Water Pump To Help With Water Changes

[LastBoy5cout]

Evening all,

I have a 55g tank and am thinking about ways of making my water changes easier. Filling a 10 litre bucket and tiping it in disturbs my sand substrate even if Im careful and it takes alot if doing abig water change!!

If I could rig up a small pump and put it into the bucket once Ive added tapsafe etc it could then be pumped into my tank with a hose without ruining the substrate or clouding the water.

Is this a viable method and what sort of pump would I need and where can I get one?

 

[JenCliBee]

any pump witch ur hose will fit on should work i used 2 use a fluval 4 that worked so was nice and easy

also u mentioned that the gravel is desturbed and water is clouded in my eyes thats a good thing firstly u should be cleaning ur gravel with a gravel cleaner anyways and secondly if u do disturb the gravel and brings the cloudyness up u filter will clear it in time but at same time making it cleaner if that makes sense that is lol

jen

EDIT. oops sorry dint read properly i just relised u use sand but i think that would still work the same not sure never used sand


jen

 

[doresy]

If you have a step ladder with a little platform at the top place your bucket on that and syphon your water back in.....no pump required!

 

[rabbut]

On my 75g, I use the hose with a pump to drain, and then refill with the hose direct from the tap. If you re-fill with a pump, make sure it has a good head-height, or you will find that it doesn't work. Other than that I can see no reason as to why you couldn't do it that way

All the best
Rabbut

 

[Bignose]

I went to the hardware store and bought a small pump designed for a fountain. It isn't fast, 2.2 gallons per minute, but it does the job and it was very cheap. Less than $20 if I remember correctly (it was several years ago now). It was well, well worth it.

 

[andywg]

I only use a pump to get water out of my tanks. I use the mains pressure to get the water back in, far easier that way.

 

[LastBoy5cout]

Drunk, so xcuse the typo's

Live in a flat so have bno real pressure.

Will try the pump method, have seen someon ebay.

 

[Corleone]

I have a small pump that fits in the chuck of an electric drill. If you have a good drill, it's reasonably fast (completely useless with most battery powered jobs, though). Home Depot and the like sell them for pumping antifreeze through in-ground sprinkler systems to winterize them, but it will work for just about anything. It was sufficient for my 20 and 30 gallon tanks, but for my new 55, it's a bit slow. Considering finding a strong stepladder and just siphoning it back into the tank.