Re: Automated Fill/Drain System
jonathan11 said:
Tom, Greg, both of you mentioned you have used an automated drain and refill for your tanks- could you give me some pointers on equipment and technique? This bucket brigade is really getting old!
Over time, I've used quite a few different methods ... you really have to find a solution that works in your location ... and what type of equipment you have (for example, a drilled tank) ...
Drilled Tanks:
For example, I will never again every buy a tank that is not drilled ... a drilled tank provides an automated drain function .... so no matter how much water you add to your aquarium ... that amount will automatically flow out of the tank ... its easy then to put a pump on a timer that will automatically run for 15-30 minutes a day if you want to add conditioned water to your aquarium from a sump or water barrel ...
I personally used an irrigation timmer hooked directly up to a cold water faucet ... these are getting pretty cheap at your local garden supply ... the water flow in this setup is slow enough that a 10-20% water change doesn't make a significant temperature difference, and I don't personally worry about water conditioners ...
Non-Drilled Tanks
My 180 gallon aquarium in my office is not drilled (I won't make that mistake again) ... when I was in my old office, I had a siphon tube that automatically siphoned water out of the tank on a continuous basis ... I also had a Jehmco float valve that was connected to a small rio pump in a 50 gallon plastic barrel that I used as a water source ... if the siphon got broken, the float valve would automatically shut off the rio pump so the aquarium wouldn't overflow ... the siphon tube had a small hole drilled in it a couple of inches below the water surface, so if I was out of town and my 50 gallon barrel ran out of water, the siphon would automatically be broken and it would not drain any more water ...
Right now .... I'm back to semi-manual water changes on my 180 gallon ... I have a 30 foot plastic hose (same kind I use on my Magnum Pro 350 filter) with a quick disconnect valve on one end, and a faucet adapter on the other end ... I'm only doing weekly water changes now on that tank ... so when I want to do a water change, I turn off my Magnum canister filter, disconnect the output quick disconnect valve on the filter ... connect my hose, put the other end of the hose in the drain, turn on the canister filter, and in about 15 -20 minutes (depending upon how dirty the filter is), the aquarium is about half empty ... I then turn off the canister filter ... connect the disconnect end of my hose to the filter hose into the aquarium ... connect the other end of the hose to my faucet ... turn on the faucet ... and in about 20 minutes, the aquarium is full again ... and I just changed 100 gallons in about 40 minutes while answering email ...
Greg