DIY water changing system -what's worked for you?

Hi all,

Not a member of the discus keeping community yet, but I am working towards it.

My current plan is to up my fishkeeping game and engineer systems and processes that will do it right, before buying any discus (seemed the most sensible approach). I have quite soft (low GH and KH) acidic water out the tap as I live in Yorkshire, and have already invested in an HMA filter for my existing boxes (it's already paid for itself in the amount of water conditioner I haven't had to buy...), so I don't feel I need to treat my water any further.

End game goal is a 6ft x 2ft box with (ideally) a mix of Green/brown discus (wild/F1/F2/etc.). I saw a pair of 8" wild brown discus in my local shop and they blew me away, absolutely stunning fish. If I'd had the money and space they'd have gone home with me there and then!

Anyway I am thinking that given juveniles should have 4-5 feeds a day and 50% water changes, this will be a challenge given my existing commitments. I am thinking that a grow-out bare bottom box with a continuous flow of fresh water from a HMA filter at 50% per day, with an overflow installed to dispose of the excess. The idea is to then pair this with a DIY autofeeder that will dump dry food in twice a day when I'm at work and I'd siphon out leftovers when I return home from work, and give them beefheart before and after I go to work to make up 4-5 feeds.

For the display tank I'd use a similar system, but using a sump and maybe try a way to drain 20% on demand and let it fill up. I also intend to install a vertical farm tower between the overflow and the sump, which I'm hoping will turn discus waste into lettuce and strawberries (my brother in law designs these for a living so I'm confident we can come up with a decent system)

I consider myself fairly mechanically minded, I am designing the stand for the 6ft box and intend to build this with traditional joinery (my other hobby is furniture making). Electronics maybe not so much, but with some effort and a lump hammer I'm sure I could make it work... :grin:

My question to you all is has anyone tried anything similar? What worked for you and what pitfalls did you find?

I really like the consideration you've put into planning the discus tank. Yes, with growing juvies, water changes will become a burden. I wish I would have slowed down and designed a system to streamline the w/c's before I bought my discus. Now I use a python, but the tubing still has to be dragged around and connectors have to be screwed on.
To answer your question, I've haven't done anything similar plumbing wise with the exception of the python. I can concur that the autofeeder does come in handy for feeding fish at regular intervals. At the bare minimum though, I think it would be wise to have plumbing lined up to the tank so you wouldn't have to drag around a hose.

Sounds like you are on the right track there. I agree with Johnny- I don't have an auto water change system so I can't help you there, but by certainly having fixed pipes and hoses in place where possible, water changes are a breeze. There are probably two reasons I don't have an auto water change system.
1- I don't have the time or patience to make one
2- they scare me a bit. Everything fails over time and I like the keep K.I.S.S principal.
3- water changes are a labour of love for me, admittedly I only have the one aquarium though ( many other critters though)

I do love the idea of the vertical farm tower, very cool. You must upload some pics when it's done. Aside from researching here, I would try YouTube and an aquaponics forums for the "how to".

Hope that was helpful.

Yeah, I really do agree with the KISS method- with so many pipes and connections, it feels like there is something bound to go wrong. Maybe a loose fitting here, a leak there, then the flooring is ruined. With only two-three tanks, a python can easily handle the job.

I have built a comprehensive set up with float switches and solenoid valve to create a closed loop system that will involve aging water in a rain barrel for 18 hours and transferring it to the tank after. I have designed it for a 50% water change as the rain barrel holds about 40 gallons of water and I use a 75g tank. I think it is really helpful and has made me enjoy the hobby greatly!

I have seen successful implementation of the simplest of WC mechanisms, at least for single tank setups.

The feed from RO filtration is set low in one rear corner of the aquarium, and set on constant, low feed on the order of 20% WC/day or less.

On the upper back wall of aquarium there is a bulkhead with prefilter that is not easily blocked up, the overflow from constant trickle mixed with the brine from RO filter fill is then gravity drained outside into garden through small access hole in wall.

Hello there! Do you foresee an issue with the water temp, since water coming from the RO isn't in the same temp as the water in the aquarium? A friend of mine told me that it shouldn't be a problem since the amount of the water would be very minimal, at the same time it seems like and as I can recall Discus are very sensitive and these constant different temp water entering in the aqua will cause problems overtime. Cheers

Jon.
Why don’t you do some research on what has already been reported here. You could do a search on ‘auto water changer’ and start reading. When you have a proposal come back and ask others to review your plan.

Just my idea.
Ron

JonB,

If you can wait about 2 more weeks. I will have my homemade automated water top-off and water changing system completed.

It uses the following hardware:

4 float switches in the Water Prep area (55gallon RO Water Storage), however you could get by with just 2 (1 for pump enable/disable, 1 for sufficient level to permit a water change)
4 float swithces in the Sump, again you culd get by with just 2 (1 for pump enable/disable, 1 for normal water level for topoff/water change)
1 pump from the RO Water Storage
1 pump for the Sump Recirc
1 Valve to drain display tank for the water change cycle
1 bulkhead fitting for draining display tank.
1 raspberry Pi 4B
1 3 channel Relay HAT (or a 2 channel Relay HAT if you don't care about controlling the Sump Pump during water changes).

You can use the GPIO of the Raspberry Pi to bring in the status from the various float switches (level).
You will need a 3 channel Relay HAT for the Raspberry Pi
I will develop the routine in Node-RED.
You will need a laptop, desktop, tablet or cell phone to view the status of the Node-RED flows / dashboards.

I'm doing this (with the exception that I use expansion I/O boards and wire nothing directly to the RaspberryPI... but that's okay.. I'll probably write a simple version that uses the GPIO of the RaspberryPi and a cheap 3channel Relay Hat).

I have a thread that shows some of the automation work I've done on my mini-rack. But I'm still doing water changes and dosing manually... as I'm in my break-in period.. However, I do have auto top-off enabled to account for evaporation... and that does take care of the 'Fill' portion of the water change cycle as well (prevents overfilling anything).

Again, I'll probably have this done in about 2 more weeks... and I will add it to my thread:
http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showth...mini-fishroom)