How to drain 90% of tank water

[joshvito]

Can I use a bulkhead drilled for an overflow to gravity drain ~85% of the tank water.

You can see the tank, bulkheads and plumbing on this thread...
http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?97544-Journal-First-Pair-with-fry&p=917900&viewfull=1#post917900

I'll repost the photos here too. I want to use the 1" bulkhead on the left.
http://img.tapatalk.com/a68958aa-e709-ebca.jpg

http://img.tapatalk.com/482d924e-e761-519f.jpg

Currently, I have the tank plumbed into a 2.5"pvc pipe that drains to a floor drain.

[John_Nicholson]

A little hard to see but here is what I do...First I am showing a tank that is getting a decent WC. These are the ones thT i got from Chad at NADA. I think they were 2 to 2 1/2 inches at the show. When these pictures were taken they were roughly 3 1/2 inches. The last picture of the BD pair show a better picture of how I use PVC pipe to lower the water to where I want it. And for all of those people that are going to complain that draining that much water is cruel to the fish I have included a couple of pictures while the tank is filling back up...you will notice that the fish look fine...

-john

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y14/DiscusJohn/PBring9.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y14/DiscusJohn/PBring7.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y14/DiscusJohn/PBring8.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y14/DiscusJohn/PBring2.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y14/DiscusJohn/BDeggs2.jpg

[Skip]

A little hard to see but here is what I do...First I am showing a tank that is getting a decent WC. These are the ones thT i got from Chad at NADA. I think they were 2 to 2 1/2 inches at the show.

i should have got some of them :( :(

[John_Nicholson]

Give me 6 to 9 months and I will have some for you...they will just be smaller.....


-john

[Skip]

Give me 6 to 9 months and I will have some for you...they will just be smaller.....


-john

DEAL!

[joshvito]

A little hard to see but here is what I do...First I am showing a tank that is getting a decent WC. These are the ones thT i got from Chad at NADA. I think they were 2 to 2 1/2 inches at the show. When these pictures were taken they were roughly 3 1/2 inches. The last picture of the BD pair show a better picture of how I use PVC pipe to lower the water to where I want it. And for all of those people that are going to complain that draining that much water is cruel to the fish I have included a couple of pictures while the tank is filling back up...you will notice that the fish look fine...

-john

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y14/DiscusJohn/PBring9.jpg


You are just draining with gravity?
Is my ball valve on the outside too high? Should it be closer to the floor?

[John_Nicholson]

Yes just gravity and no the valve is not too high. Top valve is to fill the tank. The bottom to drain it. As long as it is below the water level in the tank it will work fine.

-john

[dpete9]

John can you help me understand.. so you have the the tank drilled at about 12" from the bottom.. then a elbow and a pipe bring it down to about an inch from the bottom via a siphon effect?
One Day, I hope, I want to re-build a more "user friendly" fish room, so trying to gather info from the pros myself
What is the purpose of drilling the tank at 12" and then putting a pipe on the inside to drop it down further? Why wouldn't you just drill the tank at 1" above the bottom?
Only trying to understand so I can get it right myself one day.

[ExReefer]

John can you help me understand.. so you have the the tank drilled at about 12" from the bottom.. then a elbow and a pipe bring it down to about an inch from the bottom via a siphon effect?
One Day, I hope, I want to re-build a more "user friendly" fish room, so trying to gather info from the pros myself
What is the purpose of drilling the tank at 12" and then putting a pipe on the inside to drop it down further? Why wouldn't you just drill the tank at 1" above the bottom?
Only trying to understand so I can get it right myself one day.

I would like to understand this better too. One reason you may not be able to drill close to the bottom is it's too easy to crack the glass near the edge.

[John_Nicholson]

I will take some better pictures at some point, but mainly I started drilling them at the 50% mark because 1. that is my "normal" water change level and 2. if I mess it up and the seal leaks while I am at work I will come home to a tank 1/2 full of water and live fish. I see lots of people that drill though the bottom. If the thing leaks their fish are dead.

