How to use the shower for water changes

Ok all, bear with me on this. There's been a lot of talk lately on how to easily conduct weekly water changes. The popular reply is to use the python (or similar product) that connects to the faucet. If either that's not an option for you or you just want to know your other options, I'm going to describe two ways in which you can use your shower to fill up your fish tank.

1st option:
Materials:
Hose
Diverter such as the one shown here:



This method is simple because you just remove the showerhead, connect the diverter where the showerhead was, and then connect the showerhead to the diverter. The showerhead stays in place and when you need to do a water change, you just screw in the hose, pull the vavle (shown on the right side of the picture) and it diverts the water from the shower-head to the hose. Last I checked, it cost about $15-$20 in stores (you could probably find them much cheaper online).

2nd option: This is what I did. First off, here's the final product. It may not be pretty, but it's useful.


Materials needed:
1/2"(female)-to-3/4"(male) adapter
1/2"(male)-to-3/4"(female) adapter
Quick-connect kit that comes with 1/2" connectors (at least 1 female and 2 male)
Hose

Step 1: You screw the 1/2"(female)-to-3/4"(male) adapter to the shower and then the female quick connect to that:


Step 2: Screw the 1/2"(male)-to-3/4"(female) adapter to the showerhead and then one of the male quick connects to that:


Step 3: Simply screw the other male quick connect to the hose:


Now when you want to do a water change, you simply pull off the shower-head and click in the hose. I believe this cost me about $12 (not including the cost of the hose).

Good luck and feel free to leave comments ;D


EDIT: Sorry I couldn't show all of the pieces separately for the 2nd option. I didn't want to risk damaging the threads by taking everything apart and causing a leak after I put it back together.

Good luck and feel free to leave comments ;D

 

Very interesting! Great option! Thanks for sharing.
Carol

 

Neat ideas
Thanks for the info

 

If you're like me, you have (had) a faucet down below your showerhead that is never used except to divert water flow up to the shower. In that case, another method is to simply replace your faucet with one side of a quick-connect hose adapter. Use a ball valve to switch between the shower and the hose, place the opposite variety of adapter on your hose and you're good to go.

 

Awesome. Thanks for the add-on ;D

 

good idea

 

We use those connectors at the marina.

How do you remove the water?

How do you match the water temp?

 

We use those connectors at the marina.

How do you remove the water?

How do you match the water temp?

I create a siphon by just turning the water on, letting the hose fill up with water, and then just removing the hose from the showerhead. I drop the hose into the tub and it starts removing the water from the tank.

Typically, you can tell if there's any difference in water temperature within a degree. When I first started, I would turn the shower on and use a thermometer to test the water in a bucket but I got used to just doing it by feel.

 

I create a siphon by just turning the water on, letting the hose fill up with water, and then just removing the hose from the showerhead. I drop the hose into the tub and it starts removing the water from the tank.

Typically, you can tell if there's any difference in water temperature within a degree. When I first started, I would turn the shower on and use a thermometer to test the water in a bucket but I got used to just doing it by feel.

Ahhhh, water coming out the faucet makes a siphon with the showerhead?