Automated water changing system

[Discusgeo2]

If anyone is thinking about an automated water changing system, Patrick Ang over at the Guppy Club (Singapore) shows his automated Water system. It is very a nice setup and the details are shown very clearly. Even though it's on his Guppy tanks you may find some helpful ideas to do your Discus tanks. I also posted this in the DIY section under Automating water changes?? started by QiKsilver for reference later on.
George
http://gcs.sgguppy.com/index.php?page=2

[GulfCoastDiscus]

Hi George,
My set up is automated. I can do 50% water change is 40 tanks in 1.5 hours. I siphon the waste and scrub the tanks manually.
The breeding tanks has the option to fill it with RO or Tap. I can slowly add tap to the breeding pairs with frys.
When I go on vacation everything is on a timer and all the tanks gets a flush daily.

Dan

[Discusgeo2]

Nice Dan! can you show us some pictures of your setup.

[GulfCoastDiscus]

Hi George,
Here's a few pics. Because I over crowd my tanks, I have most tanks in a centralized filter. Although I have the option to remove any tanks from the system by shutting off the return and overflowing the tank to the sewer drain. I can then isolate any tanks for cleaning and medicating without affecting the others in the system.

The breeder tanks are not centralized because some tanks with frys are converted into tap not RO.

Here's a few pics. Questions and comments are welcome.

Dan

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v721/GulfCoastDiscus/IMG_0657.jpg
Below the tank is the DIY filter. Each tank still has the sponge filters.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v721/GulfCoastDiscus/IMG_0665.jpg
Notice the 2 sets of valves above the breeders. This allows me to change over to tap once the frys are old enough.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v721/GulfCoastDiscus/IMG_0654.jpg
There's also 2 sets of drain. One is for the centalized wet/dry filter and the other is for the sewer line. The large sewer line allows me to drain all the tank to 50% without backing up.

[Lance_Krueger]

George,
Good info on that guppy site. I've been in the planning stage of how to put together an automatic water changing system myself for a couple years now, and am pretty close to start making it happen. In the process of drilling all my tanks right now. That ditrus siphon thingy is interesting. Saw a similar thing by Ron some time back.

Dan,
In the last photo you posted, there are a couple of tanks (look like 29's?) in the top left corner of the picture. Looks like you have a couple of HydroSponges sitting on top of some PVC fittings (looks like a 2" to 3" reducer sleeve, maybe?). Could you tell me what those are, and what they're for? Are they to keep the sponges from floating, or to keep the sponges further away from the bottom of the tank so they don't collect ditrus? I've been looking for ways to put more weight on the bottom of my Hydrosponges, and wondered if this might be a possibility.
Thanks,
Lance Krueger

[GulfCoastDiscus]

Hi Lance,
I siliconed the reducer to the base of the hydro sponge filter to keep if off the bottom. I noticed the food that got under wasn't being eaten.

dan

[Lance_Krueger]

Dan,
I've noticed the same thing. I've actually got several of the Asian versions of sponges, and they're even worse since they sit closer to the bottom of the tank than the Hydros. Do you feel like the reducers weight the sponges down even more? When I do 75% water changes, the water leaks out of the sponges, and tend to trap some air, and tend to float. I was just thinking about how to weight them some more so this doesn't happen. I was thinking about siliconing hockey pucks to the bottom of the Hydro's weight, but here at the extreme southern tip of Texas, there isn't much ice around for hockey to find hockey pucks. But the reducers will be available at Home Depot or Lowes. What size reducers is it, if you remember?
Lance Krueger

[GulfCoastDiscus]

Lance,
The reducer does weight it down but I don't seem to have that problem once the sponge is water log.
I believe it the from 2" to 3" reducer.

[Lance_Krueger]

Thanks, Dan, for the info. Very helpful. I have as many as three Hydro V sponges stacked on top of each other, and when you drain the water down most of the way, they fill up with air. Plus, new sponges seem to take a long time to get rid of the air, even after squeezing the air out under water. I may start a thread asking for other ideas of how to weight down Hydros. I like your idea.
Thanks,
Lance Krueger