some advice for quicker weekly maintennce :P

[DJ-don]

i know i have been a very happy aquarist for 2 years. but 1 thing has startled me as soon as i got a 167 litre tank. it is how to do water changes in a very simple manner. by that i mean:
right now i change the 167litre tank water by removing water in 10l bucket and adding water back in a 10 litre container. and may i say only removing 10 litres from a fully filled 167 litre tank is very tedious because this is the only container and bucket i have and they are both only bought in korea! and getting them to australia is very hard :S
so what im trying to say is how do people do water changes in their own tanks-to me i feel like im asking a very stupid question but help is appreciated :D

[MatsP]

To drain the tank, get a hose that is long enough to go to a suitable drain-point - either a drain in the bathroom or such, or out onto a lawn/planted area of your garden. I used hose from the aquatics department, but particularly for emptying the tank, you can easily use a garden-hose, which is probably a lot less expensive per meter. Mine is attached to a gravel vacuum, but you CAN use just the hose itself.

For filling, I use a hose and a pump, but that's assuming you have somewhere you can store a large enough amount of water.
If you have an upstairs water-supply and the tank is downstairs, you can also use gravity to siphon water from a storage upstairs to the lower floor (again, you need a long enough hose).

For buckets, I use 15 liter builders buckets, which is easy to get in this country at least - they are about £1. (About AUS$ 1.80).

--
Mats

[DJ-don]

oh ok thanks mats
my house has 2 floors~so this would mean i could get a big bucket and hose it down to the tank~and what kind of gravel vacuum do you use??? i had to make my own vaccum but it sucks up the gravel too which annoys me

[MatsP]

I think mine is an Lee's one, like this one:
http://www.petco.com/product/13393/Lee- ... 0Vac-13393

There are other versions of the same concept from other manufacturers (e.g. Interpet here in the UK sell one that looks and behaves exactly the same, although when trying to fit the clear plastic from one on to the other it's not a perfect match!)

--
Mats

[Richard B]

Can you get python aquarium hose systems over there - perhaps look at how they work & make your own?

[Richard B]

http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/aquarium/DIYpython.php

[Shane]

so what im trying to say is how do people do water changes in their own tanks-to me i feel like im asking a very stupid question but help is appreciated

Not a dumb question at all. The first thing I learned as I started traveling around and visiting different aquarists was that each had their very own way of doing water changes. Silly me, I assumed that the way I did it was the only way.

Some general hints:

1) Have all electrical appliances associated with your tanks plugged in somewhere with easy access so they can be turned off during water changes. I use power strips with a single on/off switch for everything plugged in to them. I have blown up heaters I forgot to unplug, dropped lights in to aquariums I was working in, and basically done all manner of things to try to electrocute myself in the fishroom.

2) Python's are great for filling tanks. I do not like them so much for draining. I prefer to drain in to buckets so I can use the aquarium water to squeeze out sponges, clean filter parts, etc. A 10 liter bucket seems very small. I found some 7 gallon buckets (about 26 liters) that I really like. Of course water weighs about 8 pounds per gallon, so 56 pound buckets may not be for everyone. The standard used by most US aquarists is the 5 gallon, which is about 19 liters. For those that think in metrics, 2.2 liters of water weighs 1 kilo. Choose the largest size bucket you can comfortably carry without injuring yourself.

3) Find an easy place to dispose of the old water. Outside is best (why not recycle it) but sinks and toilets work great.

4) I tend to do 40-50 percent water changes weekly. If you do large water changes make sure you refill the tanks slowly. I start the python and move it between tanks every few minutes until all are full. This gives the fishes time to adapt a bit to the new water's temp/chemistry. If you have only one tank, try letting it refill at a slow trickle over 30 minutes or more.

-Shane

[Richard B]

Being essentially "brief" in my earlier posts - i drain into a rinsed bath with the plug in. Then clean filter media in the water, then bucket the water outside, to water the pot plants on the terrace (i have no garden in a flat) - Shane's advice is (as usual) spot-on

[MatsP]

I think Shane meant to say 2.2 pounds is 1kg. 1 liter of water is exactly 1kg [pedantic note: pure water is exactly 1.0000kg at 4'C - that is the definition of 1kg. For freshwater aquarium purposes, the temperature is close enough to 4'C to allow the weight to be 1.0kg - it is less than 0.8% lighter at 40'C. Even marine tanks are close enough to 1.0kg that it's not making much difference, about 2.5 kg per hundred liters of water.]

--
Mats

[DJ-don]

Can you get python aquarium hose systems over there - perhaps look at how they work & make your own? http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/aquarium/DIYpython.php

with the filling how would i be able to use the declhorinater????

[Shane]

with the filling how would i be able to use the declhorinater????

You just dump the recommended dose of dechlorinator in the tank and start filling. The new water will mix with it in the aquarium as it is added (another reason for not refilling too fast).
-Shane

[DJ-don]

oh ok thanks shane,
wow i think i would need a pretty long hose thought around15 meters-that is to the closest tap :S
but using this method to fill will be easier
thanks guys

[Richard B]

If you have several lengths of hose you can connect them all with straight connecting pieces to save buying a new single length of hose

[MatsP]

If you have several lengths of hose you can connect them all with straight connecting pieces to save buying a new single length of hose

But regular "garden" hose isn't very expensive. I think you get about 50 meter of the slightly better quality at Wickes for about £20. (19.99, no doubt). Shorter packs are usually available. Thats about AUS$35

You don't need anything fancy.

The hoses at fish-shop are usually about £1-2 per meter, AUS ~$2-4.

Straight connectors cost money too, and are likely to restrict flow (which can be a problem with draining).

--
Mats

[Richard B]

...Maybe it's the frugal yorkshire heritage in me.....

[Bas Pels]

actually, I use a quite sophisticated draining hose

It starts with a u turn (Eheim) and than a valve (Eheim) so I can drain 9 tanks without having to go to the bathroom again and again

The hose is 18 mm, resulting in a draining waterspeed quite equal to the speed the water (at the right temperature) enters the tank. Therefore, I can decide to drain and fill at the same time (large tanks) or have tank 2 draining while tank 1 fills.

This way I save almost half the time waterchanging compared to changing it with only 1 hose

Havig 30 tanks one has to take shortcuts in order to have enough hours in a week

[ayrtoninst]

When I upgraded to larger tanks, I decided to make life simple.

I bought Fluval tanks which happened to be bottom drilled.

I added a 'Tee' to the intake hose (inside the cabinet), with a changeover valve. To this I fitted a flexible hose which runs through the house wall to an adjacent external drain. That solved the emptying problem.

To re-fill the tank, I fitted a similar 'Tee' and valve to the return hose. On the end of this I fitted a home made declorinator vessel and then a universal hose connector (the spring loaded push on type). All I now need to do is connect a hose to my temperature controlled water supply. Problem solved.

Since I have now inter-connected all my hoses, I can now water change 12 tanks in less than 1 hour