waterchanges- how long???

[ham helper]

i'm just curious b/c i just times myself at 2.5 hours w/out stalling at all. wow, seems like a heck of a lot of time to change water EVERY DAY.
kimberly :-*

[Carol_Roberts]

You need more siphon hoses, water barrels and pumps.

I usually have three siphon hoses going at one time. I have three water barrels with pumps and hoses for each one. The tanks are different sizes with different fish loads so time to empty and fill a specific tank varies. Generally by the time the last tank is emptied, the first few tanks are refilled and I'm refilling a barrel from the tap. Still it takes more than an hour start to finish.

[ham helper]

nope, i go the tap way. i have one pump hooked up to the bathroom sink. i would use more pumps...i guess i could if i could get one to reach to the other bathroom. my tap is great cept for the chlorine, but that gets treated in the tank. the pump i have right now is great...with it's little valve to change which direction the water is going. if i could find another one just 15 feet longer, it would be awesome and would cut the time in half!
kimberly :-*

[Carol_Roberts]

OK . . . Who spends 3 1/2+ hours per day changing water? Lol, Are you retired?

[mench]

Kim,go to the local fish store or places like Home Depot and you can get hose in any length ya want. I just buy a roll of green garden hose and cut what I want.

Mench

[edgeguy]

I'm like Kim I have one hose hooked to a small sink (using a pyhton) so I can't turn the flow up to fast to draw a siphon out of the tank. Though I found that I can take the python off to fill the tank and directly attach the hose to the sink faucet (I can't believe I did not think of this earlier :banghead:). This really saves on the water. I live in the Denver, Co metro area and our city is putting a price scale on our water bill for how many gallons you use, and I am already in trouble because I have three girls + wife ;D.

I guess I'm guilty of 3 1/2 plus :-[ I like to syphon the tanks and slowly add water back in with the younger guys tanks. I add a gallon or 2 and wait a while then again until the tanks are full :-\

On the older guys.... 2 1/2 inch plus I manage to do it much quicker ;)

It must be an anal thing with me :o

Beth

oh yeah! I do have a real job too ;D

[ronrca]

ROFLOL!
"I have a real job too"
WOW! 3.5hours!

Could you imagine my wife if I did 3.5hours of water change every night! Well..to make it short, it would probably be EX wife after a couple of days.

I siphon a little before starting anything, then start draining/filling at the same time. I found that I can do the wate changes half the time this way than drain then fill (for the obvious reason). Use more water this way but at least water changes dont take very long. Under 30mins now! That includes wiping the tanks down!

[Liz_Streithorst]

I use a 3/4" clear plastic hose to syphon the tanks. Really sucks that water out fast. Then I fill 'em back up with a 5/8' garden hose attached to a 1/6 hp. flotec pump from Home Depot.

Liz

[Tristanyyz]

It takes me about one hour to do one 20 gallon quarentine tank and a 150 gallon tank. I replace 10 gallons in the qt tank, and 50-75 gallons in my 150g per day. I have two reservoirs of 55 gallons each, that are linked together, so as the one overflows, it flows into the second tank. When they are empty, i fill both half full of tap water, and turn on a heater, and a powerhead each, then wait for the RO unit to fill about 50 gallons in 24 hours, in time for the next water change.

I syphon with a python, kind of slow, maybe i will buy a second pump one day, and fill with a 350gph submersible magpump that sits at the bottom of the reservoir, expensive, but very sturdy design, and fast.

Takes me about 45 mins to do two 50% wc's on two 75 gallon tanks. Got a little mag drive that takes about 6-8 minutes to drain 50% outta one, then move onto the other, then start filling outta two 55 gallon aging tanks.

I have another tank in the basement that holds 75imp gals, that gets pumped up to the two 55 gallon tanks on the second floor. I usually start that one soon as the first 55 gal is empty and the second is started, then as the first 55 gal is filling so is the 75g with the fish outta the second 55g. cuts down on a little time, just cant get distracted ;D

[Discusgeo]

I am a follower of Beth. I can spend 3 hours changing water and most of my tanks are plumbed to my water tanks. But like Beth said when it comes to the little ones I use a pump that takes about 30 minutes to fill a 29 gal tank when it's near empty, I also hand drain the tanks with my little Discus and Angels so I don't lose any down the drain.

[limige]

i think if i tried i could do them in under an hour. but right now i'm doing 50% every other day.

reason
one day i change 50% on my 190 gallon tank.
this is done by 1" pvc pipe with a ball valve. i have it come out of the tank, use 2 90degree bends and down below the tank level for the ball valve. this always holds a siphon. then i have another 90degree elbow on the floor with another peice of 1" pipe that i disconnect when i'm not draining the tank. this bottom peice goes directly over my floor drain in the basement. so it takes about 5-10 minutes to drain 100 gallons of water.
i have 4 30gal rubbermain cans i store water in. one or two with ro water and the others tap. i use a 1/2hp utility pump and a 25' hose to refill the tank.

beleive it or not 20 minute wc.

then on the other day my 55, 40, and 29 get siphoned the usual way and refilled via the pump. working on getting the whole basement plumbed up with a new 330gal water storage unit i'm making.

[McGilly]

8)

[BlueTurquoise]

Gee guys, we have to start a thread regarding partial automation to reduce those times alittle! ;D

[Hugh]

Takes me about 30-1hour depending on what I am doing inbetween tanks. If im wiping down it takes longer but if its just a WC then its pretty fast for all 3 tanks.

- Hugh -

P.S. Question about holding tanks. Those that use them do you have a problem with algea? if so do you wipe it down or just let it grow and not bother with it?

[nalah]

if we are talking about a quick syphon/wc - then 5 tanks in about 30 minutes.
I'm on manual syphon and semi-auto refill

if its the works (clean glass,filter,etc)- 2 hours at least.

[Shari]

OK I went with the 3+ hours but that's four tanks - a 120, two 55's and a 20 - complete and all have some 'stuff' in them that needs cleaning as well as vacuming gravel. Also hard water deposits off glass/lids and cleaning glass.

My main problem is I still need to find the faucet hook up that will actually work to fill the tanks back up. Upstairs it's a bath faucet,downstairs it's the kitchen faucet Tried three at Home Depot and they never quite fit. It's the bucketing that kills me anymore. Even taking the water out the 120 is several feet and around a corner from nearest drain and hose is partly uphill! It works, you make do...but I've got to work on more ease of this. ::)

[yippy]

i have a great hose set up - i syphon from one end of the hose out onto the patio (i live on ground floor) and the other end has an attachment to fit on the kitchen sink to fill it up - takes me 30 minutes to do a 50% water change in 55 gallon. I use a product called 'Geo-Liquid" especially for discus - its like a dechlorinator but is all natural - no chemicals - so i add this before i start filling the tank. the geo-liquid is great stuff, it comes in discus type, but also for tropicals, Goldfish, marine fish, Plants and i believe they are making one especially for bettas. i have the brochure scanned if anyones interested in looking at it. As it contains no chemicals you cant overdose with it, plus it adds nutrients fish have in the water in the wild.
Yippy 8)

[Bob Tiner]

HI ALL, Just like to add that I had a problem about a year ago with a new garden house I used to connect my ViaAqua water pump to my holding tank. The first time I used it I lost a couple of fish. Al Johnson, at Rocky Mt. Discus, told me new hoses often contain Plasticides and Mildew retardant, both fatal to fish. I discarded the hose and bought a 75 ft. length of clear 5/8" I.D. tubing. It solved the problem. I don't leave the pump submerged unless I'm using it...that prevents bacterial slime from growing on it. I just lift it out of the 50 gal. Rubbermaid and sit it in a pan to drain. ;D

[yippy]

yeah, my hose isnt garden hose - the same diameter as garden hose etc but clear plastic.
Yippy