I finally got my auto water change system down. I still have to vaccum junk out of the bottom but overall it's fairly well automated. I have a siphon tube that stays in the tank, that goes to a magdrive pump set up to stay primed and not siphon when the pump turns off. There's an aging barrel with another pump going back to the tank and a couple solenoids to bring tap water into the barrel. Everythings hooked up to an aquacontroller to time the pumps on and off.
The nice thing is whether I'm home or not, the tanks gonna get a 50% w/c mid day, and about 90% at 9pm. I'm usually always home so when I hear water splashing around, I grab the siphon tube spend no more than a minute vaccuming, then walk away. There's a suction cup with a clip that the siphon tube attaches to when not in use.
I'm kinda bummed about the condition of the tank in general. It was a refugium for my display when it was a reef so it didn't get the best of care and looks like crap in photos. I look at some of the other contest tanks, (Chad, among others:D) Mine is probably the least asthetically pleasing but oh well, love the fish, dig this contest, all you people are great! Good Times!:D:D
Don't have any decent pics of the w/c system, it's mostly just a bunch of plumbing. Nothing exciting. Here's a couple pics anyway.:)
http://i499.photobucket.com/albums/r...e/DSC01189.jpg
http://i499.photobucket.com/albums/r...e/DSC01194.jpg
http://i499.photobucket.com/albums/r...e/DSC01186.jpg
Cheers!