Painless Water Changes

"We just did our third water change today and even being careful it's pretty much a mess"
Well your first problem is you're doing way too many water changes a day :D.

Seriously though, how much are you changing out a week? a couple gallons? Shouldn't be that hard to lift and dump that small amount in the tank.

As for the PH, my Maxi-900 really struggles getting water up my 6 foot tube into the tank, so it would seem that a rather strong PH is needed, no?
J
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6739634#post6739634 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by JRPhd

As for the PH, my Maxi-900 really struggles getting water up my 6 foot tube into the tank, so it would seem that a rather strong PH is needed, no?
J
Click to expand...

JRPhD, I don't know about the others, but I pump directly into my sump, and then the mag pump does the rest of the work into the main tank. The rise is only around a foot.
 
Sorry wrong top link.. I use a Hyperflow 12HF, 14HF or a Hagen 802 powerhead to pump into display tank.. I have lots of extra equip. lol

Was responding to a previous post must have had that link still in there.. MY bad

Both of these pumps work great for transfer
 
Here's what I use, described above by others as well. I use this to transfer RO/DI from my holding container to my salt-mixing/storage container, to transfer aged saltwater from the storage container to 5 gallon buckets (that I carry to the tank), and to transfer the water from the buckets to my sump. When finished I just rinse it out with tap water.

watertransfersystem1.jpg


I have a metal hose clamp on mine to prevent the 1/2" vinyl tubing from falling off inadvertently, but you could use an electrical tie just as well. Since I don't leave this submerged between water changes I don't worry about the metal rusting.

To siphon water out of my tank during water changes, I just use plain vinyl tubing and deal with the risk of aspirating the nasty old water. But I don't mind, it makes me feel as if I'm one with the tank (uummmmmmmmmmmmm).
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6739959#post6739959 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Dudester
Here's what I use, described above by others as well. I use this to transfer RO/DI from my holding container to my salt-mixing/storage container, to transfer aged saltwater from the storage container to 5 gallon buckets (that I carry to the tank), and to transfer the water from the buckets to my sump. When finished I just rinse it out with tap water.

watertransfersystem1.jpg


I have a metal hose clamp on mine to prevent the 1/2" vinyl tubing from falling off inadvertently, but you could use an electrical tie just as well. Since I don't leave this submerged between water changes I don't worry about the metal rusting.

To siphon water out of my tank during water changes, I just use plain vinyl tubing and deal with the risk of aspirating the nasty old water. But I don't mind, it makes me feel as if I'm one with the tank (uummmmmmmmmmmmm).
Click to expand...

I use the exact same thing MJ1200 and Hose. Minus the clamp. I've never had a problem with the hose falling off.
 
I siphon the old water onto my lawn, then just bring my hose in from outside. Hook it up to the hose bib outside and just refill it. Then I just throw in a couple of 1/2 cups full of salt in the tank and call er good.
 
LoL
I had to throw that in there.

My tank in progress is going to have an automatic change system using my Closed Loop setup.
 
Hey word of advice I see the type of trash can your using and Id avoid it asap...They are think walled and not flexible , they will rupture starting off from a inconspicuous pinhole leak, I had one and thus I learned I would recom. the BRUTE tye of cans rubbermaid or any other brand will suit just fine jsut as long its the type they use on school yards. Very durable and flexible.
 
i use a eheim pump (250 GPH), 20ft. of vinyl hose from home depot. turn off my auto-top off setup, drop the pump with the hose stuck on the end in my sump, and stick the other end down the drain for my washing machine. plug 'er in and let it run. (of course i shut off the main system pump for this, and let it drain back until it's done first.) takes about 5 min to drain out the sump. then i pull it out, and put the pump end in my prepared water supply, a 32 gallon plastic garbage can, put the end in the sump and fill it back up to where it was when it drained back when i turned off the system pump. unplug the pump let it drain back into the can, turn back on the system pump, double check it for correct level, and i'm done. takes all of ten minutes for a ten gallon water change. if i want to do more i drain out part of my refugium as well, but usually i don't sweat it. i never spill a drop. takes me 10 min, no muss no fuss....i spend more time keeping an eye on the cat since she likes to investigate the going's on so much....
 
Cool thread. I'v been thinking about putting an ro/di in the basement and making water and mixing it in a 30 gal. My tank is upstairs so I would need a pump to pump it up. What would be an optimal pump to pump it up 10 ft. I only do about 8 gal. water changes.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6739644#post6739644 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Pandora
JRPhD, I don't know about the others, but I pump directly into my sump, and then the mag pump does the rest of the work into the main tank. The rise is only around a foot.
Click to expand...

That's what I was going to ask. If you pump the water back into the sump does the water rise in the tank at some point? Do you have to turn on the return pump at some point? I thought the sump would overflow before the water would rise back up into the tank.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6745176#post6745176 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mystic7
That's what I was going to ask. If you pump the water back into the sump does the water rise in the tank at some point? Do you have to turn on the return pump at some point? I thought the sump would overflow before the water would rise back up into the tank.
Click to expand...

No, the rise is very slow, because the powerhead is not a very big one. The main mag drive pump in the sump, on the other hand, is turned back on and pumping a lot faster into the main tank. I should mention at this point that all the pumps are back on, since the tank was already drained of the 10% or whatever water change was done.


Mndrs: You had me going, too! :lol: You never know with people here... half cup of salt directly in the main tank, sounds good to me!
 
Water changes take about 5 minutes in my 24 gallon. When I'm vacuuming, I'll take out around 3-5 gallons, then dump water into a tea pitcher and just pour it straight in slowly.

if I had a bigger tank, I can see that not being effective, but you're probably only changing out 2-4 gallons at a time?
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6735865#post6735865 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Pandora
I can't wait to do the T-valve thing when I upgrade, but I'll have to learn a lot about replumbing everything then! There was also this cool auto-doser, auto-water changer system someone posted once, but it was a lot of money (a few hundred).
Click to expand...

I just remembered what this is called. It's the Liter Meter III, some people here use it, and give it good reviews. It is quite expensive, though.

http://www.marinedepot.com/aquarium_dosing_pumps_top_off_spectrapure_litermeter.asp?ast=&key=
 
Water Change

Water Change

I have my RO/DI Unit Plumbed in Under my tank for autotopoff, I have a tee in it, with about an additional 10 feet of tubing with a shut off valve on end, I then have two matching 40 Gallon Brute Trash Cans on The Wheeled Dollies you can buy for them. One of the cans I installed a float valve. When it comes time for a water change, I put 13 Cups of Salt into that can, hook up the tube and let it fill, (Then let it Age for three or Four days.

Then I wheel the empty can next to the tank and vaccuum the sand bed, with a typical aquarium syphon.

I then bought an Electric pump at Home Depot, the Kind they use for cleaning up flooded basements etc ($100 Roughly) I drilled a hole through the lid with a hole saw so the pump can just rest on the lid, a hose then goes from the inlet side of the pump all the way down to bottom of bucket, and another hose from the out side, turn on and return new water to tank, takes about 25 minutes total.

Wheel old water to driveway knock over bucket rinse along with tons of Freshwater from Hose, and put away until next month
 
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