to the tank, it doesn't have to pump up to the display, it can go down to the sump which should make things easier on the pump.

anywhere else i should look into for tubing?

thank you guys soo much! this is just what i needed, i don't know why it took me soo long to ask!

 

[7duster3]

I got mine from ACE hardware, i think i spent $12 bucks for 25 feet. I know you can get it at home depot also.

 

[GTR]

See above. I used "drinking water safe" garden hose. Seems I remember the stuff at HD being almost $2.00/ft, regardless it was a lot more than the hose.