Large water changes....how do you do it?

[SouthBayPhoto]

Hey all,

I was wondering something today (uh-oh...scary! :eek3: ).

When I do my water changes for my 46g tank, I just use a rubbermaid tub that I bought and change out 10g at a time. I just drain my tank water into a bucket and then pour in the "new" water from the rubbermaid tub.

However, when I finally get the 90g going, I'll have a sump and I'll have to change out a lot more water (like 25g each time or so). I can't just "pour" that water into the tank on top. It would be too heavy to really control the tub/bucket/etc...

How do you all perform your water changes? I'd really like to know if anyone else has a 90g with a sump (mine is 30g, so a total volume of 120g) and how they do it.

I don't have too much room in the stand to just pour the water into the sump, so I'm wondering if there are other options that are good for performing this.

I figure I might as well find this out now instead of the day I have to do an actual WC for my 90g and not know what the heck to do.

TIA,
Mat

[rjs5134]

Mat,

I mix my salt in a 30 gallon barrell in the cellar. I have 2 - 5/8" hoses from the sump into the cellar, one to the pump, one to the slop sink. When a water change is necessary, I move the pump(which is operated by an ATO) from the 5 gallon bucket of RO/DI water to the 30 gallon barrell, unplug the ATO and main pump, start a siphon into the sink and when the sump is nearly empty the siphon breaks. Then I plug everything back in and it fills. The ATO stops it from overfilling. I just have to rememer to move the pump back to the 5 gallon bucket of RO/DI. The sump hold about 12 gallons of water so the change is about 1/6th of the tank volume.

Good luck, I've been enjoying the build thread.

[charlie]

I just use a powerhead to get the water in and out. Pretty simple really.

[Poseidon]

I use a MAG5, really easy to hook it up to a hose and pump the water back in. Oh, I do about 20 gallons a month.

[Samper]

Trashcan and a powerhead here

[zhenya]

I use a MAG5, really easy to hook it up to a hose and pump the water back in. Oh, I do about 20 gallons a month.

I do exactly the same thing as Mike does, except that I'm lucky enough to have a laudry sink in the next room so I hook up a Python to the faucet and turn the water on. I then drain some from the tank and some from the sump and then put that hose on the pump and pump into the 25g container that I have for this purpuse (I bought it at the hardware store and I think it's like 26g or so). I mix new water for at least 24 hours with a power head and some time even longer.
Oh, but I do have to drug that container next to the tank so I can operate it safely. You can of course automate everything with some equipment but I'm too old and too stubborn to change my ways..

[SouthBayPhoto]

I don't know why, but never thought of the powerhead....duhhh!

I have two Penguin 1150's that run the UGF in my current 46g. Once the 90 is up and running and cycled, I'll just use one of those (since they won't be in use) to pump the water into the sump from the mixing barrell. I'll just get some clear line from the local hardware store to put onto the end of the powerhead.

Thanks a bunch for everyone's insight! I appreciate it.

[charlie]

Trashcan and a powerhead here

I have a few powerheads that belong in a trash can!!!! Can anyone spell RIO?