# Semi-Automatic Water Changing



## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

It isn't difficult to arrange some valves and piping so that you can drain and refill the tank without having to connect a hose each time, but the problem has been, for me anyway, how to get the new water to be at the correct temperature easily. This morning as I took my shower, the obvious solution hit me: Delta makes shower control valves that let you set the water temperature with a little knob, and from then on, no matter who flushes the toilet, runs the dishwasher, etc., you get that temperature water for your shower. The other knob just adjusts the water flow rate. So, why not use this control valve, connected to the house hot and cold water pipes, to supply the appropriate temperature water for the fish tank?

I have no doubt that this can work, since I have installed a few of these Delta valves, which are small, and would be easy to install out in the open near the water heater. One could then run a couple of pipes to under the tank, one to drain and one to this shower valve. By putting a couple of shutoff valves under the tank, you could drain, then refill the tank without moving from in front of the tank. You would still need to add a dechlorinator, but other than that the water change would be as easy as.....taking a shower!


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## kaj41354 (Jul 20, 2004)

That sounds like a great idea! You would just need to figure out a way to dechlor and such and maintain temp. Good luck with the idea and keep us all informed.


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## Catastrophi (May 23, 2006)

And make sure you want that tank 100% where it is because you'll be left with plumbing if you ever move it!


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

How large of a tank are you going to do this with? On larger tanks you would be fine just using the cold water so long as you aren't doing huge changes everytime. This fauna and flora will be fine. My landlord reconstitutes our hot water with calcium (too much for planted tanks) so I always do water changes with the cold water. It hasn't bothered the shrimp or fish yet.


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

kaj41354 said:


> That sounds like a great idea! You would just need to figure out a way to dechlor and such and maintain temp. Good luck with the idea and keep us all informed.


The shower valve that Delta makes holds the water temperature constant at whatever temperature you want. I haven't tested how well it works at cool temperatures yet, but it is very good at normal shower temperatures. I am almost sure it will work fine at cool temperature settings because all it does is maintain a constant ratio of cool to hot water. Adding dechlor is no problem at all - just as fertilizing isn't. But, having to drag out the hose, the siphon, the faucet adapter kit (with jet pump), and then play with the water temperature and hope it doesn't suddenly go very hot, as it does sometimes, is what I am trying to avoid.


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

AaronT said:


> How large of a tank are you going to do this with? On larger tanks you would be fine just using the cold water so long as you aren't doing huge changes everytime. This fauna and flora will be fine. My landlord reconstitutes our hot water with calcium (too much for planted tanks) so I always do water changes with the cold water. It hasn't bothered the shrimp or fish yet.


My tank is 45 gallons. When I had a 125 gallon tank I did cold water additions, but I only added up to 20% at at time, and it never did bother any fish or plants that I could see. But, changing 50+%, using cold water, seems like a bigger risk than I want to take. My water gets pretty cold in winter.


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## bpimm (Jun 12, 2006)

Years ago on one of the *.aquaria groups a guy named Oleg Kisslev, I think, did some testing with carbon whole house filters, he ran the water full bore through them and found that they removed all of the chlorine at full flow. so just add a carbon filter to your line to the tank and check it every 6 Months or so.

My system runs constantly, I have a pressure regulator on the water supply and use drip irrigation emitters to control the flow into the tank, This requires a overflow drain in the tank so any excess water just runs out the drain. You have the drain setup already....

Brian


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## Naja002 (Nov 15, 2005)

Carbon filters do not remove chloramines. "Super-Activated" carbon will, but it breaks it down into chlorine and ammonia---the ammonia remains free....

I use an EZ-Flo for the auto addition of dechlor. It works Great. I have the 3/4 gal. version for dechlor and it can be set for ratios between 400:1-15,000:1.

I have another 3 gal. EZ-Flo that I have been using for auto fert injection also.

Here's a link:

http://www.ezflofertilizing.com/

They may look like a glorified pump sprayer---but they are not. I did a lot of corresponding with them prior to purchase. They are well built and work as described......


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## BryceM (Nov 6, 2005)

AaronT said:


> How large of a tank are you going to do this with? On larger tanks you would be fine just using the cold water so long as you aren't doing huge changes everytime. This fauna and flora will be fine. My landlord reconstitutes our hot water with calcium (too much for planted tanks) so I always do water changes with the cold water. It hasn't bothered the shrimp or fish yet.


Aaron,

I've been wondering about this. We just moved to a house with its own well which means no chlorine, but the water is pretty cold at 55F even in mid-summer. The well water is also quite hard, with a GH of 20 and a KH of about 5. Because of this, the entire house is unfortunately set up through an ion exchange water softener. I'm putting a 180g tank in the basement where it will be simple enough to tap in above the water softener. This will only supply cold water though and I've worried about using this for WC's. I've even thought about installing a separate small water heater for water change time. I guess I could do more frequent, smaller changes with straight cold, but anything more frequent than once a week becomes a pain.

Do you think a weekly temperature dip to 66 degrees or so would be well tollerated? I suspect that most fish and plants in nature see variations from time to time. How cold does your tank get?

Hoppy, please pardon the hijack.....


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

No problem with the hijack...If I had that problem I would think about the small, instant hot water heaters, (not the Insinkerator type, but the point source type) and use a shower valve like I described to keep the change water at a steady temperature. Not much hot water would be needed, so a small heater should work. Look at it as practice being a plumber!


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## jart (Mar 13, 2005)

**Thread Resurrection Alert**

Hoppy I am interested in such a project as well.
Did you ever proceed with this?


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