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View Full Version : Automatic water changes- what are the ways?



Ken Jones
08-05-2011, 08:22 PM
I may have missed it, but has there been discussion of systems for providing a continuous automatic change of water in Discus tanks? With their demands for water quality requiring such frequent water changes, I would think there would be a great interest in creating systems for automatic systems that would eliminate hauling buckets or hoses, and maybe even holding barrels. And the fish would certainly benefit from the stability of water quality such a system can provide. I seek relief for myself and all those diligent Discuss enthusiasts who are spending time, often after a hard day's work, hauling hoses and pumps, or buckets of water, back and forth on a daily basis for their fish. There must be a better way. I am designing one, but I want to learn from others.

Who has such systems? How have you done it?

ericatdallas
08-06-2011, 01:19 PM
I think there are plenty of drip system designs and automatic water chaning systems out there... not exclusive for discus use. I've seen many members mention they have semi-autonomous system here.

I myself have a rough semi-auto one. Flip a switch to turn-on pump to drain, but I still have to turn water on and turn it off. I'm working on a system to turn a solenoid valve on/off but I'm too busy to work out the details right now. There are plenty of people who do it though and if you can't find it here, you can google it.

Changing water is only one part of it though. You also want to siphon debris out... don't think there is a system for that, but you could always keep pretty good water flow directed at the tank bottom to lift junk up for the filters and pump to pick it up.

I have a siphon tube-to-drain.

Ken Jones
08-06-2011, 04:19 PM
You make a good point, Eric, about wanting to siphon out detritus. I would rather be doing that occasionally to supplement automatic water changes, than getting to do it all the time with daily manual changes. I plan to run small tubing to continuously drip RO water into the tank, and run slightly larger tubing to carry overflow water to a drain - at a rate to provide a 30% to 50% water change per day. The flow has to be slow enough to allow the aquarium heaters to keep the water temperature stable, and to allow the mineral blocks to add the trace minerals needed. My Discus tank is in my living room, but I believe the tubing required will be small and discreet enough, run along the baseboard, to provide an out-of-sight plumbing system to and from my tank. I don't know about googling this, though. I see only 20,000+ responses!