Water Changes...

[jimmy_veal]

Hi all.
Siphoning water out of my tank is easy enough into a water drum, but re-filling it with a 2 litre jug takes forever, and lifting a heafty water drum with clean water in higher than my tank to siphon it back in, is just not an option, as i'm not a weight-lifter! Just wondered if anyone has an ingenious way of doing this or is it a case of many trips back and forward to the sink?

 

[ZoddyZod]

hose straight from the tap! Just dechlorinate for the entire tank volume first

that's how I refill my 320L.

 

[jimmy_veal]

Oooo may try this however the tap is about 20 foot from the tank....
Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[ZoddyZod]

Oooo may try this however the tap is about 20 foot from the tank....
Thanks for the suggestion.

a standard garden hose should be longer than that. Just make sure you can attach it to the type of tap you have (I had to hacksaw the adapter to make it fit!)

 

[SaTiVa1984]

Much easier if you have a mixer tap because you can get connections that fit straight to the hose pipe, and get a close match to the tank temp.

However if you do not have a mixer tap, (like me) what i have done is stripped down an old internal filter so just the power head remains, then i slip a 12 litre bucket under both taps and get the water running so the bucket water temp matches the tank, then i slip the power head into the bucket with the hose pipe wedged into the power heads output nozzle and the other end into the tank, then switch it on, while running i keep a constant check on the water temp entering the tank with my hand and add my prime.

Soooo much easier than 20 trips with a bucket.

 

[Akasha72]

garden hose from sink, into a storage box placed higher than tank and a couple of kettle's of boiling water to bring it up to temp. Add my stresscoat, put my algard syphon in box and into tank, set it going and walk away and leave it to re-fill by itself.

Simples

 

[jimmy_veal]

Thanks for the suggestions - will have a go at getting a tap connector and a spare bit of hose pipe.
ZoddyZod, do you just re-fill it with cold water and let the heater warm it up then or do you mix hot with cold to get the water lukewarm...

 

[ZoddyZod]

I've got a mixer tap so I try and get it close to the tank temp. Doesn't have to be perfect.

In fact, a cold burst could reflect a rain storm and does induce breeding/egg laying in some species......just be sure not to drop the temp too violently. Mine sometimes drops 3c during a refill and that occassionally prompts my corydora to start egg laying.

will cost you more in dechlorinator obviously (as you have to dose the tank volume) but I wouldn't dream of refilling 100L with my 10L bucket.

 

[Rummynose]

What if you were to place a ladder beside the tank? One of those upside down V-shaped ones that have a platform at the top where you could place a bucket. You could syphon it back into the tank from there.

I have a build-in shelving unit near my tanks where I can place one bucket and I just keep refilling it with another bucket (using a pitcher) so I don't have to keep starting up the syphon again and again. I was a little worried at first, not being sure if the shelf would be able to support the weight of a bucket of water. I was also thinking to move a table closer to the tanks and put a chair on the table on which I could put the bucket....

But those previous suggestions are a whole lot less of a hassle!!!

 

[jimmy_veal]

Maybe i could stand the drum of water on top of the step-ladder - that would be easier for me.
Great i shall do that next time - Its great having so many helpful people on this forum!

 

[Proxo]

If you have an external filter, this could come into play CLICK ME

 

[littlenemo]

i had the same problem so am in the process of building an auto water changer from the mains pipe under the floor

 

[Primous]

If you don't like the diy method buy an "Aqueon water changer." By far, the best purchase I made in this hobby. My wcs used to take two hours and became a chore.

Now to take the same amount of water out= 8mins

Refilling=6mins

Here is a time lapse vid of me wc-ing my aquarium

*EDIT*
You don't need to temp match. I drop my aquarium temp from 25C to 20/19C weekly. And as you can see in the vid the fish are unaffected.

 

[Steve GT]

i just do it in buckets

fill a bucket with dechlorinated water, put it on the strongest bit of the lid of the tank then siphone it back in. not as easy as straight from the tap but unlike tipping a bucket in whole it trickels in slowly and allows me to do something else

 

[SaTiVa1984]

If you don't like the diy method buy an "Aqueon water changer." By far, the best purchase I made in this hobby. My wcs used to take two hours and became a chore.

Now to take the same amount of water out= 8mins

Refilling=6mins

*EDIT*
You don't need to temp match. I drop my aquarium temp from 25C to 20/19C weekly. And as you can see in the vid the fish are unaffected.

If you have sensitive fish such has discus, dropping the temp right down like that is going to stress them out, possibly kill them from shock.