FortuneFavours
New member
Hi all
I'm working on my first reef tank and am about to start the plumbing. Is there an easy way to automatically remove/add water when doing water changes?
I had initially thought of tee-ing off the main drain, but that wouldn't work for removing the water as it would only drain about 1 gallon of water from the 10" x 5" overflow (assuming the return pump is turned off).
I'd like to be able to remove a similar amount of water every time, so I was thinking of having a pipe submerged about 10% (4" - the tank is almost 40" tall) of the way into the tank, for 10% fortnightly water changes. This would be connected to a ball valve which would stay closed most of the time and only opened when it's time for a water change.
I'd have some flexible pipe connected, which could be kept hidden in the cabinet and rolled out when I want to drain water. The tank is only about 10 feet away from my garden patio doors, so the pipe wouldn't have to be ridiculously long. I'd have to find some way of getting the syphon started as the pipe would come over the top of the tank.
Once the water is drained to the required level, I could connect the other end to a pump in the prepared salt water and just pump the new water back in.
The tank is 300G, so replacing 30G fortnightly like this would make my life much easier!
Is this a stupid idea?? :uhoh2:
I'm working on my first reef tank and am about to start the plumbing. Is there an easy way to automatically remove/add water when doing water changes?
I had initially thought of tee-ing off the main drain, but that wouldn't work for removing the water as it would only drain about 1 gallon of water from the 10" x 5" overflow (assuming the return pump is turned off).
I'd like to be able to remove a similar amount of water every time, so I was thinking of having a pipe submerged about 10% (4" - the tank is almost 40" tall) of the way into the tank, for 10% fortnightly water changes. This would be connected to a ball valve which would stay closed most of the time and only opened when it's time for a water change.
I'd have some flexible pipe connected, which could be kept hidden in the cabinet and rolled out when I want to drain water. The tank is only about 10 feet away from my garden patio doors, so the pipe wouldn't have to be ridiculously long. I'd have to find some way of getting the syphon started as the pipe would come over the top of the tank.
Once the water is drained to the required level, I could connect the other end to a pump in the prepared salt water and just pump the new water back in.
The tank is 300G, so replacing 30G fortnightly like this would make my life much easier!
Is this a stupid idea?? :uhoh2: