External Filter (pumping Questions)

[720510]

I have an existing 120L tank which is running quite well with an internal filter though I'm very keen to get an external one, like the Tetratec EX 700.

Apart from the space saving I am thinking that I could use the filter to re-fill my tank during water changes? My tank is quite high up on a wall and getting water back in the tank after syphoning it out with a gravel cleaner is quite difficult.

I was wonder if I could use an external filter to pump water back into the tank? Any ideas? I see most of them have a 1.5m pump limit, I assume that's the maximum height?

Apologies if it's a rather silly question, but any advice on this is much appreciated.

Thanks
Riaan
Ipswich

 

[Miss Wiggle]

hmmm strange question, i'm not sure how that would work, for the filter to start and pump water back up to the tank it's got to be all put back together and closed (or you're gonna get a wet floor) and if it's closed there's no way to get extra water into it. I just can't see how you'd work it tbh!

however an easy solution to refilling your tank without carrying buckets is to just do it by the hose, you can add dechlor straight to the tank then run a hose from your tap into the tank

 

[720510]

hmmm strange question, i'm not sure how that would work, for the filter to start and pump water back up to the tank it's got to be all put back together and closed (or you're gonna get a wet floor) and if it's closed there's no way to get extra water into it. I just can't see how you'd work it tbh!

however an easy solution to refilling your tank without carrying buckets is to just do it by the hose, you can add dechlor straight to the tank then run a hose from your tap into the tank

Thanks, I was actually thinking of adding a split hose / switch to the inlet, and when re-filling, have the inlet switch to the new water bucket?

 

[Miss Wiggle]

hmmmm i get you now. not sure how easy it'd be to do or how well it would work though tbh, externals filters can be a ball ache to start up sometimes. i think you'd need to turn the filter off to switch between inlets and if i have the option of just turning on and off a tap or turning on and off a filter it'd be the tap every tiem for me!

 

[andywg]

Externals are pretty crap at pumping to a height. The only reason they can pump well is becuase they have the weight of the water coming in falling to help push the water back up. Connect it to an open system (such as the bucket) and I don't think it would perform as well.

 

[Rooster]

Plus you could be "murdering" the bacteria, if using tap water... although if you treat the water first, you could use a T piece in the inlet pipe and a tap to the bucket, so most of the water going into the filter is still tank water, with a small amount of fresh drawn into the system... Mmmmmmm, this is worth an experiment as I hate refilling the tank with a bucket.

 

[GoldLenny]

Get a Python for siphoning and refilling a tank. It's the best $25.00 I ever spent.

But if you do want to use your canister filter to refill, you could try putting a T-valve into the intake line with an extra piece of hose coming off the T that you could put in the bucket. Then get your filter running, while still using the siphon downflow from the tank and then slowly and partially open the T-valve which should create a siphon effect from the line going into the bucket as well so that the filter is pulling from both lines. This way you would still have the tank water being siphoned down to the canister to aid the canister in "pushing" water back up to the tank from the bucket. If this works, you can slowly open the T-valve all the way until it's drawing only from the bucket.

As andywg pointed out, canister filters do not have a lot of "head pressure" for pumping water to heights which also lets you know that you should raise your canister as high to the level of the tank as possible. If you have it under your tank, put it on a box or something. This will increase the gph and efficiency of the motor.