Dedicated Water Change Plumbing

[ShadowFox]

This thread (http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f20/water-change-made-easy-344905.html) started my brain wheels turning about a way to make water changes/cleaning of my built in aquarium in my master bedroom easier. Currently, I am running about 50-75 ft of hose from my kitchen sink to the bedroom to do my gravel vacuum/water changes, and it honestly makes me prolong maintenance, and makes me a little paranoid about a union for the long hose leaking somewhere and creating a disaster before I catch it.

The wall that my aquarium is against holds the plumbing for one of the sinks in my master bathroom, which is on the back side of the same wall. The fixtures in the master bath are not ideal for hooking my hose up to, so I have been thinking about cutting a hole in the wall under my aquarium (this is in a cabinet) and tapping into the water supply/drain for the sink, and having a fill hose/vacuum permanently hooked up, so that I would only have to open the cabinet under the aquarium, grab the syphon, and clean away.


Cliff Notes
I plan on using ball valves to control temperature, as well as change between fill and syphon. Will this work?

 

[ShadowFox]

This would be done with PVC, with a horizontal orientation. Also, if I am tapping into my sink drain for all the waste water, would it hurt me to do it on the sewer side of the P Trap?

 

[Fresh2o]

This would be done with PVC, with a horizontal orientation. Also, if I am tapping into my sink drain for all the waste water, would it hurt me to do it on the sewer side of the P Trap?

If you are on the sewer side of the P trap then you may encounter sewer gases if you leave your setup "open".


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[ShadowFox]

Yeah I knew I would have to make sure my waste valve was closed to keep the chance of sewer smell coming in. I guess my thought was...would draining water from a different source right after the P trap cause a suction that would empty any existing water sitting in the trap

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[Fresh2o]

Good question; you may have to get someone with plumbing experience to chime in regarding the p trap drain concern (vacuum).
Edit: I just realized that under my kitchen sink I have two P traps: one for the main sink and the other for the disposal. They join via Tees to the main drain. At one time they drained directly to a Tee then to a single P trap but I would get slow drain issues and water entering "the other side" rather than go through the P trap. Then I switched to two P traps and the situation improved.
Anyhow, this appears to be similar to your proposed setup. When the main sink full and is draining I might hear an occasional "belch" of air on the disposal side. If anything, there is positive pressure past the disposal's P trap, not negative pressure. Thus, no vacuum or draining of the water in the P trap.
Hopefully the rambling makes sense.

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