Low Flo volume water pump

[cootwarm]

Anyone have any suggestions for a slow working pump?

For awhile, my tanks were on the first floor and I mixed my water in the second floor bathroom, water changes were easy using gravity. Now I have some tanks on my second floor where gravity doesn't work for them.

So I need a pump that will pump slowly so as to fill the tank slowly.

Thanks,
Michael

 

[farm41]

How slow do you mean by slow? I have used a rio 600 before, it will only lift water 5' though.

 

[cootwarm]

Hi Matt,

I just need it slow enough to gradually fill a tank, so it doesn't stir up the bottom, or make pits in the gravel, and allows the water to mix some as it fills. Maybe about 1 gallon a minute, give or take a little. I set my gravity feed to run at about half a gallon per minute

I have a couple tanks that are a little more than 6 feet to get over the side. One is a green water tank, the other is my QT tank. I can probably work around that.

Thanks,
Michael

 

[fishgeek]

have you though of the circulating pumps that they use on central heating systems?
grundfos this side of the pond not sure what you guys might use

andrew

 

[cootwarm]

I solved my problem of pumping fresh water up to my 10 gallon tanks that are on a shelf at eye level. It's a pain to do water changes because they're so high up. I thought I'd share it with everyone in case it might be of use to some one else.

Anyhow, I solved my problem without purchasing a water pump. In the end, it might have been cheaper to buy a water pump, but I already had a good air pump with a regulator.

So I got a 5 gallon carboy with an air tight cover. I drilled 2 holes in the cap for 2 sealed female quick connect tube fittings. I ran a tube from 1 quick connect to the bottom of the jug. The bottom of this tube was cut to a point to prevent it from sealing itself on the bottom of the jug. The 2nd female quick connector was mounted on the cap without any tube attached. Then I put the 2 mating male quick connect tube fittings on 2 tubes. One tube runs from the tank to be filled to the connector with the tube going to the bottom of the jug. The other tube runs from the air pump to the connector on the cap woth no tube attached.

So thats how I set it up. The way it works is that the air pump pressurizes the atmosphere in the 5 gallon carboy. This forces the water to rise up the tube from the bottom of the jug to the tank being filled. To adjust the flow rate, I just need to adjust the pressure regulator on the pump.

This solves 3 problems: 8)

1 - I don't need to lift 5 gallon buckets up over my head any more. And slowly pouring, without disturbing the fish and spilling water all over!

2 - The tank can be filled at a slower rate, allowing the fish to slowly adjust to the new water.

3 - If I only fill the 5 gallon jug with the exact amount of water that I remove from the tank, I can refill the tank at a very slow rate, allowing me to do other things and not have the tank overflow because I got 'busy' and forgot! Once the tank is full(jug is empty) the pump sounds louder so I know it's done. :wink:

Michael