How are you doing water changes?

I was wondering what techniques or equipment the challengers were using for tank clean-up and water changes. Do you siphon, use a Python, is your tank plumbed, do you scrub the tank walls, rinse your sponges?

I have a handheld Python siphon w the bulb starter. I usually vacuum up all the waste, then wipe the sides of the tank down w a paper down while it’s still draining. I wipe the tank down every night given I feed BH multiple times a day (always surprised at how much more waste wiping will find).

I start the pump to fill the tank from my aging barrel when the heater is just about to be uncovered. I continue to run the siphon in the opposite corner so I’m getting near that 100% change. I add safe to my barrel as I’m doing the siphoning. (With adult fish I add it just to the tank to keep the aging barrel cleaner, but I haven’t wanted to do that w such young fish. This means I clean the barrel once a week.)

I squeeze the filter out once a week. Quite a bit of waste gets trapped under the filter as it sits on the bottom. The better option is probably the sponge w the higher base that I believe Pat has in her pics. I also have a few of the sponges that auctions to the sides (In Sanjays tanks I think) but I just didn’t have a cycled one when they first arrived.

I have a dedicated 44 gallon brute container for doing water changes on the fry tank. It holds enough water to allow me to do two ~20 gallon 100% on the 40 breeder the fry are currently housed in. I fill the brute container every 24 hours after the 10am water change. Since I am on well water the water is filtered thru this Summer-of-Unhappy-Fishes.

The water in the brute container is aged at least 12 hours prior to use and the water is aerated and heated to 85 F. Before I start the siphon the AC Clear 70 HOB filter and heater in the fry tank is turned off. I use a 1/2 inch interior diameter vinyl hose to drain the tank. The hose is run out the back door into the yard. I vacuum all the junk off the bottom of the tank and wipe down the bottom of the tank with a paper towel. I wipe down the tank every other water change. As the tank drains I suck out everything I can see. I move the two sponges about to vacuum and wipe under them (pretty anal about this). I stop with siphon when there is about an inch or so of water in the tank.

I have a mag drive pump in the bottom of the 44 brute container and it is plugged into a outlet which can be turned on remotely. A section of 1/2 inch vinyl hose is attached to the pump. To fill the tank I unroll the hose attached to the pump and put the end under the glass lid. The glass lid is heavy enough to hold the hose in place while filling. I turn on the pump and fill the tank about 1/2 halfway and also prime the AC Clear 70 HOB filter. I then plug the heater and AC Clear 70 HOB filter and hang around to ensure the AC Clear 70 HOB filter starts correctly. I repeat the process about 8pm in the evening.
Pat

I fill a 75 gal barrel with tap water,which is located in my storage room.I use an air stone to air off the chlorine,to bring up oxygen levels and get rid of the micro bubbles.I don't use a heater;instead I add two buckets of hot water to the barrel to bring temps up the the tank.I use no dechlor cause my city only uses chlorine which get gassed off during aging.I empty the tanks using a garden hose to the bath tub.From the barrel I pump it to my tanks.Usually I try to change out most of the water in the tanks (80-95% approx.).Then use a Python to fill the barrel back up,along with a timer so I don' flood the place.In my 110 gal tank I do add about 30 gal. of tap water using sodium thiosulfate,which is dirt cheap.I clean the filters about every 4-6 weeks,sometimes even 8 weeks depending on the tank.I wipe the glass every week.

For draining I use a 1" ID hose connected to a strong in line pump. The pump is so strong that I had to reduce the discharge from 1 1/2" to 1" PVC. With the larger diameter discharge it was hard to get the poop vacuumed up before the tank was drained very low. With the 1" discharge I vacuum all the poop from the bottom and have a chance to give the fish a look.

For filling I have 2 250 gallon containers that are hard plumbed to valves to each tank. I use a strong inline pump to do the pumping. I have heaters and air stones in the WC containers that should gas off all the chlorine, but just in case I add Sodium Thiosulfate to each container before I fill the tanks. I open every valve in the fish room the pump doesn't have the strength to fill all tanks at the same time, thank goodness. It is fast enough that I have to watch filling carefully. Otherwise I'll have a flood.

Good thread. Just curious if you all can include roughly how long the process takes, from tank drain to tank fill to aging barrel fill.

Unless I do extra things like change Magum 250 filters or do wipe downs WC on 22 tanks takes me 1 hr. I don't know how long it takes for the 250 gallon water storage containers because they are hard plumbed and have shut of valves that shut when the containers are full.

I live in a 3br ranch with no basement, so I perform maintenance on one tank at a time. I've overflowed onto my hardwood floors too many times to trust myself. I have a 50' siphon hose that drains into the bath tub and a 50' pump hose that fills the tanks. It takes me about 1hr to clean all tanks and refill the storage barrels...

I use the drain device that's built into the FX6 canister filters I have; power off filters, close "Out" valve, leave "In" valve open, then open spigot on lower drain valve; that drains water very fast out via a 50ft hoses into my garden.

I have a 75 gallon tank on my deck that stores the incoming double filtered water; it has a 300w heater and a 750 gpm circulation pump in the tank. The water is heated to 84 degrees. I open the "Out" valve and close the "In" valve on the FX6 filters and attach the drain hose to the tank on the deck, then power on the FX6 filters. The filters pump the water from the deck tank into the fishtank.

Job done. Takes 10 minutes.