Easier Water Change With External Filter?

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Ian H

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i was just thinking, on my external filters theres 2 "taps" one for in and one for out. For a water change could i not just take the "out" tap and point it in a bucket, turn it off when i empty the bucket and then back on ect? Or would this cause a problem since the "in" tap would constantly be pumping water into the filter?
 
i was just thinking, on my external filters theres 2 "taps" one for in and one for out. For a water change could i not just take the "out" tap and point it in a bucket, turn it off when i empty the bucket and then back on ect? Or would this cause a problem since the "in" tap would constantly be pumping water into the filter?

i cant see why the filter should even care where the out water is going, as long as its getting in water, so I don't see any reason why not - just my opinion tho, not too sure on that!

edit: although, it does mean you wont be vacuuming the bottom of your tank or cleaning out any crap from inside, so it might not be the best idea even if it can be done!?
 
i never EVER vaccum the gravel in my tank anyways, i've never done it for around a year and always had a healthy tank so i dont see the need!

I see what you mean but when i turn the out flow off surely the water will be rushing in to the filter, have no where to go and then try and push back out?
 
Test your nitrates and there will lay the reason why you should gravel clean.

Messing about with filter taps and hoses sounds like more work than sticking a hose in the tank and starting a siphon.....unless you added some pipework, a T piece and couple of valves so you have filter on all the time but just play about with the taps to drain off the water.
 
nitrates are at 20ppm at most and ammonia and nitrite are constantly at 0 so i wouldnt really consider it a problem tbh.

I have 2 externals running on the tank, i dont think there would be a problem with the biological side of the filters if i was to turn one of them off for around 5mins every 2weeks. What im worried about is the back pressure from the constant "in" flow from the filter, will this effect the tank in any way?

From my logic it would create an opposite effect on the "in" propeller (sp?) meaning it would stop or be alot less efficient, but im not expert!
 
I thought you meant turn the filter off as in un plug it.

Yes just turning the tap off is going to bugga up your filter for the sake of being lazy.
 
I just use a large plastic bin to take all the water out at once from the filter exit, then just put it back in the tank when done no need to turn the filter taps at all

Then instead of pouring buckets of water into the tank and causing a lot of disturbance, I just attach a pipe to my aquaclear powerhead to another plastic bin filled by hose with dechlorinated water and add a bucket of hot water to it to bring up to temp and the tank refills with no disturbance through the powerhead.

Saves a lot of bucket hauling in a for my 400L changes
 
The only problem with not gravel vaccing is that whenever you disturb the substrate whether it be adding/removing plants or ornaments you are extremely likely to experience a large ammonia spike

Andy
 

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