Water change without a bucket

[AdamSabina]

http://youtu.be/IaeW4I4qi5Q

Just made this video for anyone tired of lugging buckets.

[Nina51]

hmm, interesting. i siphon through a hose that goes out my front door but i still carry buckets to fill my tank back up. my mixing container is 2 rooms away from where my tank is. wonder how big of a pump i'd need to run water from there back into my tank.

my back would very much appreciate the rest of me not having to haul water!!

[morleyz]

hmm, interesting. i siphon through a hose that goes out my front door but i still carry buckets to fill my tank back up. my mixing container is 2 rooms away from where my tank is. wonder how big of a pump i'd need to run water from there back into my tank.

my back would very much appreciate the rest of me not having to haul water!!

Your biggest problems will if you have to pump UP. I use a cheap pond pump to pump RO water about 25 feet to my mixing barrel and top off container. If your run is relatively flat, you won't need much of a pump to get the water going sideways.

[Nina51]

i'm gonna do some measuring this weekend and see what the possibilities are. thanks for the idea!

[Raul-7]

This method is still the best for large WCs; like 50% or more.

[m0nkie]

the new APEX DOS unit seems pretty cool. If you have APEX installed already, you can program it change out # of gallons of water a day. anytime you want. It will pump put and refill. Just run the lines to a nearby bathroom.
https://www.neptunesystems.com/wp-content/themes/striking/cache/images/5812_dos-frontal1-459x240.jpg
https://www.neptunesystems.com/dos/

[DivingTheWorld]

This is basically how I do it, super easy. The only difference is I siphon from the sump. I turn off the main pump which allows the sump to fill a little more than usual (about 20g total, 89g total system), then use a 1/2" pipe to siphon all the water out of my sump onto my back paver patio (weed prevention).

When the sump is drained, I hook the pipe up to my mixing powerhead in my Brute and pump the new water back into the sump.

The whole process takes about 15 minutes. I mix in the garage and my tank is at the back of the house, but my Brute has wheels on the bottom. So I mix and match temp/salinity in the garage, then when ready just wheel the Brute around the house to my backdoor to do the water change.

Two comments from the video (nice video by the way!).

1. That is one long hose! I only have a standard 4' from Home Depot.

2. What kind of salt mix are you using with all that extra stuff in it? My salt mixes to clean/clear with only a few grains of unmixed salt in the bottom.

[igot2gats]

Wow. Pretty awesome! Never thought about this way. My mixing barrel, and RODI barrel are in a room, right next to my tank. So, this would work perfectly.

What kind of pump is that in the sw barrel, that allows you to use 3/4" hose on?

Thanks for sharing.

[rfgonzo]

I would make sure to move the hose away from your lawn, it will end up killing your grass.

[billdogg]

I use a 55g barrel in the basement with a mag18. Because I got tired of getting a hose out, I hard plumbed a line up through the wall behind the tank. I have a $10 remote control power switch, so all I have to do it open a spigot behind the sump and turn on the pump.

FWIW - I haven't carried a bucket of water for years. Waaay too much like work!

[AdamSabina]

hmm, interesting. i siphon through a hose that goes out my front door but i still carry buckets to fill my tank back up. my mixing container is 2 rooms away from where my tank is. wonder how big of a pump i'd need to run water from there back into my tank. my back would very much appreciate the rest of me not having to haul water!!
I use a rio 1200 through 50ft of hose but only 4 feet of head pressure. Of corse it's slow with the small pump but work. It's about 40GPM (SLOW) but manageable. I'll soon be moving the RIO to the RODI and adding a sicce to the salt barrell

[Indymann99]

My system is not automated but makes WC a 7min task.

