I am now doing a planted tank w/ferts and according to everything I've read I'm supposed to do a 50% weekly water change. The problem with this is it's very time and labor intensive. My tank is 75g so it's about 30-35g I've got to replace which is about 6-7 buckets I have to lug. So I'm looking for ideas to improve this system. Before anyone suggests a Python, I have one. I use it to drain the water from the tank and it does make life easier in that regard. It's puttting the water back in that gets me. I'm not at all comfortable with putting chlorinated water back into the tank regardless of what anyone on here says.
My original idea was to use some sort of holding tank. Pump the water in there, dechlorinate it, then empty it into the tank. I had the idea of using a cooler with a spigot on it. Fill up the 30-35g cooler, dechlorinate the water, lift it up over the tank and pop the spigot. The problem is lifting a cooler that weighs 300lbs. I'd have to do some serious working out to make that at all practical. I thought of constructing a stand, or purchasing a stand of some kind, but I'm not sure of the practicality of that either. Anyone have any ideas?
My original idea was to use some sort of holding tank. Pump the water in there, dechlorinate it, then empty it into the tank. I had the idea of using a cooler with a spigot on it. Fill up the 30-35g cooler, dechlorinate the water, lift it up over the tank and pop the spigot. The problem is lifting a cooler that weighs 300lbs. I'd have to do some serious working out to make that at all practical. I thought of constructing a stand, or purchasing a stand of some kind, but I'm not sure of the practicality of that either. Anyone have any ideas?