mrwizzstl

For those who have a magnum canstier with the gravel Vac attchment, couldn't you also use this to put water back in the tank, by putting the gravel vac in the bucket of new water. I'm intrested to hear a reply to this as I will be setting one up soon and would like to know if it would work. In my head this sounds good but would like to know if anyone has done it.

dpotash

Wow I tried all of the ideas once. Even went out and got a python. Then I thought about it and it seemed like far too much work. They cant be doing this in pet stores. So I snaked a 3/4 hose from my 120 gallon tank to my sump pump in the basement. I got an RO/DI filter and a 50 gallon garbage can. Now i make clean water into my garbage can let that circulate and when I am ready I start a syphon in the tank and empty right into the sump pit and then refill witht the same hose out of the garbage can.
Fish are meant to be enjoyed. If there is a lazy's mans way to make it easier I am all over it.

luna

I only have a 5g tank, so my siphoning and refilling doesn't take the time and effort it would for a larger tank...and I'm sure my methods would change slightly if I had more water to change. Right now, since I'm still cycling, I use the tube from my gravel vacuum (but not the vacuum itself) to siphon off the water I'm going to change.

1st - I fill a second bucket with my new water and condition it.
2nd - I turn off my filter, so it doesn't stop and choke on itself when the water level drops. This is a pretty fast process for my small tank, so there's no worry of anything drying out...plus, with how I add the water back in, there's really no harm being done.
3rd - I siphon out the old water into another bucket. Both buckets have lines on them to mark certain volumes of water so that I'm sure I have an equal amount in both.
4th - I use a cup to scoop and pour the new water from its bucket into the filter/bio-wheel so that they stay wet, catch any small debris that might end up in the water (like hair), and the flow created in the tank is a similar rate and in the same place as it is with the filter on, so there's no abnormal disturbance to my decor or fish.
5th - I turn the filter back on.

This method is working very well for me so far, and has made my daily water changes a relatively quick and easy process.