# Water Change Solutions



## Darthaardvark (May 28, 2009)

I've been keeping tanks for about 5 years and have always been a member of the "bucket brigade" as far as water changes go. Its not the worse thing in the world, but can be (and usually is) a messy hassle.

I've seen the devices that hook up to faucets, but I've always been a bit apprehensive. Where I'm at the water is heavily chlorinated and of course I dechlorinate it, usually in a bucket. Is it safe to add water to the tank and THEN dechlorinate?

Also I'm in preparation (many years from now) for getting quite a substantial tank, around 400~500.
I've read about automatic and hard line plumbing, or something to that effect. Whats that all about?

Thanks for your time and consideration


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## rich815 (Jun 27, 2007)

I use a long hose connected to a U-shaped PVC piping I put together that hangs on the rim of my tank. This PVC has holes drilled up to the 50% mark on my tank so the water drains to there and stops. If it's warm out I feed the long hose out the front door and into the garden or my potted plants. Fill up time I then feed the hose back into the house, to the bathroom where I've attached a hose fitting to the faucet. Before attaching I get the water warm and close to the tanks 78F and fill the tank back up. Just after starting the fill-up I dump two capfuls of Seachem Prime right into the tank (72 gal tank). I then stay close by and watch for the water to reach the top and turn it off. 50% water changes once a week, takes maybe 20 minutes. If it's too cold out I feed the drain to the toilet. It's lower than the tank so siphons out fine.


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## TAB (Feb 7, 2009)

most people that have larger water volumes( rather it be a big tank or several tanks) buy a water storage containter and put in the garage, basment, outside... etc

You then bring a water line to the storage tank. after doing what ever you need to the water, its then pumped to the tank.

when it comes to draining a garden hose works great, place it in the tank/sump, turn on the water to fill the hoes, trun off the water and undo the hose. you can let gravity do its thing.


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## Brilliant (Jun 25, 2006)

You can use a water filter to remove chlorine. I would use a two stage with sediment filter and two carbon flters. Hard plumb or do it manually, refill with filtered water.


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## Rachel (Mar 21, 2003)

I've had tanks for 20 years, but only a python for about 8 of those. 
I'm upset that I lost out on the first 12 years without one!

I do as mentioned above, I dump a bunch of Prime in the tank before, and sometimes during, the fresh water entering the tank. 

There would be NO way I would have these 4 tanks in my house if not for the python; it makes me want more! (can't have too many!)


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## pitabread (Jul 14, 2006)

I have a Python which makes things pretty convienent. I use it for draining the tank.

For filling, I actually put out a big rubbermaid bin (~20 gallons) which I fill with the Python the day before. I then leave it for a day with a heater so the pH can stabalize (my water comes out of the tap at ~8.2, but drops to 7.6 after 24 hrs). I then use a maxijet pump with a hose to fill the tank from the bin.


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## Happy Gillmore (Apr 8, 2009)

farm stores like tractor supply carry poly vinyl hose and its cheap. there are also places that specialize in industrial hoses and fittings they have all kinds of goodies.


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## Darthaardvark (May 28, 2009)

I'm liking these ideas, to those of you with larger tanks with sumps, does the sump really affect how one goes about it at all?
Also, would you guys ideally hardplumb it or would you find that having the large cistern or storage tank and a pump would be sufficient?


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## TAB (Feb 7, 2009)

I've done both on reefs, hard plumbing makes a water change as simple as they can be.


opening and closing valves and/or turning on and off pumps.


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## Darthaardvark (May 28, 2009)

nice, anyone know where to find info on setting a hardplumb?

I haven't been able to locate anything particularly helpful


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## Diana K (Dec 20, 2007)

I do not want to hard plumb anything, I move tanks around too much. 

I prepare water ahead in Rubbermaid Brute garbage cans or similar. Garden hose connected to shower ('cause that is where the easiest fitting exchange works)
Add minerals for hard water tanks as needed, dechlor, etc. Circulate with small pump to dissolve whatever I have added. 

Siphon water out of tank into plastic storage container. 
Clean filter media in used water. 
Fountain pump and garden hose to remove used water (fertigate garden plants)
Refill tank from prepared water via fountain pump. Do not use too large a pump for this, the incoming water can blow the plants and substrate around. (up to 200 gph for larger tanks, about 100 gph max for tanks to 20 gallons)

I have 3 tanks with sumps. No major difference. 

