Hey everyone. Hope all is well. I wanted to toss out a question that isn't really saltwater / reef keeper specific, but is something I've been needing some help with for a while. (Yes, I come on these forums all the time to read but I'm still a freshwater guy (boo, hiss! I know!!).
So, recently I've been realizing how much of a huge pain in the rear water changes at my house are. This is because I have several tanks and need to change around 25-30 gallons of water every week. I also need to age and dose my water because my parameters do not currently match those of the fish I'm keeping. (something I know is very common in saltwater anyway)....this currently entails filling up several large igloo coolers (10 gallons each) in the basement, letting them age, heat etc with a heater, airstone etc and then manually transferring water from the 10 gallon buckets to smaller buckets that can be moved and lifted to tank height to refill my tanks. its not fun
That got me thinking that a better solution would probably be to get a much larger 40-50 gallon water storage container that I could age all of the water in and then use some sort of pump to transfer to the water from the big storage container to smaller 5 gallon buckets that I could lug up to where the tanks are. If I could then devise a way to transfer water from the smaller bucket to the main tank (no sump), I'd be golden.
I'm kinda curious how other folks are handling this as I'm guessing I'm not the first person to say 'there must be a better' way. I suspect there are probably some pretty obvious answers or even suggestions floating around on the forums here that i just didn't find in my research.
The obvious questions would be:
1) What sort of storage container to use and where to obtain one locally (40-60 gallon capacity would be ideal)
2) What sort of pump to place in the storage container to transfer to the bucket without ending up having a fire hose on my hands
3) What if any suggestions people may have to transfer from smaller bucket (say 5 gallons) to main tank without lifting the bucket to the tank rim and dumping
Thanks for your time guys and i look forward to your suggestions! (I promise some day I'll have at least one salt water tank, just don't tell my wife!)
Thanks,
Steve
So, recently I've been realizing how much of a huge pain in the rear water changes at my house are. This is because I have several tanks and need to change around 25-30 gallons of water every week. I also need to age and dose my water because my parameters do not currently match those of the fish I'm keeping. (something I know is very common in saltwater anyway)....this currently entails filling up several large igloo coolers (10 gallons each) in the basement, letting them age, heat etc with a heater, airstone etc and then manually transferring water from the 10 gallon buckets to smaller buckets that can be moved and lifted to tank height to refill my tanks. its not fun
That got me thinking that a better solution would probably be to get a much larger 40-50 gallon water storage container that I could age all of the water in and then use some sort of pump to transfer to the water from the big storage container to smaller 5 gallon buckets that I could lug up to where the tanks are. If I could then devise a way to transfer water from the smaller bucket to the main tank (no sump), I'd be golden.
I'm kinda curious how other folks are handling this as I'm guessing I'm not the first person to say 'there must be a better' way. I suspect there are probably some pretty obvious answers or even suggestions floating around on the forums here that i just didn't find in my research.
The obvious questions would be:
1) What sort of storage container to use and where to obtain one locally (40-60 gallon capacity would be ideal)
2) What sort of pump to place in the storage container to transfer to the bucket without ending up having a fire hose on my hands
3) What if any suggestions people may have to transfer from smaller bucket (say 5 gallons) to main tank without lifting the bucket to the tank rim and dumping
Thanks for your time guys and i look forward to your suggestions! (I promise some day I'll have at least one salt water tank, just don't tell my wife!)
Thanks,
Steve
