bio media in wet/dry during WC?

[oogie]

ive had my 125 set up afew months now and havent done a WC yet (all i have in it is an oscar pacu and small pleco and there going good)so iam doing one tommorow but iam worried it will take me a wile(it takes me about a half hour to do a 1/2 WC on my 75) and iam worried the scrubbies in the wet/dry will get dried out and the bacteria will die..

 

[Dr Joe]

Can you just fill your W/D with tank water, then pump it out when your done with the W/C?

If its kept wet (with tank water) it will be ok for an hour.

Dr Joe

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[CHOMPERS]

There is always an easier and faster way to do things. This is my labor saver on water change day.

And this is the other end of the hose at the tank

Here is a link explaining the pics.
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=56299

 

[oogie]

no i cant fill it with water unfortunatley, its made out of a two drawer sterlite organizer and the top drawer has holes in it to go to the bottom drawer, half the bottom can be filled with water because the water exits threw a hole in the side of the drawer but iam going to put holes in the bottom instead sence i think it would get more water flowing threw the scrubbies,

chompers ive been thinking of filling a large container of water and heating it then stick a small pump(about 300GPH)to fill the tank but i cant find one big enough that iam sure is safe and wont leach anything into the water(i was thinking a large garbage can?), and this is a dump question but i dont realy get how a python works how can it drain water from a tank if the tank is lower than the sink?

 

[CHOMPERS]

Pythons are wastefull, especially when you have to pump uphill. They have a water driven venturi; they use water flow from your faucet to pump water out of your tank. It wastes about 3 gallons to pump 1 gallon of tank water. Plus, there are a slew of users out there that think it is ok to use them to pump chlorinated water into their tanks before adding dechlor.

You can use a new trash can to pretreat and heat your fill water. Just keep in mind to buy a round one. The weight of the water will distort one with flat sides.

 

[Dr Joe]

You can line the can with 'contractor style' trash bags, 6mil I think. MAkes anything clean and new . Walmart had them in 55g i think.

And like CHOMPERS said get a good strong trash can. Even 35g is almost 300lbs of water.

As a last resort, put your filter in a bag (above) in the tub and fill with enough tank water to cover it. That way no-one complains about the tub.

Most rubbermaid, stearlite, etc. tubs are ok. There is one that has a cedarlike chemical mixed in the plastic that I'd stay away from.

About drilling holes in your filter, remember that part of the bio-media is supposed to be submerged. Adding more holes will screw up the dwell time, but if thats ok, drill in the sides a third of the way from the bottom. Or just drill more holes by the others.

Dr Joe

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