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn10/Indymann99/Indymann99BWCsystemjpg.jpg (http://s300.photobucket.com/user/Indymann99/media/Indymann99BWCsystemjpg.jpg.html)

[AdamSabina]

This is basically how I do it, super easy. The only difference is I siphon from the sump. I turn off the main pump which allows the sump to fill a little more than usual (about 20g total, 89g total system), then use a 1/2" pipe to siphon all the water out of my sump onto my back paver patio (weed prevention). When the sump is drained, I hook the pipe up to my mixing powerhead in my Brute and pump the new water back into the sump. The whole process takes about 15 minutes. I mix in the garage and my tank is at the back of the house, but my Brute has wheels on the bottom. So I mix and match temp/salinity in the garage, then when ready just wheel the Brute around the house to my backdoor to do the water change. Two comments from the video (nice video by the way!). 1. That is one long hose! I only have a standard 4' from Home Depot. 2. What kind of salt mix are you using with all that extra stuff in it? My salt mixes to clean/clear with only a few grains of unmixed salt in the bottom.

#1. The hose is 50'. LONG! It's nice to have extra HD should sell it by the foot.
#2. That is good old instant ocean I think I got a weird batch or two (3 boxes were bought at same time) the new box is fine.

And thank you about the video. I'm enjoying making videos. I'm going to do some on motor and pump repair videos for industry. I plan on putting one out every 1-2 weeks for reefing too. Please subscribe you'll be my SECOND subscriber! I'm very new to it.

[AdamSabina]

Wow. Pretty awesome! Never thought about this way. My mixing barrel, and RODI barrel are in a room, right next to my tank. So, this would work perfectly. What kind of pump is that in the sw barrel, that allows you to use 3/4" hose on? Thanks for sharing.

Tiny RIO 1200 and 50 feet of hose. Works well but a bigger pump would cut the time 2-4 minuets.

[AdamSabina]

I would make sure to move the hose away from your lawn, it will end up killing your grass.

Yep but it's great weed control on my side walk.

[AdamSabina]

My system is not automated but makes WC a 7min task.

I wanted to do this but couldn't due to the layout of the house and where the wife allowed my to place the tank.

[Sparky305]

Pretty cool!

[AdamSabina]

Pretty cool! Thanks you

[Teenreefer15]

Subbed

[Shaummy]

I use a 55g barrel in the basement with a mag18. Because I got tired of getting a hose out, I hard plumbed a line up through the wall behind the tank. I have a $10 remote control power switch, so all I have to do it open a spigot behind the sump and turn on the pump.

FWIW - I haven't carried a bucket of water for years. Waaay too much like work!

I do this also, but I connect up my Python tubing to the pump instead of hard plumbing it. Works like a champ.

[Mrramsey]

My system is not automated but makes WC a 7min task.

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn10/Indymann99/Indymann99BWCsystemjpg.jpg (http://s300.photobucket.com/user/Indymann99/media/Indymann99BWCsystemjpg.jpg.html)

I do a similar concept - pump 15g out and pump 15g back in. All from the sump. If I need to periodically do some vacuuming in the DT I just run the siphon line into a filter sock in the sump.

[billdogg]

I do this also, but I connect up my Python tubing to the pump instead of hard plumbing it. Works like a champ.

I did the same until the last upgrade - now the python tubing is waste water only.

[Teenreefer15]

I do a similar concept - pump 15g out and pump 15g back in. All from the sump. If I need to periodically do some vacuuming in the DT I just run the siphon line into a filter sock in the sump.

nice

[tc2007]

I want to do something like this but not sure what type of pump I need to push water up from basement to ground level. Also it will not be a straight push, I have to go through the stairs. About 50-70ft in all I think. What pump is good? I will be changing about 10-15Gallons every 2 weeks.

[reefer roman]

I just got my Neptune dos in the mail today can't wait to hook it up

[AdamSabina]

I want to do something like this but not sure what type of pump I need to push water up from basement to ground level. Also it will not be a straight push, I have to go through the stairs. About 50-70ft in all I think. What pump is good? I will be changing about 10-15Gallons every 2 weeks.

I've heard mag drives and sicce are good. I know a good iwaki will easily do it.

[lllesley]

I have a 20mm hose connector and ball valve on one of our return pipes.
We open ball valve, attach a hose and it siphons a pre-determined amount of water out (same amount each time). Hose runs to outside drain.
Then use pump with same tap connector and pump straight back into return line. Manage to do 250lt in about 10mins.

