a low-to-ground tank?

[Isis_Nebthet]

I use a submersible little giant pump connected to a garden hose that goes through a hole in the wall. I drag the normal garden hose in the house (still connected to the bib outside) to refill..

 

[Tolak]

The setup I use for all the tanks in my fishroom, including the couple of lower ones, sounds a little complicated, but works easier than it sounds. Beats draining 200+ gallons weekly with buckets.

I have a fountain pump in a 5 gallon bucket, with 50' of hose connected to the output, this drains across the basement to my sump pump. Each one of my 12 tanks has it's own 4' length of 5/8" i.d. vinyl hose, with a female hose connector on the end for drainage. Each tank has it's own small spring clamp to hold the drain hose down as far as I want to drain the tank. The individual hoses prevent any contamination between tanks. Plastic screen held to the tank end with a cable tie keeps fish from being sucked in.

The intake of the pump in the bucket has a couple feet of hose with a male hose end, this can be used to drain the bucket, or to hook to a 6 foot length with a shutoff valve that goes between the individual tank hoses & the bucket hose. Hook the tank hose to the longer hose with the valve, start the syphon, and hook it to the pump hose. The pump plugs into a home made switch box I can flip on or off with my foot. Once the syphon starts, hit the switch, go watch tv until the pump starts making racket, or shut it off before it reaches the end, shut the valve & switch tanks & hose ends. I shut the valve around 2/3 of the way & pop off the screen to clean tank bottoms.

Tolak