electric pumps for water changes?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
For changing water and not vacuuming I use a big Rio pump with a hose. I hate using the sink water changer! It wastes water. If I'm vacuuming I have a drain in my basement, I just use a python and gravity. If its just water I use the pump into the sink.

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If you have a sump, just add a line to, and off your return to tank line. I have a tee that sends water to the garden in summer ( or to the toilet in winter) using my pump, I close a valve sending water to the tanks, and water goes straight to the garden, I can send out 100 gallons to the garden in about 10 minutes. After most or the old water is gone, I start to refill. Refilling takes 10 minutes per bank of tanks.
I have 3 banks of tanks with about 300 gallons per bank, takes 30 minutes to change 3 banks, changing about 300 gallons per 3 bank change. One bank, old water to the front yard, other 2 banks, the back.
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I stick the rigid end in the tank, and give the other end of the hose (the dry end) a good suck for about 1 to 2 second and the siphon is started. It's not difficult to do and there is about 40 feet of tubing so I have plenty of time before water reaches the end (I have never gotten a mouthful of water, in case you were wondering). I have 3 openings in the top of my tank, so when I want to move into a different opening, I close the ball valve so that I don't have to restart the siphon...all I have to do is open the ball valve and I can get right back to vacuuming.



Good points. If you have curios fish, you should definitely keep an eye on them. Luckily, all my fish are scared to death of the vacuum, so they stay away from it.

Thats the info I was looking for because I didn't see a connection to hook to a faucet/hosebib. I didn't think the manual suck would get a good enough prime with that much piping.
 
For changing water and not vacuuming I use a big Rio pump with a hose. I hate using the sink water changer! It wastes water. If I'm vacuuming I have a drain in my basement, I just use a python and gravity. If its just water I use the pump into the sink.

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I have always disliked the faucet attachment of the Pythons....I agree that it such a huge waste of water. If draining via gravity (siphon) is not an option, I would use a pump.

Thats the info I was looking for because I didn't see a connection to hook to a faucet/hosebib. I didn't think the manual suck would get a good enough prime with that much piping.

Yeah, all it takes is getting the water over the top lip of the tank and it starts flowing like Niagra falls; no need for that faucet connnection.
 
Thats the info I was looking for because I didn't see a connection to hook to a faucet/hosebib. I didn't think the manual suck would get a good enough prime with that much piping.

Ooops! You were referring to his piping. I have a faucet adapter in mine. I don't really like manual sucking. Sucking water from my 35 feet hose will be so painful and also the water, if you get a mouthful. If you can push perhaps a little over 1 gallon of water into the hose, you have already diluted your old water (hence started a WC) and then the priming is perfect. The no-bubbling tells you nor more air, just water running through the hose. The water will fall back like flood and you're done in a few minutes.
 
Ooops! You were referring to his piping. I have a faucet adapter in mine. I don't really like manual sucking. Sucking water from my 35 feet hose will be so painful and also the water, if you get a mouthful. If you can push perhaps a little over 1 gallon of water into the hose, you have already diluted your old water (hence started a WC) and then the priming is perfect. The no-bubbling tells you nor more air, just water running through the hose. The water will fall back like flood and you're done in a few minutes.

You won't need to suck the water the full 35 feet of the hose. All you need to do is to get the water up and over the lip of your tank and gravity will do the rest...literally one to two seconds to get the full siphon going.
 
Thanks guys this is exactly the kind of stuff I was looking for just looking to get a lot of water out fast!

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I use a submersible pump attached to a hose going out the window and into the yard. Plan this year to put in some pvc pipe straight to garden beds so I don't have to move the hose. Have a faucet right outside the window for easy refill.
 
I generally use a Quiet One 1200 to drain water, but have since drilled tanks and have a ball valve to gravity drain them. A quick stir of the water get the debris up in the water column to be removed. I do a good cleaning with a gravel vac one a month or so.
 
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