-john

[fdlacy]

John, love the optimism with the 11' hashmark on that one tank pic. That's jumbo.

Sent from my LS670 using Tapatalk 2

[John_Nicholson]

LOL....well I have never been able to teach them to line up at the "0" mark so I never know where I will start measuring from...

-john

[dpete9]

I will take some better pictures at some point, but mainly I started drilling them at the 50% mark because 1. that is my "normal" water change level and 2. if I mess it up and the seal leaks while I am at work I will come home to a tank 1/2 full of water and live fish. I see lots of people that drill though the bottom. If the thing leaks their fish are dead.

-john

ok a safety measure.
Also makes sense from a standpoint that you can adjust it beyond 50% to whatever you want.

[nwehrman]

Thanks or posting your pics John


Nicole

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[BobDaniel]

I will take some better pictures at some point, but mainly I started drilling them at the 50% mark because 1. that is my "normal" water change level and 2. if I mess it up and the seal leaks while I am at work I will come home to a tank 1/2 full of water and live fish. I see lots of people that drill though the bottom. If the thing leaks their fish are dead.

-john Now that's a great failure mode analysis with preventative action! This system looks to be a good model to follow.

[DiscusDrew]

People really think its cruel to do a 100% water change?? Obviously they haven't done it then I presume... Because my fish seem to love me more for it.

[John_Nicholson]

I have seen people come on here and complain about perfectly normal thing so you just never know....LOL.

-john

[dpete9]

People really think its cruel to do a 100% water change?? Obviously they haven't done it then I presume... Because my fish seem to love me more for it.
The nerd in me says no-one really does a 100% water change.. the fish would be dried up and dead if you removed 100% maybe 90 something.. :-)

[DiscusDrew]

No they wouldn't, most of us have the fill ready to start immediately once the tank is drained. Technically its probably right around 98-99% honestly, since that's the amount you can actually get through a siphon before the siphon breaks. You get the idea though, when I do those water changes the water level does drop low enough that they aren't breathing water for about 2 minutes.... We do the same to measure, force feed, treat with iodine, you name it, really its no big deal.

[dpete9]

ha ha.. I know I do it myself.. the point was to remove 100% you would need to remove all the water from any sump you might have, squeeze out any sponges and dry them and dry the fish themselves. So yeah 98-99% i was just trying to be technical

[joshvito]

I can confirm that my system, that is very similar to John_Nicholson 's works very well. I can drain most of the water in the tank in minutes. It takes considerably longer to fill at the moment due to my pump size. Thank you all for the help!

[aalbina]

People really think its cruel to do a 100% water change?? Obviously they haven't done it then I presume... Because my fish seem to love me more for it.

Come on John - you're going to let Drew slide with a "my fish love me" comment? I think it's time for the fish brains are way smaller than a pea and they really don't "love" you speech - they just come to the hand that feeds.... Just ribbing Drew - I'm sure they "love" you!

Adam

[John_Nicholson]

Joshvito glad that it is working for you..

aalbina I have had my vacation on my mind so excuse the slip...LOL.

-john

[Eddie]

A little hard to see but here is what I do...First I am showing a tank that is getting a decent WC. These are the ones thT i got from Chad at NADA. I think they were 2 to 2 1/2 inches at the show. When these pictures were taken they were roughly 3 1/2 inches. The last picture of the BD pair show a better picture of how I use PVC pipe to lower the water to where I want it. And for all of those people that are going to complain that draining that much water is cruel to the fish I have included a couple of pictures while the tank is filling back up...you will notice that the fish look fine...

-john

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y14/DiscusJohn/PBring9.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y14/DiscusJohn/PBring7.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y14/DiscusJohn/PBring8.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y14/DiscusJohn/PBring2.jpg


Update on these please! They look amazing here!