get a python they are great I have 1 with a 50ish foot hose. If it will not fit onto your sink get a adapter for the sink. Its similar to what you already use bring that peace and your sink (the part with threads) to lows or home depot so you can get the right fitting for a few bucks (under 5). For draining you might be able to do run the hose outside of the house or to a drain in your floor (if its in your basement).
Larger tank owners. How do you handle a water change. Any tips or tricks?
- Thread starter stymie
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Yes I know that. U are misunderstanding me. I myself would never release a fish into the wild. I'm just saying for the person who made that thread if he thinks that it's not an option cuz we live in cold Canada as where stupid kids in the USA have released fish in the wild before and that's why gars, snakeheads etc are illegal in some parts of the states...Where in Canada all fish are legal cuz the government knows even released there's no chance of them surviving in our cold climates.
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I gravel vac using buckets then empty hooking up a hose to the tank and the other end into the toilet...
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Not sure if this has already been given-
Depending on the size of your fish, this could be an issue...but I've always used the flexible swimming pool hosing to empty the tank. Put a net and rubber band on the end and keep the fish away. I run it out a window or door and it was 50 ft long. Suck on the other end to get it started and clamp the other end with a big orange clamp to the tank. Then go back to the tank and hold it. Have done it for years and lost a couple small fish along the way. Could empty 90-100 gallons in 5 minutes or so.
To fill, I DIY a 'python' with pvc elbows, etc and no crimp garden hoses hooked to the python adapter for the faucet. Created a large "U" shape out of pvc and attached it to the tank and let it fill.
Takes a bit of time to set it up but after its up and running, they work for years.
Depending on the size of your fish, this could be an issue...but I've always used the flexible swimming pool hosing to empty the tank. Put a net and rubber band on the end and keep the fish away. I run it out a window or door and it was 50 ft long. Suck on the other end to get it started and clamp the other end with a big orange clamp to the tank. Then go back to the tank and hold it. Have done it for years and lost a couple small fish along the way. Could empty 90-100 gallons in 5 minutes or so.
To fill, I DIY a 'python' with pvc elbows, etc and no crimp garden hoses hooked to the python adapter for the faucet. Created a large "U" shape out of pvc and attached it to the tank and let it fill.
Takes a bit of time to set it up but after its up and running, they work for years.
We became fishkeepers when my husband picked up this 55 gallon tank at a yard sale. Yup, there were two 15" pacu, four large oscars and two 12" plecos in the tank.
We spent about 1 1/2 hours every day vacuuming the gravel and sucking up poop, changing out about 60 gallons, replacing 15 gallons at a time with a five gallon bucket. We couldn't take out any more water, because the fish would have been out of the water. It got a little easier when we got a python, but we still had a lot of poop to vacuum out...we just didn't have to deal with the 5 gallon bucket. We were so sick of vacuuming substrate, that we vowed never to vacuum substrate again. The 300 gallon tank is bare floor. We have two "poop sucker" pipes that come down to about 1/4" off the floor. They remove all debris/feces off the floor.
Here's our mechanical filtration for the 300 gallon tank:
We use two Pentair Rainbow RTL-25 spa filters to remove waste from the tank. The system is powered by a Hammerhead pump. Besides the two poop suckers, there is a main uptake about 6" from the top. The two horizontal pipes on the right are the uptake lines from the tank. The tall vertical pipe on the far right is coming from a 55 gallon tank mounted on a high overhead shelf. It has a pipe going basically to the floor. There is a utility sink on the left side with a line running up to the 55 gallon holding tank. To add water to the tank, we just open the valve, and water gravity flows from the holding tank, through our mechanical plumbing and into the main tank. We also turn on the faucet of the utility sink, simultaneously refilling the 55 gallon holding tank while it drains into the main tank. We keep water in the 55 gallon tank so we can quickly add more water to the main tank when the water level drops in our wet/dry filter.
The most important feature of our plumbing is the little pipe on the extreme right behind the tall vertical pipe.....it runs down under the house and out to the patio. We open up the valve outside the house to remove water from the tank. Water is removed from the tank via the poop suckers, gravity flowing and draining outside our house. We could literally drain the whole tank in a manner of minutes, so we watch the water level and shut off the valve before the water gets too low. The tank has been running over 6 years, and there has been NOTHING to vacuum up. Love, love, love our system developed out of desperation.
We added extra holes to the top of our tank to accommodate our extra filtration.
In the front is a poop sucker on the right, and return for the mechanical filtration on the left. Then there is the return from the FX-5/UV sterilizer, another poop sucker, and at the far end of the tank is the main uptake, and the return from the wet/dry filter. When we refill the tank, once the main uptake is submerged, we turn the Hammerhead back on and pump in the rest of the water (it's faster then just gravity feeding the water in)
Here's old video of a water change:
[YT]7v2Vyr5NbNs[/YT]
Love our spa filters so much, I have to use them on our big system. We're going with 6 RTL-100s, six 1 1/2" PVC poop suckers using two Hammerhead pumps.
New system has hot/cold water plumbed directly over the tank, and water lines to the sump and to the utility sink. We will be able to add water directly to the tank or to the sump.
We have two 3" floor drains for easy purging of the Ultima 4000s, changing out water, and/or setting up a drip system.
We love our fish, but tank maintenance is NOT our thing. What we had to deal with on that miserable 55 gallon tank has scarred us for life. We hate tank maintenance will go to extremes to avoid it.
