How do you change water, buckets, automatic system. etc.

[jwhiteuwc]

I'm looking into various ways of changing my water. Currently every 2 weeks I siphon out 10-12 % of my water, then carry up 2-3 - 5 gallon buckets from the basement and pour them into my display. I don't use a sump, otherwise, I could pour it into that.
What I'm looking for is a easy way of doing water changes. (ok, be honest) a lazy way of changing water
Of course I could find easy ways of siphoning the tank by using a ball valve connected to a hose that leads to a drain in the basement. That's pretty easy, buy my main hold up is returning water to the display.
Do you think just placing a pump into my premixed 50gallon rubbermaid container with a hose going up to my display tank would work? Of course I think I would want to place the On/Off switch by my tank so that I don't overflow it, but....
What do you think? Would this work effeciantly ( of course it'll work, but without causing harm is my goal).
Any other ideas? (yeah, i know... don't be so lazy.... but lazy people are creators of great inventions (remotes) and I'm looking to create something)
Thanks everyone.

 

[geridoc]

That's exactly what i do. I have a 33 gal Rubbermaid in the basement that I mix salt water in using an Eheim pump for circulation, and a 1/2 inch diameter hose from the basement to the DT in the living room. I first put the basement end of the hose in the washing machine drain and siphon out 15% of the water in the tank. Then I attach the hose to the output of the Eheim, and pump it up to the tank. The pump barely makes it to the tank, but the flow is adequate, and I replace the water easily. I have a clamp that I use to cut off the flow while I go to the basement to turn off the pump. Easy, and a minimum number of trips from the living room to the basement.

 

[gwh57]

Mine is automated with 20g containers of limewater and saltmix. I change out 1g of saltwater per day with my automated system.

 

[watson3]

Originally Posted by jwhiteuwc
Do you think just placing a pump into my premixed 50gallon rubbermaid container with a hose going up to my display tank would work?

As good as it gets

 

[gwh57]

Originally Posted by watson3

As good as it gets
Almost as good as it gets. I have a pump that removes the dirty water and another that replaces it with new saltwater. Not touching anything is as good as it gets.

 

[maelv]

Originally Posted by gwh57
Almost as good as it gets. I have a pump that removes the dirty water and another that replaces it with new saltwater. Not touching anything is as good as it gets.

Agreed, that is nice......right now, I am doing it like jwhite.....syphon out about 15 gallons of water, then fill (3) 5 gallon bottles and bring it up....What pump would you recommend to semi automate this from the subbasement to my sump (it would be travelling from the 34 gallon container I have up about 8 feet away...not straight up...but an incline...of about 4 feet...sump is about 8 feet from the container)
Thanks.

 

[jwhiteuwc]

GREAT!... so now the next question is... What sort of pump do you recommend? I need to push the water up about 12-15 feet.
Thanks!

 

[jwhiteuwc]

p.s. gwh57, how are you automatting it? I'd love to change out 1 gallon a day... that'd be sweeet!

 

[gwh57]

Mine all done with digital timers and aqualifter pumps. I have a laundry room directly behind my display tank which is in a sunroom. I have two 20g containers one with saltmix and one with limewater. I can draw up a diagram of the way it works if you want. Mine all sits nearly level so I don't need any high output pumps. I also have some photos if you want ro see.

 

[lion_crazz]

When I do a water change, here is my process.
I have 2 trash cans. A good water bucket, and a bad water bucket. The two are never mixed. I have "good" on one, and "bad" on the other. Since I do 40 gallon water changes, I use a 45 gallon trash can.
Fill up a trash can with water. Pour the salt in. Guess-timate it the first time. Put a heater in, and heat it to the exact temperature of the tank. For the first 24 hours, put a powerhead on the bottom of the bucket/trash can to mix the water with the salt. Salt will fall to the bottom, so this is where you want your powerhead. After 24 hours has passed, bring the powerhead closer to the top to increase the oxygen. Dissolving salt with water uses the oxygen up in the water, so you need to replace this. You could use an airstone, but I just use a venturi powerhead because it sucks air in (I run 2 poweheads, one at the top, and one at the bottom, since I have such a huge trash can - you only need one). After the first 24 hours has passed, check the salinity and pH and adjust accordingly. If it is too high, add regular water. If it is too slow, add more salt. If your pH is different from your tank, check your alkalinity. Many times, you need to buffer alkalinity because there are some salts that you give a low alk level.
Once the salinity, pH, kH, and temp are EXACT to your tank, you are ready to do a water change.
When I do a water change, I never dump water into the tank. I have a 5 gallon bucket that I use to take water from my trash can. I put the five gallon bucket on the floor and pump water from the 5 gallon bucket to my sump using a small powerhead and some tubing. This way, the fish are not getting stressed out by you adding a lot of water to the top of the tank. They do not even realize that you are adding water to the tank because it is calm, plus all the water levels are identical to that of the tank. (Plus, this way is a lot less messy).

 

[gwh57]

I don't do any large water changes anymore for a number of reasons. I do 1gal per day 24/7. I find my tank is much more consistant and stable using this method. The most I ever change is 2 or 3gal when I clean my bioballs and filters.

 

[zsqure]

I do it the old fashioned way, pump out 15 gal of water as my tank is running. When the water level in my sump gets low I shut off the circulation pump and leave the skimmer and heater running. I fill up 3, 5gal plastic cans with aged salt water from my 45 gal trash can, drag them throught the house to my DT. These cans have a cap over the vent hole, I lay them on their side on top of my DT with the vent pointing down, remove the vent cap and trickle a 1/8" stream of water into the tank. I do this with 3 cans and it takes about 30 minutes of work to do a water change. the incoming water goes through my overflow into the sump. While my sump is low I will clean built up salt crust from my main pump, and skimmer pump if needed. Oh yes, I do this weekly to a 90gal tank.

 

[tropills]

Originally Posted by gwh57
Mine all done with digital timers and aqualifter pumps. I have a laundry room directly behind my display tank which is in a sunroom. I have two 20g containers one with saltmix and one with limewater. I can draw up a diagram of the way it works if you want. Mine all sits nearly level so I don't need any high output pumps. I also have some photos if you want ro see.

I myself would love to see some pics sounds like a real cool system