Does anyone here add and remove water simultaneously?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
EastBay;5080223; said:
When I do my WC, I pull out 5g worth and then replace with same amount. I don't turn off my sump. I figure the water I'm pulling out is at the bottom as I vacuum the gravel. I figure the new water stays near the top of the tank and then circulates throughout.
Works for me. Never have seen any adverse effects.
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Yeah X 4 or whatnot on noneffective.

To the person thinking water stays at the top... this is not true. Water is fluid, and it doesn't stay on the top, it mixes. It is a solution. The molecules move with purpose and not as random as gas, but they will mix. If you colored the water you were added (do not do this, simply a visual), you would see how the water would start spreading everywhere immediately and eventually would mix itself.
 
While doing it, you could see how the water moved from the air bubbles in the water being put in the tank. It sank straight downwards, then did kind of a curve, and went up.
 
I have a drain hooked to my big tank, so when I add water it automatically drains from the sump. This is how I've done it for a long time now. It does obviously drain some new water but aside from that it makes no difference imho, I have well water and don't dose anything though. Although even when I lived in the city and dosed prime I did this.

I do it because this way you don't have to shut anything down, no risk of forgetting to unplug or plug back in heaters or pumps. To me this alone is worth it.

Also it takes a LONG time to drain 100+ gallons, if the sump is inactive the entire time you're draining and then waiting to fill back up the media is drying out for hours.

If you have a 20, 40, 50 gallon tank, sure it's easy to unplug one heater, turn off a HOB, drain out 20 gallons, fill it back up and go... However on big tanks - not so simple and much more time consuming.

My .02
 
i must be daft or something .. when i do tank cleaning ,and water change i use the python.. i hook it up to the sink get my temp right ,and then use the tank cleaner to siphon the water out .. this all goes on at the same time 1 or twice a week .. wehn i am done i put it all away. are you guys talking about a constant drain in fill ?:confused:
 
polish;5080569; said:
I have a drain hooked to my big tank, so when I add water it automatically drains from the sump. This is how I've done it for a long time now. It does obviously drain some new water but aside from that it makes no difference imho, I have well water and don't dose anything though. Although even when I lived in the city and dosed prime I did this.

I do it because this way you don't have to shut anything down, no risk of forgetting to unplug or plug back in heaters or pumps. To me this alone is worth it.

Also it takes a LONG time to drain 100+ gallons, if the sump is inactive the entire time you're draining and then waiting to fill back up the media is drying out for hours.

If you have a 20, 40, 50 gallon tank, sure it's easy to unplug one heater, turn off a HOB, drain out 20 gallons, fill it back up and go... However on big tanks - not so simple and much more time consuming.

My .02
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Ive never thought it difficult to not forget to plug things back in? I would imagine most people have all equipment hooked up to a plug strip so unplugging is quite simple or simple turning off the strip and flipping it back on when im done.

Using my python (25ft) i can drain about 100gal out of the 220 and refill (with an eco 1.3gal/hour faucet) in just about 2 hours. Not near enough time from what i understand to have any detrimental effect on the bacteria
 
Carefree_Dude;5080718; said:
what we are discussing is the idea of using two pythons; one to drain while the other fills.
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so you have both hooked up to faucets? i use my python to fill while i use my other siphon to drain.. so as i am filling i am draining. so i have been doing this wrong for 5 years? sorry to sound dumb. am i doing right or wrong?
 
You can normally get faster water flow and more powerful suction by having it drain outside, especially if you hook it up to an outdoor hose,

Posted on mobile.monsterfishkeepers.com
 
Yes, draining while adding new water is inherently draining some of the new water as well as the old....That makes the water change percentage less and, if you are testing water & changing it because of nitrates, causes more work for you with less benefit.
 
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