going to try some mini pumps, for water changes on my 10 gallon holding tanks...

[Magnum Man]

2 of the 10 gallons are only 8 inches off the floor, so besides having to get down on my knees, water doesn't syphon efficiently, being that low... I also have a 55 gallon, that is between the 2 lower 10 gallons, & at the same height... so I'm picking a bigger pump for that one, that pumps 550 gallons an hour... the little ones pump just .8 gallons per minute, so it would take 5-6 minutes to do a 50% water change on the 10 gallon tanks, but pump at a more manageable rate, than the bigger one... the bigger pump, would empty the tank in a minute...

a couple of these are going to have shrimp in, one now is full of Cherry Shrimp, & a pair of fancy platies, that are breeding, so those lil pumps will need some floss, or a knee high nylon slipped over the pump, to not end up sucking up babies, even at it's reduced rate of pumping... I'm sure the shrimp would feed on the stuff stuck to the fine mesh over the pump...

anyone else using pumps for water changes on low aquariums??? if this works well, I'll incorporate one, into a 65 gallon, that is sitting on 1.5 inch thick boards ( my lowest tank ), so that one is literally at floor level ( I've incorporated a kick board on this stand, to protect the glass being so close to the floor )

 

[Uberhoust]

I used pumps for a short time from the buckets to the tank when I used that method. I used a small pond pump for this and they worked ok. You do have to watch the smaller pumps, I had some micro pumps that could not get the water into the tank at all. Their pumping ability depends on the head, how much water they can pump up. So a pump to take water out of a tank might not do as well to put the water in the tank. Typically the gallons per minute rating is based on no head, i.e. the amount of water the pump can push around without lifting it anywhere. The link is not exactly what you are doing but it gives some idea https://pondinformer.com/pond-pump-size-guide/. Filling a 75 gallon with pumps and buckets became too time consuming I now directly add water from the tap.

 

[Magnum Man]

I've not actually measured my head, but suspect the top of the bottom tanks, are about the same height of my 6 gallon bucket sitting on the floor, so in essence they just need to pump it over the side of the tank ( up, actually the height of a 10 gallon tank )... so, I'd assume they could pump that high??? 10 inches or so... I'll check the listings, and make sure they can pump 10 inches... I can syphon out of these tanks, but it's a pain as low as they are ( it's bad enough filling, & bending over to see the water level, while I'm refilling

I have an RV water system diaphragm pump on a switched cord, to pump my RO water out of my collection barrel... that pump will pump about 30 feet high, so it should even handle filling my 250 gallon, from the basement to the main floor, when I'm ready to get that one going

 

[Magnum Man]

this from the listing of the littlest pumps...
"It can elevate column of water up to 2.0ft."

the bigger pump...
"Max lift height: up to 7.3feet."

I suppose I could set it up like a Python, & use the pump, to pump it to the toilet, or a floor drain, so I don't have to pick up the bucket... but I'm not old enough, that I can't pick up a bucket yet... but thinking towards the future...

 

[Oldspartan]

I have been using a pump since the third week of this journey. It is a small pump, about 1.5 bpm. I am never in a hurry when doing the water changes, even on the 37 it only amounts to about 8 minutes. The pump outs are fish observation time.ee dump the new water from gallon jugs. We have 15 of them stored in an armoire in the laundry. The cabinet is heated with a bulb from the bottom set at about 77 degrees.

Not the most efficient system but it will do until the room is finished.

 

[Back in the fold]

Zoo Med makes a nifty little pump just for this very purpose . Take a look at their website and see what you think . You’ll have to down load the catalog and look . The website navigation is funky .

 

[Ceez]

You can get adjustable pumps too. I have one that's rated for 1240gpm that I dial down when I need to.

 

[MaloK]

I agree, get an adjustable one and use an intake cover sponge with a cable tie on the tip of your hose to shrimp proof it.