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Water Changes/gravel Vacuum Show Me Your Setups

water changes gravel vacuum

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23 replies to this topic

#1 Pattison

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Posted 26 March 2017 - 08:20 PM

Wanting to see what setups and ideas other people have for doing water changes and gravel vacuums , my tanks are taking too much time for water changes and sick of having to mop up afterwards aha wanting to make a setup worry free  



#2 Delapool

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Posted 26 March 2017 - 10:34 PM

Planted tank (or it was). Gravel vacs are a thing of the past lol.


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#3 Westie

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Posted 27 March 2017 - 10:33 AM

^ danger will robinson

be VERY careful with the buildup of detritus in planted tanks

don't be surprised if your tank has a crash and kills some fish

 

I'd share a photo, but its just a couple of garden hoses........ Sometimes I use a small pump connected to a garden hose too



#4 malawiman85

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Posted 27 March 2017 - 12:12 PM

My situation is probably not the most common...
I live in an apartment. No external taps, garden beds or lawns.

I was using buckets (I hate buckets)! Heavy and messy!
So the first issue was draining tanks. For that I bought the usual 12mm garden hose.
To get the hose to stay in the tank I used a "laundry thing".
"Laundry thing"
Attached File  image.jpeg   114.59KB   13 downloads
Hose runs to balcony floor waste when draining.

The laundry thing is used for filling and draining.

The next problem was filling tanks without a tap.
To get around this I went to Bunnings and bought a "kitchen thing"
Part A of kitchen thing screws into kitchen tap.
Attached File  image.jpeg   92.05KB   13 downloads

Part B of kitchen thing clips securely onto Part A.
Attached File  image.jpeg   69.46KB   13 downloads

#5 chocky

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Posted 27 March 2017 - 04:39 PM

I'm pretty much the same as these guys. Use a pump attached to garden hose and to a sprinkler head to water the grass. Refill by attaching hose to kitchen sink.

I'm gonna get one of these though instead. Hate lugging the normal garden hose in and out of the house. 14ce112de9d94a12abc700f12b4a2a8c.jpg


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Edited by chocky, 27 March 2017 - 04:40 PM.


#6 Delapool

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Posted 27 March 2017 - 10:25 PM

^ danger will robinson
be VERY careful with the buildup of detritus in planted tanks
don't be surprised if your tank has a crash and kills some fish
 
I'd share a photo, but its just a couple of garden hoses........ Sometimes I use a small pump connected to a garden hose too


Low kh water your way as well?



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#7 Pattison

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Posted 28 March 2017 - 02:44 PM

whats peoples thoughts on letting the water sit with conditioner in it ? or do people fill tank then add conditioner or vise versa  



#8 Delapool

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Posted 28 March 2017 - 03:14 PM

I use seachem safe with fairly common fish. Add it to tank and fill back up. Over winter I try not to let tank temp drop too much on refilling (and have found getting two heaters going straight after makes a difference).


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#9 malawiman85

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Posted 28 March 2017 - 04:07 PM

I just dose Prime before refilling the tank.

The chemical reaction prime/chlorine is immediate so I don't see the point in letting the water sit. If my water contained chloramine I'd probably leave it to sit for a few days with some prime and a sponge filter.
If temp fluctuations are an issue then storing water and bringing it up to temp is not the worst idea in the world.

#10 Westie

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Posted 31 March 2017 - 12:57 PM

Low kh water your way as well?

 

Yep.

 

 

whats peoples thoughts on letting the water sit with conditioner in it ? or do people fill tank then add conditioner or vise versa  

 

if you're letting the water sit, just have an air stone running in it and you'll gas off the chlorine. No need for conditioner



#11 Delapool

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Posted 31 March 2017 - 01:21 PM

I find our tap kh decreases a few points as summer comes in and weather warms as well. That caught me the first year of tank setup over here. From memory was getting ph of 6.8 but kh was 1.


