# How is a Python water changer not in the must have list?



## Vociferus (Aug 10, 2016)

I've only had my 75 gallon for a bit, but wow buckets of water are annoying. The Python water changer is amazing. I just got it yesterday and already I can't believe I was crazy enough to do buckets for as long as I did.

Now that I have it, I'd probably build my own if I ever needed to replace this. It's not exactly complicated and the plastic parts are kind of crappy. The shut-off valve at the tank even comes with a warning sticker to not shut it off with the water turned on. Not sure why they use such a junky valve but I guess margins need to be maintained.

Regardless, changing 25 gallons or more 5 gallons at a time with a bucket was slow, messy, and a lot of work. If you don't have a water changer you should look into one.

I use the cold water to start the siphon and then I put the hose in the floor drain in my basement, so I don't need to run the cold water the whole time it's draining, which is a huge waste of water. If you can't do a siphon due to the height of your drain, I'd recommend a submersible pump to put in the tank. Dumping fresh water down the drain just to run a siphon is pretty ridiculous.

Anyway beefs aside, these need to be right at the top of everyone's list! It would be worth the effort to build your own with brass fittings if you're at all handy though. I wish I would have.


----------



## LXXero (May 4, 2016)

I've been making my own. I have maybe the parts to one actual python and one aqueon branded python-copy, and then like 3 more on top of that which I made, haha. They are all modified too. I have found some female garden hose fittings that are much easier to screw on/off than the actual python ones, but are still plastic (I only like using plastic since it's gonna be smacking into glass and stuff)

I have been going nuts over in the PVC section at home depot too. I've made various hang-on-the-top things to drain the tanks to specific levels, as well as re-fill them without having to worry about it falling off.

They have various garden-hose fittings and barb fittings and you can do like garden-hose-to-vinyl-tubing kinda thing just like a python. found nearly the same tubing as the python tubing (1/2 ID, 3/4 OD, which is non-standard and large, usually it's like 5/8 OD) and bought a 100ft spool that I cut down to like 70 and 30, plus some other 1/2ID hose I got, now i've got like 2-3 different ones, lol. I also bought one of those aqueon ones cause the sink adapter part seemed cool but then realized its not all garden hose fittings like the python is, so i modified that too and now it's got a python-style end on the one side, lol.

Also made my own vacuum things, i have like two finer vacuums, 1/2 and 3/4 which are good for getting stuff in tight places. I also made like angled vacuum fittings to get into awkward spots in my sump. I also made a custom vacuum thing where it traps the dirt in a chamber as opposed to letting it go to the sink. Yeah, thats for when I spilled a bunch of biomedia into my sump, lol. I used to "vacuum" the media out without it all ending up going down the drain!

When you want to take it to the next level, then you do a simultaneous drain/fill. You drain the tank with one python, and fill it with another. Drip some prime a few times as you go.


----------



## nodima (Oct 3, 2002)

Getting away from buckets to a hose to move water is a quantum leap in Aquarium maintenance enjoyment, for sure!


----------



## noddy (Nov 20, 2006)

Just make sure that you don't start filling the tank then gap out and go for a haircut a few hours before getting on a plane to Italy


----------



## CeeJay (Aug 16, 2016)

What's better, running a water line to your sump and flipping vale to change water. I change out 120% a week. The easier it is the more likely will do it and continual to do it.


----------



## Chris. (May 10, 2016)

I found these on the internet & couldn't find anyone in Australia selling them so I bought one online from the US. Took a few weeks to arrive, best thing I've bought though. Makes water changes simple.


----------



## Vociferus (Aug 10, 2016)

noddy said:


> Just make sure that you don't start filling the tank then gap out and go for a haircut a few hours before getting on a plane to Italy


Yes that would be very, very bad


----------



## Richard M (Apr 16, 2016)

Chris. said:


> I found these on the internet & couldn't find anyone in Australia selling them so I bought one online from the US. Took a few weeks to arrive, best thing I've bought though. Makes water changes simple.


Doesn't it use a lot of water? My guess would be that it could double the water you actually replace in your tank for the actual water change. Do that 2x a week for a year with a 570L (6 x 2 x 2) and you're soon going to notice it in your excess water charge.


----------



## Chris. (May 10, 2016)

Richard M said:


> Chris. said:
> 
> 
> > I found these on the internet & couldn't find anyone in Australia selling them so I bought one online from the US. Took a few weeks to arrive, best thing I've bought though. Makes water changes simple.
> ...


I'm not sure mate, it doesn't seem to use as much as I thought it would. It probably takes me 10 minutes to drain 200 litres out of the aquarium. The tap isn't on very fast, I don't think I would use 200 litres in tap water although no doubt it 'wastes' some water.


----------



## nodima (Oct 3, 2002)

Richard M said:


> Chris. said:
> 
> 
> > I found these on the internet & couldn't find anyone in Australia selling them so I bought one online from the US. Took a few weeks to arrive, best thing I've bought though. Makes water changes simple.
> ...


