w/c upgrade

[Mattzilla]

now that all my discus are in two tanks side by side i though it was time to upgrade the old dodgy w/c tool that sits on the end of my w/c tubing.

it's to help drain the tank to a predetermined point and then stay in to then refill the tank...simple!

here is a picture of the old 'one tank at a time' tool, followed by the new 'two tanks at once' tool.

[Mattzilla]

i used it for the firdst time today and boy it made it easy. now all i have to do is pop it on the tanks, drain both at the same time, then fill both at the same time. (leaves me more time to kick back and watch the cricket!!!)

[weird]

Kewl Giving me some great ideas here ! So is the other end connected to a pump sitting in the bottom of a big water container ? Is the water draining purely gravity feed. Be super interested to see pictures of the system/process at the other end.

[Mattzilla]

yeah i just syphon the water a little and gravity does the rest. then i just attach the open end of the hose to the water storage barrel and turn the pump on.

i'll try to take some pictures tomorrow when i do a w/c for you. it's pretty easy...but i need a more powerful pump because the water storage barrel is at least 15 metres away now so it takes a while to fill both tanks.

pics to come

[kalebjarrod]

nice work with the glue job matt!

can't see a drop of primer anywhere 8)

isn't it gret to see a tank empty and fill so easy, i have no fish in my new tank but i do water changes every day just because they are so easy (and its a new toy at the moment)

when you make these jobs easy it makes you want to do them!

way cool dude, nice job :wink:

[Mattzilla]

the glue was clear so you can't see the little bits that weren't quiet perfect...lol

i don't know if it makes me want to do the w/c.... but it definately makes it easier which is a massive bonus.

[kalebjarrod]

what sort of pvc glue is clear?

i am intreged 8)

[Mattzilla]

the one you said you used on your entire fish room!!!!!!! lol

you may remember it from here:
http://www.discusforums.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1682

hahahahahahhahaaaaa

c'mon ryan wakey wakey

[kalebjarrod]

i used this brand

every brand i have come in contact with has been red primer, green or blue glue

i will have to keep that brand in mind

and P.S thanks for making me feel like a knob LOL

[Mattzilla]

LOL

any time mate....hahha

the tub i bought cost $7.50 and i am pretty sure it will last the rest of my life....unless i get the fishroom i dream about every night..... but that is a while off...just ask my wife, she will tell you...hahhahahaa

[kalebjarrod]

lol

i know all about wives and fish rooms

[DiscusMan]

Tircjk here guys is to get teh wife interested in the fish as well.

My wife has two tanks in my fish room were she breeds playties and guppies. Problem solved now i just need to get rid of her fish so i can take over those two tanks.

Wayne

[Mattzilla]

i'm trying to get her interested...she does like them...but she also thinks i'm a wierdo for being so obsessed with them

[Billy]

Same here my girlfriend and friends are saying that too

[kalebjarrod]

its not only the addiction to fish that is worrying my wife its now the addiction to discussing fish that has my wife worried LOL

[Chafule]

does this suck up crap from bottom of tank?

[Mattzilla]

no...i use a hand held hose to get the crap off the bottom of the tank. i do it while the tank is syphoning.... i use a 20ltr bucket per tank

[jim from sydney]

Mat.......this looks ok for me to use too....i am just looking around for a good setup for my new 6ft tank. yours seems simple but effective. I was just thinking, like you say you still need to suck-out the crap yourself..if you connected a perforated hose or pvc tubing, and put it in the bottom centre of the tank parallel to its length, would not part of the crap be sucked out as well. worth a try you think?? or if that works only partially, may be 2 parralel pipes would do the trick, safes you sucking the crap all the time....you may need to switch off the filters to force the water into the tubes (by suction from your pump, or gravity if you empty the tank by gravity only)....
let me know what you think..
..cheers Jim.

[jim from sydney]

yeah i just syphon the water a little and gravity does the rest. then i just attach the open end of the hose to the water storage barrel and turn the pump on.

i'll try to take some pictures tomorrow when i do a w/c for you. it's pretty easy...but i need a more powerful pump because the water storage barrel is at least 15 metres away now so it takes a while to fill both tanks.

pics to come

Mat.....any pictures yet???
cheers...Jim

[Mattzilla]

sorry i have been really busy lately...i'll take some pics of tomorrows w/c

[jim from sydney]

Matt...look forward to thepics...especially at the other end, where you drain to????by gravity????? and replacing the water from your storage, do you use a subm.pump.??? what size pump????
cheers...Jim.

