Let us see your Water Change System (56K alert) - Page 5 - DIY Aquarium Projects

hoppycalif · 12-05-2007, 11:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gotcheaprice

Hey, hoppy, I was wondering how you make the intake exactly. I'm sorta afraid that it'll suck up my fishes. I went to home depot just now, and i got:
10 ft of 3/4 in pvc pipe
a 3/4 in to 1/2 in hose adapter thing
2x 3/4 in slip 90 elbow
1x slip by female 90 elbow
3/4 plug(spig?)
and a 3/4 in coupling that I accidentally grabbed xD

I also bought some cpvc cement, but don't know if I wanna use that. I also eventually plan to get closing valve thing(tomorrow maybe?) like yours. What do you suggest for sealing the cement together, and do you think my thing will work? I'll psot a diagram a little later, or maybe tomorrow.
To prevent too much suction, I was thinking of getting another 3/4 slip 90 elbow and then put another piece of pipe with drilled holes all over it, and the plug on the end, but I'm just afraid of the cpvc cement thing.

Thank you!

Horray for paint

The bar on the right extends flat, tried to make it 3d, but my art skills fail me.

My intake is just the open end of the pipe. On rare occasions a fish will get sucked up, but it is unusual. I siphon pretty slowly, probably because of the length of hose I use, and the head only being about a foot, so the suction isn't much. When I first started using this system several years ago, I put a cap on that open pipe and drilled a few 1/8" diameter holes in the pipe, so only the very smallest baby fish could get through. I had mostly platys at that time. Now, if I were to be worried I would probably take a piece of womens nylon hose and put it over the open pipe to act as a screen.

gpodio · 12-05-2007, 01:12 PM

Here's what I've always used:

I used PVC solvent to 'glue' a flat piece of PVC on the end and drilled a hole to drain the water out of it when I pull it out of the tank. Works great. The tube with all the holes is not glued in place, I have several different lengths of perforated tubes for the various tanks I have, this way the siphon breaks automatically where I need it to each time.

The rest of the setup is a DIY python using a waterbed fill/empty adapter. I also use this pipe for temporary closed loops and canister intakes.

I'm also working on automating water changes for the reef tank, it's kind of overkill but I enjoy playing with this stuff

It would be easier for a freshwater tank, I just don't have one positioned in such a way to easily reach it with plumbing and CAT5 cables... I'm just starting to document the setup at the end of this page:
http://www.gpodio.com/180g_build.asp

Regards
Giancarlo Podio

gotcheaprice · 12-05-2007, 07:29 PM

Alright, thank you for the tips!
I guess all I need now is a valve. And I'll just put the tube from a siphon around it, and a net or something, since I'm siphoning out a window 2nd floor(lots of pressure xD)

Fortuna Wolf · 12-06-2007, 04:38 PM

My 125 is a few feet from a window so I just run a hose out the window to let it drain,
but I still end up lugging buckets across the house to fill it back up. We have no well right now (I wish I had some wonderful chlorine free hard water). How are you dealing with chlorine in the water when you refill? I'd love to run a hose directly from the faucet to the tank but our water is heavily chlorinated (GF forgot to dechlorinate her water once and lost everything but the betta).

Can I just add the dechlorinator directly to the tank water and assume that as the incoming water mixes with the water already in the tank it'll dechlorinate fast enough that it won't harm anyone in the tank?

hoppycalif · 12-06-2007, 05:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fortuna Wolf

My 125 is a few feet from a window so I just run a hose out the window to let it drain,
but I still end up lugging buckets across the house to fill it back up. We have no well right now (I wish I had some wonderful chlorine free hard water). How are you dealing with chlorine in the water when you refill? I'd love to run a hose directly from the faucet to the tank but our water is heavily chlorinated (GF forgot to dechlorinate her water once and lost everything but the betta).

Can I just add the dechlorinator directly to the tank water and assume that as the incoming water mixes with the water already in the tank it'll dechlorinate fast enough that it won't harm anyone in the tank?

That is the method I use, and I think most people use. Drain off the water in the tank. Add enough Prime to what is left to dechlor a full tank of water, then add the chlorinated water. I don't know why this works, but it always works for me.

Fortuna Wolf · 12-06-2007, 08:35 PM

At what rate do you add the water, or does it not matter?
I think I'm going to try to build a setup to refill it from one of the faucets here. I'm sick and tired of lugging 10 buckets to do a 20% water change.

MiSo · 12-07-2007, 01:12 AM

i use a eheim hobby pump to get water out. i just run the water right into the sink.
then i let the faucet fill a bucket and pump water back into the aqurium.
much faster then letting gravity do the work.

ColdServings · 12-07-2007, 07:25 AM

My water change system is pretty crude. It consists of a garden hose run outside to siphon water out of the tank. Then a pond pump in the bottom of the 33 gal rubbermaid garage can I use as an aging reservoir for my water (with Amquel Plus added to deal with the chloramines Indianapolis uses--the aging is mostly to get the water up to room temperature before it goes into the tank, minimizing temperature changes in the tank water) to put the replacement water into the tank. I fill the reservoir either with a garden hose run from the tap outside or (when that's frozen) by running buckets back and forth from the bathroom).

gpodio · 12-07-2007, 07:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fortuna Wolf

My 125 is a few feet from a window so I just run a hose out the window to let it drain,
but I still end up lugging buckets across the house to fill it back up. We have no well right now (I wish I had some wonderful chlorine free hard water). How are you dealing with chlorine in the water when you refill? I'd love to run a hose directly from the faucet to the tank but our water is heavily chlorinated (GF forgot to dechlorinate her water once and lost everything but the betta).

Can I just add the dechlorinator directly to the tank water and assume that as the incoming water mixes with the water already in the tank it'll dechlorinate fast enough that it won't harm anyone in the tank?

That's what I do. I use Tetra AquaSafe and dose a full dose in the tank as I start to refill the tank from the tap. Once full or just about, I add another 5ml just for the heck of it... I remember being scared of doing so a while back but once I tried it I have yet to encounter any problems and don't miss the bucket brigade one little bit! I too wiped out an entire tank a while back trying a different conditioner that did not take care of heavy metals, not a pleasant way to discover what your tap water consists of...

Hope it works just as good for you
Giancarlo Podio

dawntwister · 12-11-2007, 08:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MiSo

i use a eheim hobby pump to get water out. i just run the water right into the sink.
then i let the faucet fill a bucket and pump water back into the aqurium.
much faster then letting gravity do the work.

What about the temperature difference of the tap water and tank water? For this time of year the temp of my tap water is different from tanks water. Won't the difference in temp cause shock?