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#12 ice

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Posted 31 March 2017 - 02:55 PM

I built myself a U shaped contraption out of black pvc irrigation tubing, a few elbows and adapters to a hose barb (all available from bunnings), if you wanted to get really fancy you could also attach a ball valve. One side of the unit goes in the tank and the other hangs on the outside of the tank with the hose attached to it. The threads have a bunch of thread tape on them and are not over tightened and don't leak, this makes the end in the tank adjustable so you can move the tube to suit the depth of water you want to change and bugger off and do other stuff until its empty.

 

I attach my hose to it, put it in the tank, turn the hose on until flow is going to the tank and then turn the hose off and de-attach the hose from the tap, the water will reverse flow due to gravity and siphon back through the garden hose to be left on your lawn/pot plants etc. Filling is the reverse of this (I usually angle the tube to shoot water across the surface as this helps to not stir up the tank or move any gravel around. Conditioner is added at this point and the tank is filled to the correct level at which time the tap is turned off and the hose deattached again to back flow so when you remove the unit from the tank it self drains and doesn't drip all over your floors.

 

Job done!

 

I see youre in Cannington, I'm just around the corner in Huntingdale so if you want to come and have a look i'd be happy to show you.



#13 Jules

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Posted 31 March 2017 - 03:34 PM

Ive been using a 50-60mm dia pool creepy crawly hose (10m), siphon it straight onto my lawn or several buckets (to use in my garden), then plug the garden hose to the mains outside and filler up!

Takes 20-25 mins total to dump 500lts and fill B)

Just set the height that I want to dump the water too (about half way) and give the old school siphon suck method :Rofl_3f:



#14 chrishaigh82

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Posted 01 April 2017 - 09:27 PM

My situation is probably not the most common...
I live in an apartment. No external taps, garden beds or lawns.

I was using buckets (I hate buckets)! Heavy and messy!
So the first issue was draining tanks. For that I bought the usual 12mm garden hose.
To get the hose to stay in the tank I used a "laundry thing".
"Laundry thing"
attachicon.gifimage.jpeg
Hose runs to balcony floor waste when draining.

The laundry thing is used for filling and draining.

The next problem was filling tanks without a tap.
To get around this I went to Bunnings and bought a "kitchen thing"
Part A of kitchen thing screws into kitchen tap.
attachicon.gifimage.jpeg

Part B of kitchen thing clips securely onto Part A.
attachicon.gifimage.jpeg

Hey, where in bunnings is the kitchen thing?



#15 malawiman85

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Posted 01 April 2017 - 09:32 PM

Right with all the garden hose fittings.

https://www.bunnings...-g8187_p3110866

#16 Fox

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Posted 02 April 2017 - 03:20 PM

Easy as 1,2, 3

 

15mtrs AquaOne Hose

Tap from Bunnings

Coke Bottle

17626665_10154613616788565_8955840797165

 

Everything from Bunnings

17757532_10154613616803565_1148529213388

 

 

29 tanks water changed and refilled in 1hr.



#17 chrishaigh82

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Posted 02 April 2017 - 03:37 PM

Right with all the garden hose fittings.

https://www.bunnings...-g8187_p3110866

 

You sir are a genius :) 

 

My mother is in a unit and is doing the bucket thing so I'll try and set up a better option before she is back from holidays.

 

I'll post some pics this week of our set ups.  Aquotix interpreted our requests for our tanks to be as easy as flushing a toilet and delivered, half flush and floats.



#18 malawiman85

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Posted 02 April 2017 - 04:33 PM

You sir are a genius :) 
 


FACT!

#19 Westie

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Posted 05 April 2017 - 09:05 AM

FACT!

Lies!

 

Doing the bucket thing in units, one would think it's good for business hey Chris? "Ow my back!"



#20 chrishaigh82

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Posted 05 April 2017 - 10:53 AM

Lies!

 

Doing the bucket thing in units, one would think it's good for business hey Chris? "Ow my back!"

 

Quoting your message so I can like it a second time.






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