[Mattzilla]

i drain it either into a watering can or down the drain outside. i use gravity to do the work for me and i pump water from my water storage barrel at the far end of my courtyard using a 10,000ltr/hr pump. the barrel is a good 15 mtrs from the tanks so i need a powerfull pump or it takes forever. i only recently got the 10000ltr job because my old 1500ltr/h pump just took forever to fill the tanks

pics will come today

[Mattzilla]

here are the pics requested

[Mattzilla]

all things attached to w/c barrell stay there and is set up so i don't even have to take the lid off when i do a w/c.

inside barrell is a 300 watt heater, large high powered air stone, digital thermometer, 10,000ltr/h pump which is attached to tank refill pipe and the end of the hose attached to the tap for refilling barrell

barrell is kept undercover and out of direct sun light to minimise temp fluctuations

[Mattzilla]

more pics

[Mattzilla]

pics

[Mattzilla]

pics

[Mattzilla]

i think that just about covers it all

feel free to ask anymore questions if you have them

cheers

[africandiscus]

How does it automatically suck the water out of the fish tank.

[africandiscus]

Also where did you get that tap from

[Mattzilla]

it doesn't auto start....i just suck on the end of it to get it going and gravity does the rest

taps are from bunnings in the gardening section

[Bad Inferno]

Do you keep the heater on all the time in the water barrel ?

[jim from sydney]

Mat ...thanks for the great pics. The setup looks great and well constructed....Just a couple of quest.
1...is the 300watt heater in the storage barrel big enough for the winter months, or haven't you had the system not working yet during winter?
2....do you use a water purifier like ACE or similar or is the airation in the storage enough to get rid of the chlorine gas?
3...when do you check the pH of the water in the barrel, and when do you adjust it?
4...i noticed that your pipes in the tank are about to mid-depth, is this deep enough??
5....did you get the plastic tubing from bunnings too???

i saw the valves at bunnings in the garden section great value!!!!!!!!!!

by the way....i introduced 3 new discus ( about 6/7 months old) to my tank with 14 others (3/4 months old) one of the new ones is showing aggression, wants to be "boss man" i think. i scared the daylight out of 4 of the younger ones in that it belted them around the tank and smashed them into the glass until the literally died. is this normal and how can i possibly control this in future????? "HELP PLEASE"
thanks again :D .....cheers....Jim

[jim from sydney]

Mat ...
you should be a plumber
cheers....Jim

[Mattzilla]

jim

in winter a second heater would be needed

i have been using safe powder but am planning on going back to prime or ace which i used to use all the time

the ph of the water in the barrell before w/c is about 7.3 and the tank is usually about 7.2. i don't do anything to change my ph because i don't like adding ph shifters to my water as it can be really unstable. i would prefer to provide a constant ph of about 7.2 than muck around with it.

the pipes are set to empty about 35% daily...that is more than enough

i got the plastic tubing from bunnings...but they are often out of stock. you can get it from a good lfs but it is more than twice the price than at a hardware shop....should be able to get it at a plumbing shop as well

not too sure how to help you with the bully.... maybe just remove it if it's killing other fish

hth
matt

[Mattzilla]

plumber....hahahaha

not really
it's pretty easy to do

[jim from sydney]

Matt...that ph is interesting....dont discus like to have acidic water?????

I was at Deds' (dreamer) place and he also uses tap water, ph about 7.4 for sydney....he is very happy with it too.....mine is about 6.8 but i hate to adjust it all the time.......what is the danger in slowly bringing it in line with tap water, say over 3 or 4 waterchanges??????does it effect breeding?????
p.s there is always a bloody bully i think. at school i hated them!!!!!!!!

cheers Jim.

[Mattzilla]

discus prefer softer water around your ph but can quiet happily live at a higher or even lower ph

[jim from sydney]

Mat.....to overcome fititng the drain hose to the re-fill hose each time, you could use a 2way valve, and just turn it the way you want. i saw a pretty smart one at bunnings in the garden section made by pope (plastic orange colour) it had.... on for left...right...or both..or all off, for only about 8.95 i think. pretty nifty and will save you pulling the hose off all the time.
cheers....jim