Do not forget to unplug or turn off any equipment that cannot handle this, for example heaters that might end up above the water level in the air, or the pump in the sump. Then remember to plug them back in!


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## jasa73 (Jun 18, 2007)

Wow, i dont bother to age water. I use a python and go straight from the facuet to my tank. I just does dechlorinator before i start the refill. I keep discus and never had any problems. In fact, my cardnials like to swim up to the current caused by the inflow of water.


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## Consigliere (Mar 22, 2009)

Here is a pic of a drip system I rigged up using PEX and some irrigation manifolds I found at Home Depot. The drip emmitor is from dripworks.com.










This in conjunction with the drilled overflow works like a charm for water changing. One valve turns it on and I get 2 G/hr - 16 G/hr change depending on how many drippers I hook up. Also have the full fill line for when I do a bit of vacuuming.


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## Andy Ritter (Nov 26, 2008)

My 75 gallon tank sits in my den that I remodeled right before I set the tank up. Since I knew exactly where the tank was going to be, and also that I have no intentions of moving it ever again (I know, never say never), I felt that doing something fairly permanent would be no problem.

First of all, I have a well with really good water that doesn't require any dechlorination. Therefore, my only concern was making sure that the water was the proper temperature as to not shock the fish. Fortunately, I have a good friend that is a plumber, and when I asked him about the situation, he suggested that I use a mixing valve like what is used in public restrooms for the automatic sinks. You ever noticed the sinks that you go up to that automatically turn on for you and have warm water? They use a mixing valve that mixes the hot and cold water to a temperature that is adjustable to whatever you feel is comfortable. I bought one of those and tapped into the hot and cold water pipes in my utility room (where the clothes washer and hot water heater are), and then ran a single pipe through the ceiling and walls to right behind my aquarium. I then finished it off with a decorative water stop, and adjusted the temperature to 80 degrees F. Now when it comes time to fill the tank, all I have to do is reach behind and turn on the valve. This has made both water changes and topping off the tank a breeze.

As far as removing the water, I guess that I could have also plumbed a drain into the wall, but that was going to be infinitely more difficult. So instead, I just use enough vinyl hose to reach the utility sink down the hall, and hook it up to the discharge hose on my Vortex Diatom filter that I use when I perform my aquarium maintenance. I took the original hoses from the Diatom filter and installed the plastic quick connect fittings that are used on garden hoses to make the switch from the long hose for transferring the water to the sink back to the return that goes over the edge of the tank. It works great for me.

I would be happy to provide more information on the items that I used and provide pictures if you would like.

Andy


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## wwh2694 (Aug 15, 2008)

I have a 5 discus fish on a 90G planted tank. When I do my water change, I use the connector like the pyton connetor to my kitchen sink with a drinking water safe hose. You can get this at Lowes or Homedepot, its a different kind of hose. I usually empty 50% of the tank and fillup directly with dechlorinator in the tank. Everytime I do that my pair discus have eggs all the time. Also I have 22G ADA tank, 6G, and two 2.5G nano tanks so storing a water in a bucket is no no. My water here is hard which is a plus coz I inject CO2 which doesnt crash my ph. I got a drop checker that turns lime green when its good and blue when my waters ph is going down coz of too much organics. With Discus fish you'll always going to have alot of dissolve organics from food and hormones that they relise...anyways to make it short, always check your tap first and make sure its ok.


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## mpe1329 (Sep 1, 2007)

I have 3 tanks in my basement (75, 35, 10). Found that Python worked fine but slow and sucked up lots of fry and shrimp. So now I use Maxi Jet 1200 with sponge filter over intake and 10' of hose to drain tanks to slop sink. I then put same Maxi Jet into bucket in slop sink with tap water running into bucket to fill tanks. Adjust water temp of tap water to slightly colder than tank temp and add a cap full of dechlorinator to tank and I'm all set. Oh, and when filling tanks I run tubing to old Eheim intake tube to make sure the tube doesn't slip out of tank and because it disperses water flow and seems to greatly reduce bubbles that I would get when filling with Python.


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## p-sully (Aug 23, 2009)

How do you start the siphon when switching to another tank with the u shaped pvc with holes drilled in it? 
Thanks,
Sully


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