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I'm going to be moving soon and I'm thinking about using a pump to take the water out of my tanks into rubbermaid containers. I would then use it once I get to the new place to pump the water from the container up into the tank. Does anyone have a suggestion for which pump/s would be good for this? or at least some things I should look for?

thats actually what I do when it comes to water changes. alot better than lugging buckets of water around.

I'd us a power head that is at least 150gph and something that you can attach hoses to on the outputs of the pump.

honestly, since its just for the move and not permenant in any tank. I'd think any one with a decent flow rate would work.



Fish tanks are an expensive addiction

I'm assuming that these containers and/or buckets would be sitting on the floor?

If so, you'll want a pump that has decent pressure, not just flow rate. Look up specs for various pumps... you're looking for a bar graph that shows flow rate at given heights. You'll probably be pumping 3-4', so take that into consideration.

Any of the Mag Drive series would work well, I think, but they can be pricey. Check www.bigalsonline.com for good deals on pumps.

And remember that you can use a piece of tubing or a siphon to drain water from the tank via gravity feed... just not the other way around.

Good luck

Depends how much water you want to move. A really strong powerhead might not be a good idea if your just emptying and filling small tanks since tons of water is going to move very quickly. I use a little 50-100gph $10 water pump most of the time. Also happens to have the same size round opening as my smaller gravel vac tube. I did hook up the largest powerhead for my 90g once or twice but like I said that's alot of water moving quickly. If you don't have everything setup right and ready you can end up with lots of water all over the place before you stop it.

I'm not so much worried about getting the water out as putting it back in since the container will be on the floor. I normally use a python for my water changes and I have a small gravel vac for my small tanks. I guess my question is will a small powerhead pump the water up from the floor?

If you are going to pump up would certainly not do the job. But what it might do is pump it into a bucket on the floor besides a normal syphon hose would do that as well. You might have to invest in a far more powerful pump

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Indeed. A small pump won't pump very high.

All of the pumps I own other than my Mag5 and my Magnum 350 cannister are completely incapable of pumping water up over 3'. They'll just push water so far up the tube and it'll stop there.

I couldnt find the name on the pump I use, but the rating on it is 100gph. And one of my tanks basicly sits on the floor and I use this pump to do water changes into my kitchen sink. And thats about 20ft away and of course up hill, and I've never had a problem with this pump pushing water up hill.

I'm going to upgrade soon, only because of how long it takes to do the changes in my big tank

Fish tanks are an expensive addiction

My 100gph pump still makes the top of my 55g which is about 4' off the ground. Not with a great amount of force but it does get there. The aquaclear 402 has worked for anything the smaller pump doesn't.