Many of us only use the faucet adapter for filling the tank, and will drain the tank outside, or into a tub or something, without the need to run the faucet to generate the siphon. Clearly if you run it with the faucet running to drain the tank, you waste a lot of water.


----------



## Vociferus (Aug 10, 2016)

Yes I just use the tap to start the siphon, then move the hose into the drain.


----------



## Chris. (May 10, 2016)

Vociferus said:


> Yes I just use the tap to start the siphon, then move the hose into the drain.


So once the siphon starts you undo the faucet adapter from the tap & just drain the aquarium that way?


----------



## Vociferus (Aug 10, 2016)

Yes I added the quick connect, so I just remove the hose from the "pump" (that's what they call it but it's more like a venturi) and stick it in the drain. Since the drain is lower than the height of the aquarium, it just siphons out. It's not as fast as leaving the water running, but as you said that wastes a lot of water. I don't remove the adapter from the tap, I just remove the hose from the adapter.

I also use the water when I'm cleaning the gravel because it really does pull quite a bit of water volume through the siphon.


----------



## Chris. (May 10, 2016)

Vociferus said:


> Yes I added the quick connect, so I just remove the hose from the "pump" (that's what they call it but it's more like a venturi) and stick it in the drain. Since the drain is lower than the height of the aquarium, it just siphons out. It's not as fast as leaving the water running, but as you said that wastes a lot of water. I don't remove the adapter from the tap, I just remove the hose from the adapter.
> 
> I also use the water when I'm cleaning the gravel because it really does pull quite a bit of water volume through the siphon.


Cheers, I just tried it. As you said, it siphons very slowly without using the tap, if I wasn't in so much of a hurry all the time I'd probably just do that as it did work fine. Vacuuming the sand required the tap to create enough siphon.


----------



## nodima (Oct 3, 2002)

I find it more efficient and a lot easier to separate the tasks of siphoning substrate from 'pythoning' water from the tank. Using a hand held siphon into a 5 gal bucket is a lot easier to maneuver and control for me. I no longer bother with the 2" tube on the hose and just go with the small hose itself.

You can increase the flow with a siphon in two ways (three if you count using the tap with the Python), either use a larger hose diameter, or increase the height difference between the hose ends. I recently upgraded my hose to a 3/4" hose from the 5/8" python hose, and am amazed at how much faster it moves water.


----------



## LXXero (May 4, 2016)

i've been tempted to build my next one in 3/4 as well. At some point, I worry the garden hose fittings themselves will be the next limiter. They are basically 3/4 thread, so 3/4 hose is about as large as you can go before there's a point of no return with the existing fittings.

What I do on my bigger tanks (with sumps) is plumb a drain off the return pump manifold. Then, all I need to do is attach a hose and open the valve, and it's draining water. Also, given it's coming from a pump, it's pressurized, so there's not as much restrictions in terms of siphoning. However, I need to fill at the same time or the pump runs dry, and it can be fun matching flow rates this way, but it's still better than hauling buckets around. I test the flow rate by filling a 5 gallon bucket, then I know how many minutes I need to wait for X amount of gallons of water change. Of course there's some chance i'm draining the new water I added, but I add the water to the tank, and I drain from the sump, so this effect is hopefully reduced, you can always run a few minutes longer to compensate, but it hasn't been necessary. I can almost tell how big of a water change I've done based on PH drop, typically a 50-70gal change will drop my ph by .2 on my big tank, and i'll add 2 scoops of buffer to make up for it. Having a constantly-reading PH probe helps for that though, lol.


----------



## Vociferus (Aug 10, 2016)

I think if I needed to go any faster I'd either just get a submersible pump, or buy a FX6 filter and use the utility valve to drain and fill the tank. They also have a gravel cleaner attachment for the utility valve now that looks pretty decent.


----------



## BuckeyeTez (May 10, 2016)

I have a similar issue with my Python except it's from a lack of high water pressure. If I leave the water on to suck debris out, a lot of the bigger pieces of poop don't get suctioned out. Before I found the python I had a regular hand pump with the 2" gravel vac on it. I have since removed the original tube and added the python tube and just drain it out my back door. However, I still don't have enough suction force to remove some of the debris. How can I get it out without sucking out a ton of my sand? Do I need a longer hose to hang off the back of my deck to create more suction force or is that limited to the size of the tube?

Just curious if any of you have an idea or already have a fix.

Thanks!


----------



## LXXero (May 4, 2016)

more than likely, you need a wider hose and fittings, not a longer hose, although that might help if you create a big enough difference in height.

without sucking out sand? lol. there's no magic trick there. just put a ball valve on it and be careful.


----------



## Chris. (May 10, 2016)

BuckeyeTez said:


> However, I still don't have enough suction force to remove some of the debris.


Yeah I have this issue, mine only picks up the fine particles (without the sand). I made a custom vacuum with a piece of hose that I use to collect the larger bits & run it into a bucket. I use them both at the same time, not much of a hassle really but I do wish the python collected everything.


----------

