Do you have a water change outlet? - Do you ever use it?

S

SALT

Premium Member
[Hello All,

Well I am about to finish off the plumbing on my new 105 set up and there has been an idea rolling around in the back of my head for a while. I was thinking that I should plumb in a water change outlet, something that I could use to hook up to a hose and run it outside and just drain away. I guess I am thinking with the old tank it did not take much to drain two buckets using a siphon and then pump the new water back in with a power head, but now with the bigger tank that might not be so easy.

My first thought is I could just pump it out of the sump but then that would limit the amount of water I could change based on what flows back when I turn the pumps off. Anyways, I think I have a way that I could add a Tee and a ball valve and use the plumbing for my closed loop. Since the return to the closed loop is on the bottom of the tank I could drain as much as I wanted.

OK, back to the original question, I know I could add the drain but is it worth it? If anyone has one, do you find yourself using it or do you just either siphon it or get a pump and pump it out? I just cannot see in adding it if it is something that is not really needed or will be used.


Almost there,

Stanley T''' - SALT]
 
[I have one built into my closed loop, mostly for draining it and not the tank. I just syphon it into a trash can, that way I know how much to put back :)]
 
[Hey Stanley,

about a year ago I got tired of bringing my 5 gallon jugs to my 30 gallon top-off (garage to top-off/ 2 rooms away)...So, I ran about 100' of 1/4" tubing in the attic, fished a wall, and plumb it straight to top-off. I have a valve in garage I turn and my top-off fills (I don’t trust my Kent float in my top off tank) easy as pie...took the entire headache out of it.

As for a drain/fill, I was thinking of doing the same for it. I have a Liter meter which supports (if you purchase) remote modules. You can program them to dump 10 gallons and fill 10 gallons (or any amount) from a holding tank of mixed water in my garage. The only reason I have not done this yet is due to the cost.

What I thought about doing was making a remote switch box that I could plug a couple of Mag 3's into....run dual lines up into the attic, connect them to PVC piping, connect that to a dual drop down the wall. Now you have an auto drain auto fill system....you being the "auto"...

The down side to this system would be the possibility that the lines might break in the attic or stagnate water it the plumbing when you go to fill it.....]
 
[Did you insulate the 1/4" line in the attic. Was thinking about doing the same thing only was worried about the line breaking. Stanley if you are going to do the drain, I would only do it myself if I could have it plumed directly to a drain.]
 
[I'm playing with some ideas for draining my sump during water changes. Nothing solid yet, but I hope to have something workable soon. Mine would drain right out the garage and down the driveway. ;)]
 
[It's a great idea if you can pull it off. No doubt I'll design something in my next tank to do it.

Did you end up drilling the back for a closed loop? I can't remember. If you did you could rig something with one of those holes and not have to do anything seperate!]
 
[Man I love this club, I ask a simple question about adding a Tee, ball valve and garden hose adapter so I can hook up my garden hose, run it out the garage and down the driveway and now I am running plumbing up the wall and through the attic. :lol:

Mark,

That would actually be a benefit I did not think of, and maybe if I would have, I could have saved $30 on ball valves and unions. Oh well, they are already there so I will use them, but it will be nice to drain the system before I disconnect the pump for service as well.

Chris,

I was already planning to run my auto top off from the garage, through the attic and down the wall. I was going to use 1/2 PVC but I am thinking about using 3/8" or 1/2" tubing, like the stuff you use for the RO units just a little bigger. Was 1/4 inch enough to do the job? You mentioned using Mag 3 pumps, were they strong enough to pump that high against the head pressure? I have a Mag 5 that I was planning to use for mine. I guess if I do put this valve in I could still use it to hook up to the hose and drain but I could use the tubing and pump to refill the tank with the fresh salt water. I do not think I will have to worry about the water in line going bad because it will run at least a few times a day. My present system evaporates about 1 1/2 gallons a day so the new set up will be that at least if not more.


Glenn,

I too worried about the freezing and I guess I will have to keep an eye on it. I am hoping that either the keeping the water moving pretty regularly will keep that from happening, you know, sort of like when you drip your faucet to keep it from freezing or that the tube will mostly drain between deliveries. I expect it should pump at least every half hour or so. My present system seems to go off like every 15 minutes but it is directly under the tank and only dribbles in a cup or two at a time. This system will most likely deliver more at dose simply because it will have to pump up and over the walls and then when it stops pumping it will have to drain off.

Marc,

No such luck for me, unless of course I pump it through the attic like Chris suggested. I will look forward to seeing what you come up with.

Keith,

No, I did not want to take the risk of drilling. If something went wrong, it would be along time before I could afford to replace the tank. What I did for my closed loop was run the returns up and over the back side all the way down to the bottom and forward along the bottom almost to the two front corners. I guess I need to start a gallery and post some pictures. Anyways since the outlets are at the bottom of the tank I guess I figured that if I turn the pump off and shut the ball valves, the outlets of the closed loop would act as drains and siphon backward. So if I put a Tee, ball valves and garden hose adptor in the return line I could just use that to drain the water from the tank. Does that make sense?]
 
[Currently I siphon out the tank and have a long hose (~15')that goes out the window. I have a piece of tape on my tank to know how much water to siphon out. I then fill my sump with the replacment water and pump it up to the tank. Much easier than trying to dump into the tank.

I too have just plumbed up my sump and left it where I can add a tee to pump it out if I wish. I like the siphon to help get debris out of the tank so I may not use the tee.

Just my $.02.]
 
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