[Goldndoodle]

In the process of setting up a new 120 gallon tank. I'm thinking I might be investing in a bigger mix pump, so I can pump out of the basement.

Master bath shower is relatively close to where the new tank will be, so draining to there shouldn't be a problem. Basement stairs are right around the corner from where tank will be. So the tubing length will probably be pretty close to being the same for both draining & filling.

AdamSabina - how do you start syphon over long distance to drain?

[lllesley]

We have a one way valve on our return pump. So when it's turned off none of the water from the tank flows back down to the sump. Turn off return pump water siphons from DT through return pipes. It drains tank down and once water is past return pipes in DT it stops draining. We have to open ball valve to get it into hose & outside. If we fail to remember to open then tank siphons all that water into our sump. So make sure you have a large enough sump to hold water just incase ! Then click hose onto tap connection. & pump straight back into return pipes & into DT ! The minute you turn off return pump the tank will automatically start to syphon don't have to do anything if you have one way valve !

[AdamSabina]

I have a 20mm hose connector and ball valve on one of our return pipes. We open ball valve, attach a hose and it siphons a pre-determined amount of water out (same amount each time). Hose runs to outside drain. Then use pump with same tap connector and pump straight back into return line. Manage to do 250lt in about 10mins.

Love the idea for getting same amount of water changed each time. As you can tell I kinda wing the quantity. I know due to level change that it's about 20 gallons plus or minus 2 or three gallons.

10 minuets is about what it takes me. It's a reasonable amount. Not to much.

[AdamSabina]

In the process of setting up a new 120 gallon tank. I'm thinking I might be investing in a bigger mix pump, so I can pump out of the basement. Master bath shower is relatively close to where the new tank will be, so draining to there shouldn't be a problem. Basement stairs are right around the corner from where tank will be. So the tubing length will probably be pretty close to being the same for both draining & filling. AdamSabina - how do you start syphon over long distance to drain?

Short is I suck on the hose. Same as short distance siphon.

[lllesley]

Love the idea for getting same amount of water changed each time. As you can tell I kinda wing the quantity. I know due to level change that it's about 20 gallons plus or minus 2 or three gallons.

10 minuets is about what it takes me. It's a reasonable amount. Not to much.

Yeah it's quit quick really and very clean no water being lugged around ! I think in US gallons we change about. 70g each change, decent amount for the time.

[AdamSabina]

Yeah it's quit quick really and very clean no water being lugged around ! I think in US gallons we change about. 70g each change, decent amount for the time.

That's a lot of water 70 gallon (265 liters) in 10 minuets is great! What size system you have? Considering I just made the system I'm already planning upgrades. There is a valve I've put on my return that way when I do the water change I can use the return to pump it out which should be faster. Then there is a bigger pump and some unions I'll add to simplify the system more.

[lllesley]

That's a lot of water 70 gallon (265 liters) in 10 minuets is great! What size system you have? Considering I just made the system I'm already planning upgrades. There is a valve I've put on my return that way when I do the water change I can use the return to pump it out which should be faster. Then there is a bigger pump and some unions I'll add to simplify the system more.
DT is 1300lt. Sump 380 lt. ( not sure in gallons. ). Just built. & set up transferred from our. 6 x 2.5 x 2.5.

[AdamSabina]

DT is 1300lt. Sump 380 lt. ( not sure in gallons. ). Just built. & set up transferred from our. 6 x 2.5 x 2.5.

That's 280 gallons that's a nice size tank. I love the dimensions.

[lllesley]

That's 280 gallons that's a nice size tank. I love the dimensions.

Thank you for that @AdamSabina That 6x2.5x2.5 was our old one, new one is 7.2 x 2.5 x 2.5, Can you work out what that one is. lol
Always confused when it comes to gallons.

[AdamSabina]

Great looking tank and sump.

[lllesley]

Great looking tank and sump.

Thank you !