I finally got tired of having to change the water, although it wasn't that hard to begin with - http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=228620
I thought about a drip system, but it would have to drain into my sump pump ( float-operated pump in a hole in the ground) which is quite noisy. I don't mind hearing it when I am cleaning the tank and making major water changes, but I would hate for it to be coming on at odd hours of the night...
My sump already had a float valve, although I hadn't hooked it up since we moved 7 years ago. The first thing I did was add an angle-stop to a 1/2" PEX line gong to a hose bib.
After that hooking up the float valve was pretty easy. I ran a 3/8" PEX line from the angle-stop to a needle valve followed by a 3/8" x 1/4" reducer and a piece of 1/4" poly line to the float. I live on well water so no filtration is necessary.
To remove wastewater I used an 802 powerhead and some 1/2" ID vinyl tubing. I attached this to a 1/2" barbed adapter threaded into a 3" ABS waste line. The powerhead moves almost exactly 2GPM at the 1' head height it needs to pump.
Right now the timer is set for ten minutes on every six hours. This works out to 80 GPD, or about a 30% daily water change. I may cut it back after a while.
The needle valve is set so that the water just gurgles out of the float valve (it sprays out pretty good at wide open). I'll have to watch it to try and estimate how long it takes to replace the 20 gallons emptied out with each 10 minute pumping. I'm thinking an hour or so, but it could be more - I'll have to watch it to be sure it's not filling so slowly that it can't keep up, but I really doubt it is.
A few nice things about this kind of water change:
*You don't need to rely on a gravity overflow, you can pump your wastewater wherever you want.
*It is very easy to adjust the GPD. With this pump I could vary between 2 GPD and 1440 GPD in two-gallon increments. Changing the amount is as simple as pushing a couple buttons.
*It would even work with undrilled tanks - you can buy float valves that clamp to the side of a tank.
You do need an air gap or vacuum breaker to prevent siphoning if the wastewater is going to be ejected somewhere lower than the surface of he sump.
I thought about a drip system, but it would have to drain into my sump pump ( float-operated pump in a hole in the ground) which is quite noisy. I don't mind hearing it when I am cleaning the tank and making major water changes, but I would hate for it to be coming on at odd hours of the night...
My sump already had a float valve, although I hadn't hooked it up since we moved 7 years ago. The first thing I did was add an angle-stop to a 1/2" PEX line gong to a hose bib.
After that hooking up the float valve was pretty easy. I ran a 3/8" PEX line from the angle-stop to a needle valve followed by a 3/8" x 1/4" reducer and a piece of 1/4" poly line to the float. I live on well water so no filtration is necessary.
To remove wastewater I used an 802 powerhead and some 1/2" ID vinyl tubing. I attached this to a 1/2" barbed adapter threaded into a 3" ABS waste line. The powerhead moves almost exactly 2GPM at the 1' head height it needs to pump.
Right now the timer is set for ten minutes on every six hours. This works out to 80 GPD, or about a 30% daily water change. I may cut it back after a while.
The needle valve is set so that the water just gurgles out of the float valve (it sprays out pretty good at wide open). I'll have to watch it to try and estimate how long it takes to replace the 20 gallons emptied out with each 10 minute pumping. I'm thinking an hour or so, but it could be more - I'll have to watch it to be sure it's not filling so slowly that it can't keep up, but I really doubt it is.
A few nice things about this kind of water change:
*You don't need to rely on a gravity overflow, you can pump your wastewater wherever you want.
*It is very easy to adjust the GPD. With this pump I could vary between 2 GPD and 1440 GPD in two-gallon increments. Changing the amount is as simple as pushing a couple buttons.
*It would even work with undrilled tanks - you can buy float valves that clamp to the side of a tank.
You do need an air gap or vacuum breaker to prevent siphoning if the wastewater is going to be ejected somewhere lower than the surface of he sump.
