125L water changes complete in 20 mins with ease!

[Greggy]

Hey people,

I just wanted to let you know that my new 6x2x2 is coming along well (although yesterday I lost 1 of 3 Cory's for an unknown reason - the other 2 and the rest of the tank's crew are all fine) and that I have all but fine-tuned my water change procedure! I can now change 125L of water in 20 minutes! This may or may not be as fast as some of you professional guys, but to me this was a big step forward in making maintenance of my tank simple and (almost) enjoyable.

To accomplish this task I place a 125L bucket next to my aquarium the night before I want to perform the water change, fill it with tap water, add Prime and drop in a 150Watt heater and an air stone (5 mins).

The next day I siphon off approx 125L of water from the tank into my garden (takes 5 mins), then I remove the heater and air stone from the bucket and drop in my Moozoo 2700L per hour power head attached to a custom made 19mm hose that goes into the tank with a home made diffuser (for minimal water disturbance). Switch on the Moozoo and fill up the tank (5 more mins).

After the tank is full I shut off the Moozoo, remove all the hoses and pack away the pipes and bucket etc (5 mins). So all up only about 20 mins of mucking around, and I now no longer dread water changes!

Based on rough calculations, my 650L (gross) 6x2x2 tank which probably has about 550L (net) of water can receive a ~ 23% water change in as little as 20 mins (not counting waiting overnight for the water to condition of course, but this happens whilst I sleep :) ) I performed a WC on the weekend, and before the WC my water was NH3=0ppm NO2=0ppm NO3=5ppm and after a few hours it was NH3=0ppm NO2=0ppm and NO3=2.5ppm so it's all good. Tap water is hard as a rock in my area so I don't bother checking for hardness as I already know the result... HARD.

So those of you still mucking around with 25L buckets, dripping water all over the house and putting off your WC because it takes too long etc need to get smart and take the pain out of water changes by doing something similar... you will not regret it.

Regards,

Greggy

6x2x2 Freshwater
29 degrees Celcius NH3=0ppm NO2=0ppm NO3=2.5ppm
1x Aqua One Advance 2450 canister
1x Eheim Pro 2228 canister
2x Fluval 300W heaters
23 Cardinal Tetras
9 Black Neon Tetras
2 Cory Catfish (was 3)
3 SAEs
No Discus yet :(

[samir]

LOL Greggy, I think most of us, who dont have tanks in their living rooms, have been doing something similar .

[Greggy]

That may be true samir, but I know a reefer that until recently had a 60x18x18 marine tank who still used 20L buckets and poured them in by hand! Mind you he knew his stuff and his tank always looked awesome with lots of living rock, coral & anenomies etc. He sold his set up whilst he had to rent for 12 months but is soon planning on getting into a more serious sized marine tank.

I just wanted to let people know that WC's are not hard to do once you get the right equipment.

When it comes to fish keeping, old WC habits seem to die hard.

Regards,

Greggy

[FishLover]

What kind of siphon are you use? Mine is really slow to drain the water. It has the 3/4" hose but there is a small (1/4"?) opening at the end of the big tube. That's where the water move slows down. takes me at least 20 minutes to drain about 170l of water.

I have almost the same setting and my pump is 1300l/h. I'm getting a much stronger pump in few days hope to cut down the waiting time.

I do 44g (170l?) water change at a time and it takes me about one hour to do it. Most of the time is waiting for water to move from one place to another (filling the holding tank, drain the fish tank, filling the fish tank). My holding tank is outside the house. Sometimes I do a double (88g) water change and that takes about 1.5 hour(multi tasking there, draining and filling at the same time)

[fiftycal]

I have a 1700?l/h pump and its so slow too! I dont know if I will buy one, since I dont want to buy new tubing, since all the more powerful ones have a larger hose diameter

[Greggy]

The key is to have large enough diameter hoses and a strong pump!

As I said my pump is a Moozoo 2700LPH and the hoses and connectors are all 3/4" (19mm). I find the 19mm hose adequate for my water changes and it fits onto my pump like it was made for it :)

A small 1/4" fitting will kill water flow, so get rid of it and ensure the minimum is at least 19mm all the way through and you'll have no problems. Also, make sure you use strong pump. Even my 2700 LPH pump could be stronger, but it does an acceptable job.

Regards,

Greggy

[FishLover]

I'm getting my new pump today.

What about the siphon? What kind of siphon do you use that will draim the water in 5 minutes? I think once I get my new pump, the siphon will be my problem. I can fill the water fast but the siphon has one point with the 1/4" opening. I'm trying to find something to replace it.

[Tunnel Rat]

Thats what it is all about making it as easy as you can good work Greggy.
I run a 9000L/H pump in my 220L drum & age for a week.Drum is out back in the sun room run a 30 meter hose from it.The hole thing is permanently fitted so all I need to do is drain and pump :lol:



Rat

[FishLover]

got my 1/2 hourse power 1300g/h pump and did a water chagne yesterday. It was fast!. I can fill move 44g of water in few minutes. It cut down about 10 minutes of my waiting time for the tank to fill up.

If I can figure out how to drain the tank faster with my pyhone, that will be a hoot!

[psamers]

If you can pump it in, in a few minutes, can't you pump it out just as quick?

[Greggy]

A 1/2 horse power 1300gph pump!!! Thats just crazy!!!!! (but obviosuly very effective) :) Be careful pumping the water back in as you might want to use some form of water diffuser, perhaps a shower head or a find sprinkler device from a garden shop. Otherwise you might disturb the bottom of your tank and/or stress your fish.

To drain your tank faster you simply need to up the diameter of all the equipment used to syphon your tank. If your looking for decent speed then perhaps 1" (25mm) tubing, fittings and a valve should take care of that. You'll be suprised how quick it can move water just using gravity. For me 19mm is enough but I only change about 125L every week so its no big deal.

Regards,

Greggy

[endless]

I dont know whether i should be proud of this with the drought and all but i do a 300litre water change in 10-15 mins all up. Everytime i do a water change i feel kinda guilty even though the water drains straight into my garden. One good thing about my water change is that i never water the garden from the mains water.

[Tunnel Rat]

If I can figure out how to drain the tank faster with my pyhone, that will be a hoot!

I do not think draining the tank fast is any benefit.I find that I always have the water drained to the 220L level before I have vacuumed all the substrate.I use a 19mm hose.

Rat

[mystic_beth]

I was thinking of doing somthing a bit similar if I every got a bigger tank (hubby is screaming NoooOOOOOooooo!) One day I will get that 600 ltr job :D


I don't age my water... it's all good fresh Tassie country rainwater, tests fine straight from the tap. I only need to adjust the PH, which is high as the water tank is cement. The upside? Cement emits CO2...so I always get a spurt of plant growth after a water change :D