water changes - how easy is yours?

[Paul B]

Bart, I sit on the swim platform and push the 5 gallon water cooler bottles under the water.
If I diden't have a boat, what would I do with all that "extra" money?

6Speed, I put the new water into a 20 gallon garbage can, the can has a hose spigot on the bottom. It is raised on blocks. I fill the 5 gallon water cooler bottles from the tap under the garbage can with the new water. Then I siphon 20 gallons of water from the tank into the garbage can. I fill the tank with the 5 gallon bottles. Been doing it like that for years. I let gravity do most of the work. Of course I would rather let my daughter's boyfriend lift the 5 gallon containers but they don't make young men like they used to.
Paul

 

[Sparkss]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9955228#post9955228 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by 6Speed
How are you guys determining exactly how much water is coming out if it's going directly down the drain/sink? I usually use a small hose to siphon out gunk and any nuisance algae into a bucket. Since I know how many gallons the bucket holds, then I know how much I've removed.

The easiest (long term) way to do it is to mark your sump with the level to drain it to that you can refill from your WC reservoir. That or if you want to completely drain your sump, make sure your reservoir holds enough to refill your sump back to your operating level (you can calculate that by measuring the sump and calculate the water volume. But either way most don't do an "exact" water change (at least we don't ).

 

[mflamb]

You've seen mine. RO/DI in the garage connected to a freshwater barrel which supplies a saltwater mixing barrel. Both barrels connected to a manifold which feeds a pump, which is manifolded so that salt water stays in the saltwater side of the system as for freshwater. Only about a quart of one can mix with the other in the manifold when it is switched. The water is drained from the sump with a turn of a valve and the sump return pump pushes it outside to the sewer.