# Double tank stand and water changes, filtration issues.....



## tyrone (Mar 20, 2003)

Hi,

I have a double tank stand with an 80 gallon on top and plan to put two smaller 30 gallon tanks below. Since the bottom tanks will be much closer to the ground, it will be much more difficult doing water changes due to the syphon problem in the bottom tanks (lower level). I have a long pipe which I connect to my bathroom tap and thats how I do water changes. On the upper tank, its no issue because of the height. Any ideas as to what I should do for the lower tanks?

Secondly I plan to use one bigger air pump with sponge filters to filter / aerate both the upper and lower tanks. Since its a simple stand can I put the air pump lower or will that cause the water to go into the pump and cause problems?

Thanks.


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## Guest (Sep 24, 2008)

You could use a python hose attached to the sink or a python hose with a squeeze bulb to siphon water from the bottom tanks. You could even use a small pump to force a siphon, but then you wouldn't be able to vacuum up waste.

With the air pumps, all you need to do is buy an air check valve which prevents the water from reaching the pump should the power goes out and the pump starts a siphon. If you don't want to buy a check valve though, then yes just place the air pump higher than the aquarium and you shouldn't have any problems.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/p ... atid=10109
http://jehmco.com/html/air_accessories.html Product #ACV1/8

~Ed


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## tyrone (Mar 20, 2003)

Yes Marduk its not only the water changes but also the waste that has to be vacuumed. We don't get Pythons out here either.

The check valve seems like a good idea. Thanks


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## imusuallyuseless (Dec 28, 2005)

Run the end of the hose outside and use gravity to power your siphon, not the faucet. This is how I do the water changes on my 10G and when I used to have the 40BR just a few inches off the flow. The siphon is a bit slower, but the waste still gets picked up...


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## tyrone (Mar 20, 2003)

I live in an apartment so it goes direct to the bathroom


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## imusuallyuseless (Dec 28, 2005)

How about draining into the bathtub???


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## tyrone (Mar 20, 2003)

Yes but its on the same level as my tank, in fact slightly higher. These tanks are on the bottom of the stand, close to ground level.


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## Guest (Sep 25, 2008)

If you can get your hands on an inline pump you could run a hose from the pump into the tank to suck up both water and waste, and have the other end of the pump bring the water to the bath tub drain...

Otherwise the only think I could suggest off the top of my head is to install under gravel jets to let the filter be more efficient (to suck 90% of the waste up) and just use buckets to do water changes...

~Ed


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## tyrone (Mar 20, 2003)

Marduk thats a good idea. How big a pump would I need? Do they come in various sizes? since I can also use it for my 84 gallon tank on top and my other tanks as mentioned in my signature. Being Lazy now and would rather use the pump than go the old syphon way 

Thanks.


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## Guest (Sep 25, 2008)

I am not sure what you would use though. Any smaller size should be fine since you don't want one that would drain the tank in like 10 seconds...

You could try using a Danner Mag Drive as an inline but I just checked and the smallest model is 500gph. You could probably do a decent job with one as small as 200gph but I am not sure where you would find one.

What I would do is look around for aquatic and non aquatic water pumps that can be used as in line pumps. Eheim also makes pumps that could be used externally (inline I'm assuming) that go low enough and are more affordable than the 500gph mag drive.

Here are pages for the mag drive and eheim pumps. I don't know if they would ship overseas though if you can't find the pumps where you live:
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/p ... catid=4590
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/p ... catid=4604

Hope that helps,
~Ed


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## Guest (Sep 25, 2008)

Also, just another idea that's cheaper than getting a in line pump is to try siphoning the water in a small bucket. If you can suck water into a small bucket than you can suck up some waste. All you'd need to do after getting the waste out is dip the buckets in to get rest of the water you want to change.

Hope that helps,
~Ed


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## tyrone (Mar 20, 2003)

Marduk thank u so much for your help. I will check out the pumps here & try to go for the one with least gph.


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## Guest (Sep 25, 2008)

tyrone said:


> Marduk thank u so much for your help. I will check out the pumps here & try to go for the one with least gph.


Don't get one with less than 150gph though. That'd be the minimum speed I'd personally tolerate for water draining...

Good luck and let us know how it works out...


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## tyrone (Mar 20, 2003)

Yes sure will but it won't be in the near future as I can't get hold of my tank guy to construct the two bottom tanks for my stand.

Thanks anyways for the advice.


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