How long does your PWC take?

[Mebbid]

What's a drip water change system?

You run a line to your tank to slowly drip water in constantly.l and have an overflow to allow the tank water to flow out of the tank. It continuously does a water change for you.

 

[dragon14]

Oh neat! That's definitely an interesting method

 

[Mebbid]

Oh neat! That's definitely an interesting method

Yeppers! I plan on using that method when I finally set up a discus tank.

 

[thrak76]

If I'm only doing a pwc, on a 75g it takes about 45 minutes. I send a hose out the front door to the garden to drain (even in the winter), and then hook that same hose to an outside to tap to refill - slowly, so that my inline heater can take some of the chill off of the incoming water.

 

[Mebbid]

If I'm only doing a pwc, on a 75g it takes about 45 minutes. I send a hose out the front door to the garden to drain (even in the winter), and then hook that same hose to an outside to tap to refill - slowly, so that my inline heater can take some of the chill off of the incoming water.

Why not hook the hose to a tap in your house so you don't have to worry about the straight cold water?

 

[thrak76]

Why not hook the hose to a tap in your house so you don't have to worry about the straight cold water?

I've done that too. I do not like the wear and tear on the faucet. If I had a laundry sink I would use that, alas, I do not. Also, I save on propane by just sending the cold water into the tank, and the inline heater gets it back up to temp within an hour.

 

[Tolak]

What's a drip water change system?

You have a constant flow of water into the tank. There's drip emitters, usually used in agriculture, rated in gallons per hour. On something like a 20 or 29 gallon tank you'd run one rated at 1/2 gph, which would change out 12 gallons every 24 hours. On a 55 you'd use a 1gph, and so on, depending on the tank size & what you'd like to have for water being changed.

These are used with an inline carbon block filter to remove disinfectants, and usually run in a multiple tank fishroom setup. The carbon block can be one issue, as the water comes out disinfectant free you can get bacterial growth. I like being able to run in water at a different temperature at times, or hold off on water changes in an individual tank. It is something I've considered, but the cost & time setting up vs the time saved doesn't balance out for my setup.

 

[dragon14]

You have a constant flow of water into the tank. There's drip emitters, usually used in agriculture, rated in gallons per hour. On something like a 20 or 29 gallon tank you'd run one rated at 1/2 gph, which would change out 12 gallons every 24 hours. On a 55 you'd use a 1gph, and so on, depending on the tank size & what you'd like to have for water being changed.

These are used with an inline carbon block filter to remove disinfectants, and usually run in a multiple tank fishroom setup. The carbon block can be one issue, as the water comes out disinfectant free you can get bacterial growth. I like being able to run in water at a different temperature at times, or hold off on water changes in an individual tank. It is something I've considered, but the cost & time setting up vs the time saved doesn't balance out for my setup.

Thanks for the detailed explanation

 

[jetajockey]

I currently have 8 15s, 6 40bs, 8 10s, and 6 20s on a drip system. I only run it for about an hour a day, though. I didn't see the point in running it all day, and I run it along with sponge filters since the dripper alone wasn't moving the water hardly at all.

 

[PNWaquarist]

It takes about 15 minutes to siphon substrate debris and do a 40% WC on my 29 gallon. That's with 5 gallon buckets, old-school.

 

[Mattyfelts]

my PWC takes forever on my 60 because i have to do about 5-10 3 gallon buckets full, then replace that with another 5-10 3 gallon buckets.

 

[ppo8820]

I can do them so quickly. At work I have a 30 gallon hex and a 10 gallon. I can do both using a siphon and 2 5 gallon buckets in about 10-15 minutes tops. At my house, I have a 5, 10, and a 15. Doing these takes me about 20 minutes for all of them using the same siphon with the 2 buckets from walmart method.

 

[Fishanatic]

My 125 usually takes 30mins on average because I made a DIY hose system, super simple just took a casual hose use it to drain my tank directly to the foset and then take the hose and hook it on the foset sometimes needs tape but saves my back and my energy and in some cases my carpet(because my tank is in my basement)

55 Gallon- Empty
125 Gallon- CKF and Tiger Oscar
220 Gallon- To come...

 

[Fishanatic]

You could just do a drip water change system and never have to worry about water changes again.

Its a common practice in discus tanks if im correct.

55 Gallon- Empty
125 Gallon- CKF and Tiger Oscar
220 Gallon- To come...

 

[ScotJudd]

I am probably lucky in having the time to do PWCs and probably a bit weird in that I find doing them relaxing as well as a bit of a work out.
It very satisfying to sit down and look at my tank after any maintenance that makes a difference.


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[PNWaquarist]

EDIT: This morning's 40% WC took closer to 20 min than 15.

 

[evil Nick]

29 gallon tank. Maybe 30 mins, only a five gallon PWC tho. Have a faucet siphon connected to my laundry sink. I stopped using the fill part though since I always end up with five gallons. I prefer filling the bucket and letting the chemicals sit in the bucket while I get the temp right then using a smaller bucket to fill it back slow.

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[machotaco]

I can change 50% on my 45 gallon tank in 30 mins. I have hoses do most of the work though, no buckets.


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[Squeaker]

It usually takes me about 20 minutes to do my 10g fry tank, and about 40 minutes to do the 29g, using buckets.

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[J.Mcpeak]

Hello BO, hope you are well.

A full clean (filters & water) on the entire house.
One good days labor. (With overtime) so 8-12hours.
Water changes only on the entire house, 2-3 hours if the going is good!
(That's 24 litres exchange on four systems and 170 litres on one)
266 litre or 70US Gal.

Normally this is divided into a morning session and an afternoon or evening session.
I do this every Sunday almost without fail.
More recently I've been splitting up the filters so it happens over the course of the week rather than all on one day. The going is a bit easier!

My biggest system is the only headache, 50% changes occur in two halves.
(Water out/half return day one, second stage refill on day two)
Water production time is the problem, I'm keen enough!

Also there are daily/mid week sessions which are generally much shorter unless Sunday goes wayward, in this case Monday is a busy time!

I have no fancy exchange method it's all done the old fashioned way, water in a bucket. Fortunately everything is within arms reach of the sink!

FISH HOUSE JOY