New water change system installed!

flfireman1

flfireman1

Wrasse aficionado
After attending my first FMAS meeting last month and sitting thru AquamanE's very informative water change systems presentation (trying not to suck up). I decided to tackle the project myself and install one on my system.

I never thought much about hauling around three 5 gallon jugs at a time for the water changes. It was one of those things that were part of the hobby....I thought. Also, no matter how careful I was, I was guaranteed to spill a good amount on the floor. Then there was the added fun of draining 5 gallons of water out of the aquarium at a time.

So to begin with I found this dandy little 50 gallon water container on craigslist. It was used to store saltwater, from a guy that would do aquarium maintenance.

animalkingdom2010008.jpg


This poly tank fits perfectly in my "fish closet" and is just big enough where I can do enough water changes without having to constantly remix. I added a RO shut off float valve inside for fills. There is also some plumbing inside for aeration and mixing.

Next was to find an external return pump for mixing the saltwater and filling my display again. I found the little giant pump on craigslist as well. Its used but Im hoping I should be able to get some good use out of it still.

With a little simple plumbing I added the new pump in line with my aquariums return line.

animalkingdom2010006.jpg


I also happen to have a pretty large old Rio pump sitting around. I placed that in my sump with a hose line attached. The hose is long enough to reach out into my yard. I also marked the sump off (with the return pump off) at the 5, 10, and 15 gallon mark.

So basically depending on how much water I want to drain from my tank I run the Rio pump to the desired mark of 5, 10 or 15. After the water is drained I flip the switch on the little giant and that automatically fills my display.

Water changes now take 10 minutes to perform and the best part is no mess!!!

<a href="http://s1041.photobucket.com/albums/b420/flfireman/?action=view&current=animalkingdom2010004.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1041.photobucket.com/albums/b420/flfireman/animalkingdom2010004.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
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The total cost was around $100 for supplies and well worth it in my opinion. If anybody sees anything that I can work on (other than making things neater!!) or improve feel free to let me know, Im always open to suggestions.

Thanks again to AquamanE for the outstanding presentation!
Eric
 
Wow Eric, you have it down to a science. Good for you! I've got mine semi-automatic, but nowhere nearly as convenient as yours. Did you upgrade your tank? I thought I read that somewhere...
 
nice job looks like the meeting presentation was a success for sure I have been working on a similar system except its fully automated and its just a little larger
 
Thanks again to AquamanE for the outstanding presentation!
Click to expand...

Eric- Glad you made it to that meeting. Most meetings you will pick up something IMHO.

Good job on your system. Will that always be SW?. What do you do about regular RO/DI for evaporation?


Rogger Castells said:
Looking good, the only thing you are missing is a check valve on the water change line, this should be an easy add on.
Click to expand...

I dont get it Rogger, do you mean from the tank to the Little Giant input? If you do, all he has to do is wait till tank is empty to do service on pump. BTW- What check valves do you use? I have yet to find one that works for very long, even the expensive clear ones.
 
betoballer1 said:
I might consider doin this in the future? Do you have any diy plans??
Click to expand...

Go to www.fmas1955.org, then archives-past meetings. You will see PP presentation there.

Thats just a few ideas. Many on here have gotten a little something from a few to create what works for them. That seems to be what Eric has done, and it came out great!!
 
AquamanE said:
Will that always be SW?. What do you do about regular RO/DI for evaporation?QUOTE]
No, I have a seperate RO/DI container that goes thru a kalkwasser reactor. You can kind of see it on the bottom left corner of the third picture. I meant to post a picture of it but decided not to since I really didnt have time to make things "neat". Place kind of looks like a wreck. Everytime I mean to pick things up I start messing with equipment and such....
Click to expand...
 
AquamanE said:
I dont get it Rogger, do you mean from the tank to the Little Giant input? If you do, all he has to do is wait till tank is empty to do service on pump. BTW- What check valves do you use? I have yet to find one that works for very long, even the expensive clear ones.
Click to expand...

Not sure what don't you get, but the check valve must be place in a system that it is connected in line with your main return line, the purpose is to prevent water to rush back into the water change tank once the water empties at the end of a water change. In this particularly case check valves do work cause they are close most of the time except when you pump the water for the water change, The issue with this valves is when they are working open most of the time eventually they get stuck on that position and when the water rushes back they do not close, this is clearly not the case.
 
Rogger Castells said:
Not sure what don't you get, but the check valve must be place in a system that it is connected in line with your main return line, the purpose is to prevent water to rush back into the water change tank once the water empties at the end of a water change. In this particularly case check valves do work cause they are close most of the time except when you pump the water for the water change, The issue with this valves is when they are working open most of the time eventually they get stuck on that position and when the water rushes back they do not close, this is clearly not the case.
Click to expand...
Hum.... I thought about this but added a gate valve instead. I guess a better option would have bee the check valve. Like you said, I can always add it, which I will do on Sunday.....as a matter of fact I have an extra one laying around (hopefully its 3/4"). Thanks for the tip!
 
flfireman1 said:
Hum.... I thought about this but added a gate valve instead. I guess a better option would have bee the check valve. Like you said, I can always add it, which I will do on Sunday.....as a matter of fact I have an extra one laying around (hopefully its 3/4"). Thanks for the tip!
Click to expand...
You are welcome
 
Rogger Castells said:
Not sure what don't you get, but the check valve must be place in a system that it is connected in line with your main return line, the purpose is to prevent water to rush back into the water change tank once the water empties at the end of a water change. In this particularly case check valves do work cause they are close most of the time except when you pump the water for the water change, The issue with this valves is when they are working open most of the time eventually they get stuck on that position and when the water rushes back they do not close, this is clearly not the case.
Click to expand...

Im not trying to argue with THE MASTER, just tring to understand, since i might redo mine. Always getting new ideas.. :p

Why cant he shut #1, open #2, as new WC water is flowing in. When new water is in he shuts#2, and opens#1. Water change is done.

Again just tring to understand. :)

animalkingdom2010004.jpg
 
Last edited:
AquamanE said:
Im not trying to argue with THE MASTER, just tring to understand, since i might redo mine. Always getting new ideas.. :p

Why cant he shut #1, open #2, as new WC water is flowing in. When new water is in he shuts#2, and opens#1. Water change is done.

Again just tring to understand. :)
Click to expand...
You can just do that, the issue is that when the pump that is pumping the newly made water into the system runs out of water the pressure from the main fish tank pump will rush water back into the water change tank, unless of course you are waiting for that moment to reverse the valves.
The other issue by closing valve #1 is that during the water change (8-10 min) if the chiller goes on it could potentially freeze the water in the pipes causing another problem.
My train of thought is why go through all that if you can just install a $15 one way valve.
 
Okay, after giving this some more thought and looking at pictures of Rogers and Mannys setups. I decided to go with their sump drain idea. This works out much easier and eliminates having the extra rio pump in the sump to drain it. Now I simply connect a hose to the drain and run it outside.

Rogger/ Manny let me know if you find anything wrong with the way I did this.
Thanks
Eric

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Dont know if Im crazy about it just yet, water changes only take 5 minutes and I dont have any spilled water to clean up. This system is much too efficient, dont know what else to do with my free time now........:D
 
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