DIY semi-automatic water change system

[Flavius]

I knew I wasn't giving my fish enough water changes, so I've been longing for this for a long time. But somehow never got the time to put it together, mainly due to laziness, until it became a necessity. When my daughter started walking and crawling, water changes started resembling more and more to baby baths in the middle of my living room.

- I used the dishwasher tap to get water. I removed the dishwasher hose and installed a T shape splitter. Right side hose furnishes the dishwasher, while left side (yellow) hose furnishes the aquarium. I decided to put a safety faucet (red) in order not to keep the hose under constant pressure, since I had a hard time preventing it to leak around the nozzle. I had to use two rings, but I was afraid it might start to leak again as hose ages:



- I ran the yellow hose under the kitchen counter till the back of the aquarium, then into the compartment underneath by drilling holes in it, then installed another faucet that flushes over a vase were water is laid to rest and warmed up. The vase also contains a heater and a small pump:









- after it has warmed up, water is lifted from the vase up into the aquarium using the small pump that is connected to the aquarium using the transparent hose that is terminated with the green hook that hangs on the wall of the aquarium:



- to drain the aquarium, I used the filtering pump located inside the aquarium and added two faucets into the filtering compartment. Picture shows filtering mode, where water is diverted to the left and falls back into the aquarium (left faucet open, right faucet closed):



- in the drain mode, left faucet is closed and right faucet is open, diverting the water into the green hose that is terminated into the kitchen sink:



- left faucet also plays a safety role. If right faucet fails, there won't be enough pressure anyway to push the water down the drain hose, since left faucet is still open. If however all hell brakes loose, I've put the filter pump about 10 cm above the bottom of the aquarium, enough to leave some water for the fish to survive.

Cost: ~ 125 EUR (fancy vase added a lot to this, couldn't find a plastic bin of that shape and size)

Vase/aquarium size ratio gives me a 12% water change in one shot.

Procedure:

- open dishwasher faucet
- open vase faucet
- fill up vase (2 min)
- close both faucets
- power up heater
- wait for the water to warm up
- power off heater

- open drain faucet
- close filter faucet
- drain water (2 min)
- open filter faucet
- close drain faucet

- power up pump
- wait for the vase to empty
- power off pump

Reduces time and especially effort to do a water change and it's much more fun also

"Efficiency is the highest form of laziness"

 

[garyfla]

Hi I don't think I'd ever setup a large tank withour some type of auto water change system. WOW do they save a lot of work!!! I used a fully automatic one on a 75 for several years but switched to SW so it wouldn't work anymore . lol I now use a rainwater collection system for a planted tetra tank. It does require that I switch off the pump after refill. I'm building a 125 into the wall and definitely will have an auto changer maybe with a gravel purge . Good luck with your system!!! gary

 

[Flavius]

Thanks. A fully automatic system would be a fun challenge indeed. I can only imagine I would need some sort of floaters and a heat sensor that would switch the pumps on/off. For now I'm having fun playing with the faucets and seeing how much easier it is than before If I get bored of this, I might consider taking the next step.

 

[SubRosa]

The easy way to go fully automatic is to drill the tank for overflow and provide a drain for the waste water. Run your feed water through the treatment of your choice and regulate flow with a sprinkler timer.

 

[Flavius]

How would I pre-heat the feed water then?

 

[SubRosa]

If your water is chlorinated you'd need to either run it through activated carbon, or figure out a metering system to automatically dose neutralizer. Personally I use carbon. If you feel the need to alter water chemistry you would then run it through crushed coral, peat moss or an RO or DI unit or whatever you use. Then temp becomes somewhat of an issue, but sprinkler timers are very flexible regarding how they deliver water. For example if you flow 1 gallon every 8 hours into a 55gal tank you're hardly altering the temp of the tank regardless of how cold the tapwater is, and changing almost 50% a week. You can also use a mixing valve to set the temp to a certain temp, or a reservoir of water kept heated with your water running through a coil of tubing inside it.

 

[garyfla]

Hi The way that I did it was a siphon attached to the toilet tank supply. When the toilet was flushed the water for refill came from the aquarium. A reservoir was along side attached with a U tube this was refilled by the supply line from the toilet, shut off by a standard toilet valve, Water was heated ,treated in the resevoir . i used an auto de chl or dispenser and was heated ba a standard aquarium heater. As you can see it requires no drilling pumps or electricity. The amount of change per day was dependent on the number of flushes but of course could be increased by holding the handle down. There were several problems when first started but was easily corrected. There are many ways to use this system but the is by far the easiest ,cheapest and most reliable. gary

 

[Flavius]

Smart and funny You should patent this.

 

[garyfla]

Hi
I wish!! lol First read about this in an aquarium magazine in 1970. Really old news lol. An interesting addition to it is a gravel purge but to be strong enough must be done by hand another addition is to turn the reservoir into a reverse cycle " veggie" filter. Another is a "plenum" which in theory will remove 80 percent of the nitrates. Was never brave enough to try it or deep sand beds for FW. You als could add UV , ozone purgers without bothering the display tank.
Have never figured out an auto glass cleaner any ideas?? gary