Water changing

Not sure if anyone noticed but I've been away for a couple of weeks, alot has been going on and alot of doctor visits, I wont go into a rant about my health, but, the main point is, my hands are funky.

So, my tank is in my living room, my closest sink is in the kitchen I can't carry buckets full of water at the moment (if ever again depending on my results) without a severe chance of dropping it/causing damage to myself. As you can imagine it's made water changes very difficult. I changed my water last night doing 2 litres at a time and needed to take a break in between because my hands seized up, it was also incredibly difficult getting the right dosages of conditioner in the water at 2l at a time. It took me about an hour to do the whole process and this was only a 65l tank.

Although I'm fully willing to carry on like this, if it comes to fish getting sick requiring 50% water changes everyday, I'm really going to feel it. I tried the hose pipe trick, but I got light headed and had no luck with getting the water to "pump" (no doubt because my tank is lower than my sink, so my efforts were in vain). I also tried sliding the bucket along the floor, but, that ended quite badly with alot of towels to patch the aftermath.

So, is there an incredibly easy way to change the water, without hauling buckets? Is there something so obvious that I'm missing?

Maybe invest in a python water changer. That's what I was advised to do with my health problems

What I do:

I bought a garden hose and a sink adapter. I hook up the hose and always run it for a few minutes into the sink to clear out any old water.

I bought a 50 foot clear syphon hose from the hardware store. I start draining the tank with that, draining into the bathtub.

Once its done, I add my dechlorinator for the entire tank size, and start refilling with the garden hose.

No buckets, no hassle. Im even lazy enough to hook it up to something to sit down and watch it drain. I keep a net mesh over the end in the fish tank so I dont suck up fish!



Pardon my kids mess, he is a tornado and a half...

Draining, with a net over the end of it:
I tie fishing line around the center brace of the tank to hold the siphon hose in place.



Refill, I weave the hose through the wire shelf.



I'm probably the laziest person you can meet though. But no regrets doing it this way--i have osteoarthritis in my left shoulder and both hips so buckets are no good for large tanks for me.

JuiceBox52 said:

Maybe invest in a python water changer. That's what I was advised to do with my health problems

Click to expand...

I just had a nosey at this, not sure if it's just the UK, but boy do they cost alot, Covid caused me to lose my job, or should I say, covid gave my ex boss reason to sack everyone lol. This seems like a wise choice but I'm looking at £100 for a python with a pipe long enough. Though I suppose the make-up of the python would be easy to replicate to create my own, but I'm a walking disaster so I probably look for other brands at a cheaper rate.

That certainly seems interesting.

NCaquatics said:

What I do:

I bought a garden hose and a sink adapter. I hook up the hose and always run it for a few minutes into the sink to clear out any old water.

I bought a 50 foot clear syphon hose from the hardware store. I start draining the tank with that, draining into the bathtub.

Once its done, I add my dechlorinator for the entire tank size, and start refilling with the garden hose.

No buckets, no hassle. Im even lazy enough to hook it up to something to sit down and watch it drain. I keep a net mesh over the end in the fish tank so I dont suck up fish!

Click to expand...

This seems good also. I'm only worried about the draining part, as I cant even get water to flow to my kitchen sink. Though definitely a good insight, I'll have to take a look to see if I could find a small pump. I've never really got the hang of siphoning stuff, I'd make a poor fuel thief... I'd be caught passed out next to the car with a hose in one hand, jerry can in the other and blue in the face from my attempt.

Thanks for the input guys, it's very thoughtful

Shiverz said:

I just had a nosey at this, not sure if it's just the UK, but boy do they cost alot, Covid caused me to lose my job, or should I say, covid gave my ex boss reason to sack everyone lol. This seems like a wise choice but I'm looking at £100 for a python with a pipe long enough. Though I suppose the make-up of the python would be easy to replicate to create my own, but I'm a walking disaster so I probably look for other brands at a cheaper rate.

That certainly seems interesting.



This seems good also. I'm only worried about the draining part, as I cant even get water to flow to my kitchen sink. Though definitely a good insight, I'll have to take a look to see if I could find a small pump. I've never really got the hang of siphoning stuff, I'd make a poor fuel thief... I'd be caught passed out next to the car with a hose in one hand, jerry can in the other and blue in the face from my attempt.

Thanks for the input guys, it's very thoughtful

Click to expand...

I use the smaller siphon hose to Kickstart the siphon. I suck up the water and then quickly insert it into the longer hose and it drains into the tub.

You could cheat this process and get one of those hand pump siphon hoses for gravel cleaning at petsmart


(Fish poo water tastes bad)

If you have a nearby window you can run the dirty water out that way if you vacuum hose is long enough. During the summer I empty my tanks out the window onto my wife's plants and use a garden hose back in the window to fill a large plastic bin where I can mix in water conditioner and warm water before putting it into my tank. My soft water tank is a whole different story where I have to carry 5 gallon jugs of RO water and mix it with conditioned tap water. I use a hand pump vacuum hose.