Water change DIY ideas I’d like to share.

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
R

Ric Foster

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Apr 21, 2007
317
0
0
Sanbernardino CA.

I started thinking of easier (faster) ways to do water changes when I realized I was changing 50% of the water in all my tanks every Sunday and it added up to 500 gallons of the 1000 or so in all my tanks. This just took too long. All my tanks are individually filtered now. No sumps on any or I would do a drip system.

I started with a faster way to drain the water. Pythons just don’t move enough water. All my tanks are within 20’ of a door or window so I use this to drain into the grass / garden.
This is 20’ of 1” I/D hose from Lowe’s. A piece of 1” thin wall pvc slides into it snugly and has 2 – 90’s and then a length going down to the 50% level in the tank. It stops automatically. The length going down is not glued so I can change to a different depth on other tanks. *note the netting. It is used at the end so as not to suck up any fish that are small enough to fit into a 1” pipe.

04-01-08108.jpg


I use this to sand vac. It is a 20’ piece of ½” hose also from Lowe’s with a 24” long piece of pvc slid firmly into it.

04-01-08109.jpg


Now I need a faster way to fill. I am on well water so straight from the tap is good. Then just add Prime. I found this ½” FPT to ¾” male (garden hose) adapter and connected it to the shower in the spare bathroom. I can control the water temp this way.

04-01-08110.jpg


After having the hose come flying out of the tank and onto the floor twice I came up with this.

04-01-08107.jpg


04-01-08104.jpg


Here is drain and fill hoses hanging on tank for a visual

04-01-08102.jpg


A pic of hose size difference

04-01-08106.jpg


There you go. If this helps one person, it was worth sharing.


 
Good post. I have been toying with the idea of making something out of PVC so it drains 50% of the water and stops, I already collect water in 55g drums, or if they are full i just water the plants (use the 55g water for watering as well). I might throw something together this weekend. I like the python but it justs wastes too much water, I would rather just rely on a good strong siphon, so something along the lines of a 1" or bigger ID hose would do the trick. I like your idea though, but I run my water through an RO unit because on city water, and you should know that IE water is disgusting, (plagued with high nitrates), but well water is not too bad at all. Overall good post, nice to see someone local posting.
 
cool. you just start the siphon by sucking on the end? or is the an automatic way?
 
soggysandwich;1744181; said:
cool. you just start the siphon by sucking on the end? or is the an automatic way?
Click to expand...

This one is manuel. But I'm sure if you have a powerhead in the tank, you could just as easily use it to start the siphon.

The 1" hose moves 600gph. So it is really quick. Even my 240 only takes 10 min to drain 1/2 the water
 
looks like it would be a lot quicker. Keep in mind that you can do a drip system without a sump too:) All you need is a low-flow overflow and you can have at it!
 
Very nice idea.

For filling my tank (I'm lucky enough to be able to fill straight from the hose, I've got a hose nozzle fitting on my overflow, so I turn a tap off thats right before my sump and basically reverse the overflow so it fills from what would usually be my water level. I presume you have them over there, but we've got hose end fittings that either have taps, or just turn off when you unplug them, so this way I don't need to stand outside and randomly guess when I'm at the right level of water in my system, I can just unplug the hose and not get water everywhere.

full2.jpg


Hose fitting on the highest point of the system, right up the top of the photograph, don't have any better photos sorry.
 
very nice idea... think i will try it.. just in the process of setting up a 1200l tank (previous one was approx 500l) and i cant begin to imagine how painful water changes will be when its up... thanks again
 
I like the idea... i have the same but it looks like you can fill your tank faster then mine... I pump from ground level up... Plus if i took apart my shower head my mom might get mad lol. Also do you shut down your filter when you fill it up? it looks like alot of sand blows up in the water when you re fill it.... try a plate under it maybe?
 
Nice it's like mine but on the filling pipe I put a 90 on the end so it wouldn't stir up the substrate
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom