water change method

[bclee]

Another alternative: go low-tech!

No water change needed! That's what I am doing now.

BC

[wf7850]

one more method... give up hobby... so no more backache from bending over the top while trimming tt glosso lawn.... no more worrying when the CO2 is depleting, will my SAE attack my cherries... forgetting to dose fert... pocket no more burnt a hole jus to get tt Grade A CRS and then worrying will it die overnite resulting in waking up every hr to check on it... hahahaha
BUT... if really give up, what will be the meaning in life then?????

so ironic.... dun u guys agree??

[Simon]

I minimize disturbance during water change with a plastic cup :P

[neon]

For me in the hobby must be convenient for maintenance :

1) position my 6' tank at the living room where the wall is also facing the kitchen toilet wall. Asked electrician to fix up 2 power sockets for the tank at the same time drilled 2 x 1.5" holes through this wall. One for water discharge to toilet floor holes, the other one connect to water tap with a Y-splitter with 2 on-off flippers (one for the washing machine , one for tank ) for water top-up .

2) I custom-made the tank with 2 EOS (external overflow system). Ready for any sump setup like marine or high bioload setup (arowana). Instead, I used it in case for any overflow of water during water top-up, or top-up water without draining water - just let it run-into the tank. No worry of water overflow out from tank. Just sit back and relax, no worry, and wait for the water gush out to toilet floor holes and it produces a lot water gushing sound when overflow into the EOS as well as the toilet floor hole.

3) PVC piping with ball-valves. As for EOS setup, PVC piping shall be the norm. Each side of the EOS has 3 piping, one for overflow draining , one for water return from tank, one for water pump back to tank. With various ball valves, I stop my 2260 carnister, shut the 2 pipes valves connected to the carnister, open the PVC discharge valves , water will automatically discharge out as water consistently in the piping and suck o the water from tank down. Once the desire water has been discharged, shut that valve, open the tap from the toilet( and open another ball-valve at toilet , so no need to run to the tank again) , water will run into the tank as the pressure is higher than the tank, so no back-pressure. The water topup into the tank shall be coming out thru the usual lily-pad shape outlet in the tank, just like the water come in from the carnister, asthey are sharing the same pipe for water going into tank. But this way, any water top up or restarting the carnister, the debris from the hose and pipe will flush out the debris and I hate it. So I add a join between the hose and lily pad. Before any water top up or restart of carnister, I will disconnect the hose and run the water into a kopi filter bag ($0.80) and clip with big strong plastic peg. This will ensure the debris will trap inside the kopi-filter. Likewise, when starting the carnister, will let the water run into the same kopi-filter until it stablise, then slowly connect up the hose with lily-pad.

4) Eheim 2250/2260/2262 carnister . For carnister cleaning, no other one beat these model, as they have the extra discharge valve below. Also the beauty design these carnister is that the water return from tank is at the bottom and the pump is placed on top for water pumping back to tank. To clean my carnister and filter media, I don't need to carry anything to the toilet to clean. Simply shut all piping valves, open the eheim bottom discharge valve, slowly open up the hose on the top pump. Air will rush in and water will discharge out below and out to the toilet. After that , open the carnister top cover, remove the filter media and place in a big pail, open up the water return from tank piping valve, the water will gush into the carnister from below. The water rise up , shut the valve, clean each media with water directly from tank. Open the eheim discharge below, to drain the dirty debris. Repeat this many times and for each media, all at the same spot , use discharge water to clean media , all-in-one-go, save time , save hussle, save your-back from carry heavy media and carnister,etc.

My record of water discharge and top-up 50% change for 6x2x2 : 15mins.

So planning for this hobby is important.

[cherietung]

It is possible to go low tech with minimal live stocks. But very often a nice planted tank with very few fishes is not the cup of tea for SG.

My WC is once every 2-3 months. Not the back killer but it's the other non-planted tanks that give the backache.