i copied tom barr's design, but instead of using the white pvc piping i used black irrigation pipe and elbows to give it a nicer look... there's a hose pipe fitting, a short piece of irrigation hose, two 90 degree elbows with a small piece between, then a longer piece, a t fitting and two intake fittings on each end. everything has been siliconed to seal it. the longer side is as deep as 60% in my tank, so the idea is, you hang it on, connect the hose, turn on the tap, wait for it to just start putting water in your tank, turn off the tap and disconnect the hose there. you will need to use a tap that is lower than your tank, this creates the syphon. when it reaches 60% the syphon breaks automatically due to the intake breaking the water. you then add prime or dechlor and reconnect the tap and fill it up. this is the only part you have to watch, to make sure it doesnt overfill. the water comes out the strainers, so it doesnt rush out and disturb the substrate. no more bucket brigade
WOW, so you guys just add de-chlor straight to the tank and fill with good ol tap water? Thats brave. And here I was using storage drums to mature and aerate my water for water changes, how silly of me.
WBS.. i was always wondering abt that.. u add declor b4 ur water change? or during? seems dangerous to me.. i usually put the right dose per bucket.. i dont bother maturing etc though..
yeah i drain the water, add the dechlor and then fill it up. i only started doing this recently, maybe 6 months ago or so, so do this at your own risk. disclaimer: your mileage may vary...
Nice one WBS I normally add all the dechlorinator to the tank then topup. I have had not issues for years.
I just put the hosepipe in the tank and fill up an that is it ... been doing it for 5 years. I cannot notice any see any ill effects... dont follow my advice but I'm sure there is other there doing the same...
i used to do that too.. but just that one time 70% of my fish died.. major water changes i'll never add tap water strait ever again.. topups on the other hand are strait from the tap..
@shihr. when your fish died, how big was the WC? if you do very big WC you get pH swings, that with CO2 can be very bad.
this was b4 i had CO2.. i did a 60%change like i always do.. but i know what the problem was though.. i hadnt changed water for over 2 months.. and with such a sudden change, im sure the TDS change killed my fish so now i learnt.. if i havnt done a wc for long, i can only do max 30% changes
dont worry, i did the same flipping mistake when i got c02.. did a 50 - 60% weekly change and guess what? floaters
this is such a cool thing! just goes to show that being lazy is a good thing coz you always come up with the easyiest of idea's!!!
you are, but you need to make sure the water coming out your tap is similar to that of your tank. if you have aquasoil, you will have softer water in your tank, so adding hard water from your tap will shock your fish, so you need to mix some RO first. also the pH will be different and the TDS will be different so more shock, you need to think about these things..
