Water change plumbing
- Thread starter Travis Stewart
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themcnertney
Valuable Member
I make my water both fresh and salt in my basement. I have a pump that I switch back and forth from bin to bin for the return that feeds my sump. I have a drain that is then plumbed into my drain in my basement. I start a siphon from my display and know exactly how much water I need to remove by marking it on the display. Both bins are 50 gallon brute trashcans.
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Travis Stewart
Valuable Member
Well I don’t have the luxury of having a basement. Any suggestions on how to keep this clean in a home?
Mandelstam
Well-Known Member
I would try to hook it up somewhere on the return line from the sump. Above a ball valve so the water is directed to the tank.
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Travis Stewart
Valuable Member
I know I can run an additional horizontal pipe to my water change pump, but if it’s a smaller pump, how would you connect the pump to plumbing?
Mandelstam
Well-Known Member
Use reduction fittings and maybe a hose barb if you use soft tubing to the pump
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Travis Stewart
Valuable Member
Exactly what I was looking for! Tell me your thoughts on having one before a ball valve on the return line also so I can pump water out as well.
I use clear flex tubing that is a bit bigger that 1/2 " OD, 25 feet, a small hand-pump to start the siphon. Sucking works well too. One end in the sink, one in the aquarium. A small pump for putting new water into the sump from a large bin.
I use a sump, so I add the new water in the sump, and remove water from the main display.
Gravity does the work of removing, and a 30 gal Rubbermaid (biggest they sell) from Walmart contains the RODI water I prepared the day before. Warmed up & bubbled with airstone.
In the sump I have a small pump that recirculates water in the sump. I take it out of the sump, into the Rubbermaid, so adding new water as I am removing.
Then patience and timing. To turn over 25 gals takes me some 30 minutes.
I suggest using your bathtub to store your bin, create RODI water in it. Should the bin overflow, it does so in your bathtub. All you need then is a way to pump water from the bin into your tank after draining the tank.
Then a place to put either the Rubbermaid or Brute bin somewhere in storage for the next WC.
NOTE!! : The walk-in closet is NOT a good choice for storage, as your S.O. will remind you.
I use a sump, so I add the new water in the sump, and remove water from the main display.
Gravity does the work of removing, and a 30 gal Rubbermaid (biggest they sell) from Walmart contains the RODI water I prepared the day before. Warmed up & bubbled with airstone.
In the sump I have a small pump that recirculates water in the sump. I take it out of the sump, into the Rubbermaid, so adding new water as I am removing.
Then patience and timing. To turn over 25 gals takes me some 30 minutes.
I suggest using your bathtub to store your bin, create RODI water in it. Should the bin overflow, it does so in your bathtub. All you need then is a way to pump water from the bin into your tank after draining the tank.
Then a place to put either the Rubbermaid or Brute bin somewhere in storage for the next WC.
NOTE!! : The walk-in closet is NOT a good choice for storage, as your S.O. will remind you.
My solution isn't plumbed into the tank, but it works. I use a separate pump and three sections of 1'' flexible vinyl tubing and pump the water from the display into the commode. The sections of vinyl tubing are connected via unions. Then I drain the tubing and use the same pump to pump the new water from two brute cans into the display.
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Travis Stewart
Valuable Member
I am currently doing the same on a smaller 27 gallon tank. I use 5 gallon buckets with gallon markers on them to measure water taking out so I’m spot on.
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