# Water change electric pump



## RandyS (Feb 6, 2015)

Siphoning the water during a water change is so slow I'm wondering if anyone knows of a submersible pump setup that would be faster.
Or better yet would be to use my existing external pump and with the addition of some hose up to the tank.

Watching the tank drain 30-40 gallons of water is like watching paint dry!


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## Fishnut71 (Dec 7, 2014)

I used to have a tank that was just 3" off the floor (plus none of my faucets on the second floor were attachable via Python system) and I had to use a pump for w/c. I bought a cheapo water pump off EBay(around $20) and rigged up to a garden hose and pumped the water right into the bath tub. To fill the tank, I reversed the process: with the pump inside a 5gal bucket, and the bucket filled by faucet inside the bath tub.


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## nodima (Oct 3, 2002)

I've used spare powerheads and a spare mag7 pump at various times to do water changes.

Is there another place you can put the end of the hose that is lower than where you are going now? Outside for example?


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## RandyS (Feb 6, 2015)

The sink I'm draining into is actually low enough to get a good siphon. It's just that the little tube on the Aqueon unit is too slow for my liking.

I wonder if my Iwaki pump would draw the water out of the aquarium if I primed the hose. It should, shouldn't it? I've got the pump in the cabinet below the tank. I'm wondering if I could Tee my lines and add extra ball valves to use my pump for water changes.


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## Bd79 (Apr 11, 2011)

I put a pump on my water change hoses, put the pump in the tank, and use that to push the water to a drain, or outside to the yard. Definitely speeds things up.


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## nodima (Oct 3, 2002)

RandyS said:


> The sink I'm draining into is actually low enough to get a good siphon. It's just that the little tube on the Aqueon unit is too slow for my liking.
> 
> I wonder if my Iwaki pump would draw the water out of the aquarium if I primed the hose. It should, shouldn't it? I've got the pump in the cabinet below the tank. I'm wondering if I could Tee my lines and add extra ball valves to use my pump for water changes.


You probably could do that, but you may be opening yourself up to risk of dumping the entire tank if a valve fails. By "little tube on Aqueon" what do you mean? When starting the siphon from my tanks, the hose is rolled out, one end placed in the tank. I go to the outside end, and suck the tube momentarily - all you need to do is get the water in the hose to go over the tank frame and start back down below the water level - no danger of getting tank water in mouth. It takes a couple of seconds for the water to travel the 35' or so of hose.


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## RandyS (Feb 6, 2015)

I'd be more worried about my grandson reaching in the cabinet and opening the valve then a ball valve failing. LOL It would probably be wise to cap the open end when not in use.

It takes 35 minutes to siphon the water out off my tank for a 50% WC. My Iwaki will pump that much in 2-3 minutes. That's quite the time savings.


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## Narwhal72 (Sep 26, 2006)

You can buy inline garden hose pumps at the hardware store. They have garden house attachments on the inlet and outlet and are self priming.

If you have a newer Aqueon water changer or Python water changer the hose adapter that screws onto the faucet pump from the tubing uses garden hose threads. Just attach the water changer to the inlet and a garden hose to the outlet and you can pump it out.

Disadvantage is that if you suck up any gravel or large plant material you are going to foul the pump. Which means disassembling the pump (sometimes repeatedly) to clean it out.

Andy


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## spcichlids (May 11, 2015)

I recently picked up an EcoPlus 396gph pump for less than $25 on Amazon. I just hook it to the end of my Python. Saves a ton of time and water.


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## zimmy (Aug 13, 2010)

You can also go to the Jehmco site and get a "safety siphon." I picked up the 550gph model over a year ago and it's made life a lot simpler. My tank is in the basement and I have a PVC drain pipe sticking up out of the ground in the laundry room. The hose from the siphon device is permanently inserted into the drain pipe so all I have to do is hang the siphon in the tank, plug in and 10 minutes later my 120G tank is half drained.


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