# Water changes without buckets?



## PALong3 (Nov 24, 2011)

My new tank will be about 12 feet from outside facet (I have a well), and about same from closest bathroom. Right now no big deal using my 5 gallon buckets on my smaller tank but doing water changes on 120 may get a bit old hauling buckets back and forth. What is best approach?


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## 13razorbackfan (Sep 28, 2011)

Aqueon water changer and siphon hose. They are around $50 locally in my area. Cheaper online. I find them around $23 online. This will be one of the best investments you can make.


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## PALong3 (Nov 24, 2011)

Excellent! I am convinced you hang out on this site more than me!

Assume it is better to hook up to filtered tub facet but my outside facet. Correct?

Thanks razorback!


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## austings (May 12, 2012)

I second the Aqueon water changer. There are way to make a DIY water change. I just bought the valve that connects to the faucet from my LFS, went to a hardware store and bought some tubing. It cost me $12.

I would use an inside faucet if you have a filter for the inside of your house. Plus, this way you can get the water temp about the the same as the tank, where as from an outside faucet you have no way of adjusting the water temp.


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## PALong3 (Nov 24, 2011)

Thanks for the suggestions and feedback! Look forward to ditching my buckets!


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## 13razorbackfan (Sep 28, 2011)

PALong3 said:


> Excellent! I am convinced you hang out on this site more than me!
> 
> Assume it is better to hook up to filtered tub facet but my outside facet. Correct?
> 
> Thanks razorback!


Personally I just hook it up to my bathroom faucet as I can just leave it hooked up when adding water as well. The outside faucet for me would be better with both pressure and it being lower than the bathroom faucet however there is just one valve meaning cold water. In the bathroom I use hot and cold to make the tank water going back into the tank the same temp as the water already in the tank. Since my water temp is exactly the same and I don't add anything but dechlorinator I can do as large a water change as I want. Usually around 85% once a week.


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## deaver (Apr 23, 2011)

i have the same water changer, aqueon. i used buckets and a hose for over 15yrs, i can't believe how easy water changes got after paying 50 bucks for the system.


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## zeusjuice (Apr 26, 2012)

I have the same unit and it works great. I have a question though. Is it better to do one massive water change or a few smaller water changes spread out over the course of a week?


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## 13razorbackfan (Sep 28, 2011)

zeusjuice said:


> I have the same unit and it works great. I have a question though. Is it better to do one massive water change or a few smaller water changes spread out over the course of a week?


As long as the water going back into the tank is the same, within reason both chemistry and temperature wise, then it doesn't really matter. I prefer to do large weekly water changes. I change out about 85% of my water.


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## zeusjuice (Apr 26, 2012)

Gotcha, I you have to shut down your fx5 during the process?


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## 13razorbackfan (Sep 28, 2011)

zeusjuice said:


> Gotcha, I you have to shut down your fx5 during the process?


I shut everything off except my lights during water changes. My lights are on a different surge protector. The water level drops below my filter intakes and below my water line for my heater so I don't have a choice. I still wouldn't run them during a water change regardless.


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## BillD (May 17, 2005)

I would probably use two hoses. One for drain, either to bathtub or outside, and a fill hose from the bathroom so you can regulate temp.To facilitate filling I would make a gooseneck from PVC fittings, that hangs on the tank and terminates in a Tee fitting so the water expels from the sides.


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## PALong3 (Nov 24, 2011)

Petsmart had them for 33 (25') and 50 (50') this weekend...picked up the big one! Thanks!


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## cichlid-gal (Apr 27, 2012)

Great that you got the waterchanger PALong3...the only problem I have with the Aqueon for water changes is the outflow seems kinda slow to me. Maybe its just my setup as I have to run from my living room to my bathroom which is probably 20'.

So we devised another plan...we use our regular siphon and clean the gravel (we don't have sand in most of our tanks yet) in the tank (usually a buckets worth), then we put the siphon tubing end into another piece of tubing that is a little larger, it snugs right in, and then we run that long tubing out the door to the garden. The water draining out seems to go faster than the Aqueon running to the bathroom.

Then on the refill side we have the Aqueon attached to the bathroom faucet and dose 1/2 of our declorinator then start tank refill and when almost done, dose the other half of the dechlorinator. The nice thing about the Aqueon refill is that it allows you to add water at the right temp and not have to bucket it to the tank. We get through all our tanks in a nice amount of time. And all of this is much easier on the shoulders and back than bucketing everything in and out.


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## PALong3 (Nov 24, 2011)

Thanks for the response. I agree...I like to vacuum my gravel which the Aqueon doesn't really do with the force I get from my normal siphon...Still, I am going to be switching to sand...and like you said - it sure beats the bucket hauling!!! My distance is actually 40' and I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly it refilled and at the right temp. I did see a set up the other day where a guy hooked up a submergible pump to his set up and it drew water out of the tank very quickly! This needs to be one of the little pearls that should be told to all new hobbyist as I went for a year (not like the 15 years deaver spent) lugging that bucket back and forth...


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## cichlid-gal (Apr 27, 2012)

PALong3 said:


> I did see a set up the other day where a guy hooked up a submergible pump to his set up and it drew water out of the tank very quickly! This needs to be one of the little pearls that should be told to all new hobbyist as I went for a year (not like the 15 years deaver spent) lugging that bucket back and forth...


I just saw a post in the forum the other day where someone mentioned doing that same thing, using a submergible pump to remove the water. It was like a light went off. It seemed like such a great idea. I immediately ran out and got a pump and my husband did the retrofitting using 1" tubing and 3/4 inch tubing. We just tested the pump out on our living room tanks doing about a 35% water change on them (after cleaning substrate) and doing our refill using the Aqueon. Wow...what a difference. We were done with three tanks in a just over an hour. And if we had just done water changes and refills, that time would have been much shorter. The outtake on the 75G for approximately 35% was about 6-7 minutes. Zip, water went flying out.

I got the 400+ gallons per hour model with an output only but my husband now wants the 600+ gph model with an intake and output as he wants to work the pump up with a pvc riser and elbow that goes over the rim and then a drops back into the tank with some sort of cover on it. Sounds good to me.

And you are right...this is a wonderful "pearl of wisdom".


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## PALong3 (Nov 24, 2011)

Washington is just a little ways from Oklahoma - come on over so you and your husband can build me a 600+gph model!  Ah - so little time, so much to learn!!!


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## cichlid-gal (Apr 27, 2012)

PALong3 said:


> Washington is just a little ways from Oklahoma - come on over so you and your husband can build me a 600+gph model!  Ah - so little time, so much to learn!!!


Ha ha...agreed...and the more tanks we get the less time we have (water changes, water changes... :lol: )


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