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What methods do you folks use for water changes? A friend told me he uses two rubbermaid trashcans, one to mix in new water, one to syphon out old. He uses a powerjet to handle the pumping in and out.

Anyone have any other, simple methods? My tank is a 75 gal. in a finished basement, and I do have a full bath about twenty feet away to access well water.

Thanks.

You'll need to pre-mix your water at least a day in advance of your water change, so a large plastic trashcan or bin of some sort is a must. How you get the water from this bin into the tank is up to you. I have a small tank so I just carry buckets(2) from my saltwater vat to the tank. I wouldn't want to carry all the water necessary for a 75 gallon water change though, so I'd figure out a way to pump it to the tank. Often a powerhead won't work in this application and a larger pump might be necessary.

As far as syphoning out, I just drain the old tank water to a sink/bathtub/drain that is below the tank level.

You should also consider using some sort of water purification on your well water, I'm sure there is some nasty stuff in there that algae would love to take advantage of.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

PYTHON SYSTEM

What is the Python system? Also, how often is everyone doing water changes, and how much? I'd like to change about 10 gallons every week or two.

Using a powerhead is a good way to do it. I use my old salt pails to remove water and mix my new water. They have a nice lid, and come free with a pile of salt.

Dan


Dan

What is the Python system?

It's a syphon system, but really not needed. They work better for freshwater because you can fill your tank with them as well. I use a 1gal tuppaware pitcher, scoop out 5 or so gals. and then put the new mix back in the same way. Takes about 5 mins to do a water change.

how often is everyone doing water changes

Once a month or so, I'm not big on water changes.

Dan


Dan

Okay.

Sorry, had no time to post yesterday but didn't want to forget.

Water changes. Okay. I do mine about once a week. I have a 100 gallon system, and I usually change about 20ish gallons of water weekly, or lets say every week and a half.

I'm a big believer in water changes. I feel that the creatures we keep in our aquariums benefit so much from a lot of the elements found in good synthetic salts. Water changes are a great way to get rid of the nasties and replenish calcium and whatnot.

I keep a bucket of top off (freshwater) and a bucket of make up (saltwater) water at all times. They both have heaters and power heads/airstones. The temperatures match up to that of my main system perfectly. This makes water changes really easy.

Saltwater should be prepared at least 24-48 hours in advance.

I "turn off" my tank and feed my main display, then I start my water change. I drain water from my sump using my python. Then I use a powerhead w/ a tube to pump water back into the tank. Of course, I check to make sure salinity/pH/temp match up first. Then I turn the tank back on, and mix water for next weeks water change.

Does that help?

-Ferret [img src='/images/forums/halo.gif' border=0]

-Formerly known as the Ferretfish

Thanks everyone, much appreciated. I will continue to daydream about creating a system that will syphon water out of my tank, through a filtering system, through a reverse osmosis system, then add salt, etc., then back into my tank, all automatically.