Water Change Ideas

Joined
28 Dec 2007
Posts
12,781
Reaction score
31
Location
JHB
Please can you post your mention of doing water changes (100L +)

I am sure my method is not the most convenient
 
When i do big water changes eg 200l at a time,I drain out 200l and chuck 200l of new water in.
 
How do you do yours?

I mix 25L containers, then drain out the amount I am replacing. Now this is where things get tricky, I take an entire 25L and pour into the tank, topside. Now I am not sure this is best for the inhabitants but it seems to be the only way without leaving the tank off for more than 30 minutes.
 
How do you put in 200L at one time, do have some monster container on a crane ?
Nope.I have 3*100l drums.1 to drain out and the other 2 are ready filled just to pump in. This is done when i send my handyman across the road with the drums on trolley's. to make life easy.
 
Nope.I have 3*100l drums.1 to drain out and the other 2 are ready filled just to pump in. This is done when i send my handyman across the road with the drums on trolley's. to make life easy.

Lazy sod, do it yourself:whistling:
 
I do 75l on 1.2m tank. I put one drum on chair nexto tank i siphon from there into sump. And at the same time i siphon from display into an empty 25 l drum, i do 75l this way weekly
 
I use a 180 litre black dustbin type of thing :p I have salt mix running in there almost constantly, do occasional RO top ups when needed, then when I am ready to do a water change, I syphon out 150 litres using the 25l plastic drums, that way I know there will be about 30 litres left in the dustbin so there is no chance of me running out of water. Then use a pump with about 3 metres of silicone tubing on to pump water from the dustbin to the display tank.

There is an OR2500 pump in the bottom of the dustbin that circulates the water 24/7, there is also a heater in there. The dustbin lid is only placed partially back on top so that gaseous exchange can still take place.

Once my WC is done, the RO unit fills up the drum again, salt mix goes in and off we go again :)

p.s. all pumps, except for one pump to circulate my DSB and sump, are switched off for the duration of the water change.
 
Here is my idea that I plan on using for my next setup. Have a 100l drum (on wheels) plumbed into my system with valves. Close valves, disconect drum, wheel out drum and replace with another drum identical drum. Easy.:slayer:
 
Now thats a fantastic idea Moz. You could make it on a sort of swivel bracket and just wheel the replaced water into the bathroom up against the bath and tip it into the bath tub to get rid of the old water.Thats really clever.
 
The best idea for this Warr, if you had space, would be to do the following:
- have a seperate 100 (or bigger) tank plumbed in directly with your tank (or perhaps even 2 tanks, of equal size, would be even better).
Then, mix your fresh salt water in the one tank, have all taps/valves in the plumbing closed at this stage. Have 2 pipes going in and out of both the tanks.
Then, open the tap that leads into the empty tank (old tank water). Then once you have emptied enough into the "empty tank", you can close the tap/valve, and then open the valve/tap coming from the tank with the "clean water". This tank has to be high than your DT.... the fresh water will then run into your tank.
 
Has anyone ever kept there old water in a drum for a few weeks and tested it afterwards. Just wondering if its necessary to throw the salt mix away everytime.
 
Dohn - some fish farms in the east do exactly this. I think personally that if you would run a skimmer on the water for the 3 weeks, without any life in the water, it should be ok for re-use. But, the life-cycle of the water would be a HUGE spiral. Meaning that you should only be able to do this e.g. twice or a maximum of 3 times. Perhaps run a phosphate reactor on this water as well.....
 
We need someone to test the parameters on really bad water and then what its like after 3 weeks. I think i'll try it out, my tank is long overdue for a water change.
 
Back
Top Bottom