We spent about 1 1/2 hours every day vacuuming the gravel and sucking up poop, changing out about 60 gallons, replacing 15 gallons at a time with a five gallon bucket. We couldn't take out any more water, because the fish would have been out of the water. It got a little easier when we got a python, but we still had a lot of poop to vacuum out...we just didn't have to deal with the 5 gallon bucket. We were so sick of vacuuming substrate, that we vowed never to vacuum substrate again. The 300 gallon tank is bare floor. We have two "poop sucker" pipes that come down to about 1/4" off the floor. They remove all debris/feces off the floor.
Here's our mechanical filtration for the 300 gallon tank:
We use two Pentair Rainbow RTL-25 spa filters to remove waste from the tank. The system is powered by a Hammerhead pump. Besides the two poop suckers, there is a main uptake about 6" from the top. The two horizontal pipes on the right are the uptake lines from the tank. The tall vertical pipe on the far right is coming from a 55 gallon tank mounted on a high overhead shelf. It has a pipe going basically to the floor. There is a utility sink on the left side with a line running up to the 55 gallon holding tank. To add water to the tank, we just open the valve, and water gravity flows from the holding tank, through our mechanical plumbing and into the main tank. We also turn on the faucet of the utility sink, simultaneously refilling the 55 gallon holding tank while it drains into the main tank. We keep water in the 55 gallon tank so we can quickly add more water to the main tank when the water level drops in our wet/dry filter.
The most important feature of our plumbing is the little pipe on the extreme right behind the tall vertical pipe.....it runs down under the house and out to the patio. We open up the valve outside the house to remove water from the tank. Water is removed from the tank via the poop suckers, gravity flowing and draining outside our house. We could literally drain the whole tank in a manner of minutes, so we watch the water level and shut off the valve before the water gets too low. The tank has been running over 6 years, and there has been NOTHING to vacuum up. Love, love, love our system developed out of desperation.
We added extra holes to the top of our tank to accommodate our extra filtration.
In the front is a poop sucker on the right, and return for the mechanical filtration on the left. Then there is the return from the FX-5/UV sterilizer, another poop sucker, and at the far end of the tank is the main uptake, and the return from the wet/dry filter. When we refill the tank, once the main uptake is submerged, we turn the Hammerhead back on and pump in the rest of the water (it's faster then just gravity feeding the water in)
Here's old video of a water change:
[YT]7v2Vyr5NbNs[/YT]
Love our spa filters so much, I have to use them on our big system. We're going with 6 RTL-100s, six 1 1/2" PVC poop suckers using two Hammerhead pumps.
New system has hot/cold water plumbed directly over the tank, and water lines to the sump and to the utility sink. We will be able to add water directly to the tank or to the sump.
We have two 3" floor drains for easy purging of the Ultima 4000s, changing out water, and/or setting up a drip system.
We love our fish, but tank maintenance is NOT our thing. What we had to deal with on that miserable 55 gallon tank has scarred us for life. We hate tank maintenance will go to extremes to avoid it.
I have a garden hose hooked up to a Y outside my window i put the end of the hose inside the tank and turn the hose on only till the water reaches the tank i then turn it off and open the other end of the Y which i can hook up another hose to and divert it into the street drain.....when im done i just let the water run out then shut drain side of the Y and turn faucet on add water and premixed dechlorinator at same time. I mix dechlor in 5 gal bucket
I use a garden hose and a Y hooked to the outside faucet i pump water throuh the hos etill it gets to the tank then shut off the faucet and open the other side of the Y to drain.....i hook a hose to that and run to the street drain or flowers in summer. Then i just close draining side of Y and refill the tank with the hose adding dechlorinator as it fils
Another Python user here. Love it.
My 125G is bare bottom with a decent amount of flow in it thanks to a FX5, two Tunze 6045 powerheads, an AC110, and an Eheim 2215. Due to this decent amount of flow I don't have any waste collecting anywhere. Everything goes right into the filter intake pipes. The bare bottom part also definitely helps.
I do a 80-90% water change on the tank once a week. Just hook the Python up to my utility sink, drain, and refill. As easy as taking candy from a baby.
I also will never ever keep a tank with any sort of substrate. Bare bottom for life! The ease of maintenance is well worth it.
My 125G is bare bottom with a decent amount of flow in it thanks to a FX5, two Tunze 6045 powerheads, an AC110, and an Eheim 2215. Due to this decent amount of flow I don't have any waste collecting anywhere. Everything goes right into the filter intake pipes. The bare bottom part also definitely helps.
I do a 80-90% water change on the tank once a week. Just hook the Python up to my utility sink, drain, and refill. As easy as taking candy from a baby.
I also will never ever keep a tank with any sort of substrate. Bare bottom for life! The ease of maintenance is well worth it.
python.... takes me about 1 hour to do 50% wcs on a 75, 40, 56, and 2 20s... and they get the full 50% or more usually 2x a week. it gets hooked up outside the basement door. the longest part si were on a well and the hookup pulls straight from the cooold well. so i have to fill slowly as to not freeze my fish.... oddly the rays in particular seem to enjoy the cold trickle, my female plays in the cold stream. you can get extensions or just go to lowes or something to get everything ( i got my python almost 10 yrs ago now, only replaced the attachment peice once i think). every summer i do drag it outside after a wc and bleach it and run clean water threw it and let itbdry thoroughly just to keep anything from growing in it lol, since it is in a basement so much..... in teh grand sceme ofmthings you can never go wrong investing in some sturdy cleaning supplies for your tank/s. I also keep about half a dozen 5 gallon buckets around for use in a pinch or for moving fish ect.... they just come in handy.
