4 replies to this topic

[Cu455]

Bonus Question: This isn't related to the actual setup but it is still interesting and a fun little trivia question to test your wits. It seems that a drip system is the popular automatic water changing system. To see if a drip system or larger less frequent water changes, such as this method is better we will need to find out the amount of pollutants removed.

If we do one large 30% water change on an aquarium 30% of the pollutants will be removed leaving 70% of the pollutants in the aquarium.

If we 30 consecutive 1% water changes how much of the pollutants will be left? Is it more benefical to do one large change a day or a bunch of smaller changes like a drip system?

Automatic Water Changer

Supplies

2 pumps- I recommend Toms aqualifter. They are small, external and they cost about $12. A maxi jet or another small pump will also work.

1 electric timer

1 auto top off- This is a device used mainly in saltwater aquarium keeping. It is used to replenish evaporated water from the aquarium. Pumping the water out will act as very quick evaporation.

The one I am using is expensive and really not worth the money. Jbj is a popular auto top off brand. A lot of people use AutoTopOff.com and like their products.

You can also use a manual float valve.
http://www.usplastic...CFUc2gQodwYYAPw

Setup

-You place one pump in your tank or sump. Since Toms aqualifter is an external pump it takes up little room and this is why I recommend it.

-Place the second pump in your new water.

- Hook up your auto top off.

- Set the timer on your pump in the aquarium for the amount of water you want to remove. This is something that you will need to play with until you get the amount you want. Toms aqua lifter is rated at 3.5 gallons per hour. If you want to change 7 gallons a day set the timer to run the pump for 2 hours.

When this water is pumped out the ato will top off the water which was removed.

Depending on the size of your aquarium you might want to add a restricting valve. I posted a video below of what I mean.



I took pictures of a mini setup but it makes it seem more complicated then it really is. So I did a paint drawing of the setup. In my setup reconstruction the container on the black table is the sump and the container on the dresser is the new water.

 

 

[Michael Wolfe]

Assumptions:

• there are no additional wastes being introduced into the system
• removing 1% of the water removed 1% of the waste
• the 1% removes is replaced by 1% clean

30 1% water changes followed by 30 1% water make-ups leaves you with 73.97% of the wastes you started with... so not quite as good as just removing 30% of the wastes in a single water change.

 

Essentially, every time you remove 1% of the water you are left with 99% of the waste, so the the calculation is simply 99% raised to the 30th power (0.99^30=0.7397).

[BenCantrell]

Math!

[Josh Blaylock]

[Matt DeLaVega]

Looks awful elaborate to me. I have done something similar, but simply dripped about 10% city water into the tank per day, and had a siphon overflow going to a drain. The small amount of chlorine seemed to be no problem, and I did this on three tanks for 3 years. It was in my basement, and access to plumbing was no problem at all.