I think one of the biggest obsticals to both the health of aquaria and the happiness of the aquarist is the drudgery involved in doing the proper amount of water exchange within our closed systems. This important task is usually accomplished by siphoning out a certain amount of water from the aquarium in question and then replacing it with fresh, treated water of the same or very similar temperature and chemistry. For most folks the equipment used to perform this vital task is either a siphon hose and bucket (if they can't acess a drain and spigot) or if they are lucky enough to have a nearby sink, they can then use a Python or a similar type devise that's home-made.
Again, for the vast majority of us, this is as easy as it gets, which is why it usually doesn't happen anywhere near as often as it should.
Now, I should stop and point out right here that many plant-only tanks *reportedly* have been sucessfully maintained with a frequency of water changes occuring as little as but once or twice a year. I won't go there myself except to add that if one puts even the first fish into such a system, water changes then become an almost manditory matter -- which can be easily demonstrated to anyone's satisfaction through the use of a few basic tests for water quality.
Short of building a new house or modifying an existing residence such that one might plumb any or all aquaria right into the household water and sewage system much like your toilet, exactly what are our options for making water changes an easier, faster, less bothersome task?
Because the easier they are to do -- the more apt they are to actually occur.
One option I have considered is the use of a constant overflow with a small amount of water being exchanged at all times. My theory here is that if one desires say, a 50% water exchange every two weeks, then that figure expressed in gallons divided by the number of days available, in this case 14, should yield a gallons per day figure to be exchanged. This amount can be further expressed as so much being exchanged per hour down to a certain amount of water entering and existing the system each minute which would be an easy and convienient time frame to measure flow rates and work with.
The devil, however, is in the details -- which I'll describe next post so that we can discuss the equipment needed.
Again, for the vast majority of us, this is as easy as it gets, which is why it usually doesn't happen anywhere near as often as it should.
Now, I should stop and point out right here that many plant-only tanks *reportedly* have been sucessfully maintained with a frequency of water changes occuring as little as but once or twice a year. I won't go there myself except to add that if one puts even the first fish into such a system, water changes then become an almost manditory matter -- which can be easily demonstrated to anyone's satisfaction through the use of a few basic tests for water quality.
Short of building a new house or modifying an existing residence such that one might plumb any or all aquaria right into the household water and sewage system much like your toilet, exactly what are our options for making water changes an easier, faster, less bothersome task?
Because the easier they are to do -- the more apt they are to actually occur.
One option I have considered is the use of a constant overflow with a small amount of water being exchanged at all times. My theory here is that if one desires say, a 50% water exchange every two weeks, then that figure expressed in gallons divided by the number of days available, in this case 14, should yield a gallons per day figure to be exchanged. This amount can be further expressed as so much being exchanged per hour down to a certain amount of water entering and existing the system each minute which would be an easy and convienient time frame to measure flow rates and work with.
The devil, however, is in the details -- which I'll describe next post so that we can discuss the equipment needed.
