Easy drain on undrilled tanks?

[Discusdude7]

Need a fast way to drain a 120. My tank is not drilled. I see that some use PVC to drain it? Can someone please tell me how to do this? Preferably without a water pump..
Thanks

[rickztahone]

If you wait till tomorrow morning I can show you some pics of a "drain system" I rigged up today no less. It basically involves PVC, a few elbows and a ball valve to keep the siphon. Depending on how large you buy the pvc, the slower or faster it will drain the tank. Where do you plan on draining it to? Mine is set up so that it drains to my front yard (plants).

[Discusdude7]

If you wait till tomorrow morning I can show you some pics of a "drain system" I rigged up today no less. It basically involves PVC, a few elbows and a ball valve to keep the siphon. Depending on how large you buy the pvc, the slower or faster it will drain the tank. Where do you plan on draining it to? Mine is set up so that it drains to my front yard (plants).

Thanks Ricardo, looking forward to seeing the pics, want to drain into side yard. Hopefully I will be able to set up something similar, was it hard to set up?

[rickztahone]

Thanks Ricardo, looking forward to seeing the pics, want to drain into side yard. Hopefully I will be able to set up something similar, was it hard to set up?

It is relatively close to the front yard from where I usually place my tanks. Bear in mind, I drilled through my drywall to get outside to get the water there. Before, I had a pump that I placed in the tank and emptied that way.

When I got out of the hobby I gave my mom the 55g tank and included the pump. Well it turns out she doesn't want to give it back, lol. I didn't want to pay for a new pump so I tried to do this gravity siphon rig. I will show you the pics, but please let me test it out before you go ahead and do it, hahaha.

It theoretically should work, but you never know.

If I forget to reply here tomorrow morning, just venture over to my 50g Bowfront Journal page and check it out.

[Discusdude7]

It is relatively close to the front yard from where I usually place my tanks. Bear in mind, I drilled through my drywall to get outside to get the water there. Before, I had a pump that I placed in the tank and emptied that way.

When I got out of the hobby I gave my mom the 55g tank and included the pump. Well it turns out she doesn't want to give it back, lol. I didn't want to pay for a new pump so I tried to do this gravity siphon rig. I will show you the pics, but please let me test it out before you go ahead and do it, hahaha.

It theoretically should work, but you never know.

If I forget to reply here tomorrow morning, just venture over to my 50g Bowfront Journal page and check it out.

Thanks Ricardo. Hoping it works for you. Do you need to prime it or something at start up to get it going?

[rickztahone]

Thanks Ricardo. Hoping it works for you. Do you need to prime it or something at start up to get it going?

Are you familiar with Rena filters? If so, I basically expanded on their priming method. If you aren't, it looks like this:

The one on the left.

So, basically, the inlet part (in the picture, the furthest to the left) sucks up water from your tank. The black cap part is where you pour water in to the system just in case you lose your siphon. So, I kind of recreated this in a larger scale with 1" PVC pipe. I made it look like the one pictured, yet instead of the filter, I used a ball valve to stop the flow of water. So, in case you lose your siphon, you can simply close the ball valve, take off the screw cap, pour some water in there, screw the cap back on, open the ball valve, and theoretically, gravity will do the rest. This system works great with the Rena filters and I didn't see why it wouldn't work with a DIY one. But again, don't use my design just in case it doesn't work, lol. All in all, I just spent $20 on all the fittings, so, if it doesn't work I didn't lose too much money. That does mean I WOULD have to buy a pump though which is going to suck. CL hunting I suppose if all fails.

[SMB2]

Something like this?
http://www.jehmco.com/html/safety_si...ium_drain.html

[rickztahone]

I got the pictures up on my thread if you want to take a look. I tested it today and it works perfectly!

[rickztahone]

Sry, forgot to add the link:
http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showth...=1#post1087621

[Discusdude7]

Sry, forgot to add the link:
http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showth...=1#post1087621

Thank you Ricardo

[rickztahone]

Thank you Ricardo

No problem. I was seeing the thread that Tim started for his fish room as well. Notice that his have a strainer at the end of his pvc. I wanted to keep mine moveable so I attach a hose at that point. Being that I only have one tank, I wasn't sure if I could maintain the siphon in the pvc line all the time which is why I employed the cap method at the top. This way, if I lose my siphon, I don't have to pump water "in to" the main drain which would be a pain without a pump, but I would simply pour water from a cup or something at the top with the cap off. I painted the pvc pipes today and I finished my water feed as well. So, if you need any more pointers, let me know. I could have done the whole drain system with $17, because I didn't need a few parts.

[Discusdude7]

No problem. I was seeing the thread that Tim started for his fish room as well. Notice that his have a strainer at the end of his pvc. I wanted to keep mine moveable so I attach a hose at that point. Being that I only have one tank, I wasn't sure if I could maintain the siphon in the pvc line all the time which is why I employed the cap method at the top. This way, if I lose my siphon, I don't have to pump water "in to" the main drain which would be a pain without a pump, but I would simply pour water from a cup or something at the top with the cap off. I painted the pvc pipes today and I finished my water feed as well. So, if you need any more pointers, let me know. I could have done the whole drain system with $17, because I didn't need a few parts.

Ricardo, with your design can you suck out the poop?

[rickztahone]

Ricardo, with your design can you suck out the poop?

Yes, if you see the last pic in my thread, the part that sucks up the water is a hose, and not a stationary pvc tube. So, I move the hose around wherever I want to siphon. Of course you must be careful with a setup like that because you can't just leave the hose unattended because it could accidentally attach to a discus.