questions about water pythons

[cootwarm]

Hi,
I currently do my water changes with a gravity fed system I pieced together myself. I mix my water in the upstairs bathroom and siphon it to the tanks down stairs. I have valve to regulate the flow. Problem is that it's a little awkward and I have to keep an eye on it or else it'll over flow. My water is city water so I need to treat it before using. Next month I plan to install an R/O filter.

Will I benefit from a python?
I currently have 10 tanks going, soon to be 14 (another 4). Mostly 20 and 30 gallon. I like the idea of trickle water changes. Does it need babysitting or will it work on it's own without overflowing?
I've only read about it being hooked up directly to the faucet. Can it be used on a water storage tank?

Does any one know of a website where I can read up about them?

Thanks again,
Michael

 

[aspen]

i have used drip systems and it always ended the same way... water all over the floor. but, i was using water straight from the tap. i don't know how you would do a drip from a storage tank, maybe a valve and a pump? but for multiple tanks, the valves would have to be constantly adjusted. i cannot see how it would be any easier trying to drip a mix of r/o and aged tapwater.

i use a python, but don't bother with the tap fitting, just syphon it down the drain and re-fill each tank with a pump from my reservoir. any way you cut it, you still have to watch the tanks fill, unless you have float switches on each tank and solenoids.

rick

 

[tjudy]

I do not think that a python system will accomplish what you are hoping to do. Python makes it easy to take water out of a tank, but it wastes a lot of water from the tap in the process. Filling with a python is the same as filling with anu hose.

Spectrapure has some systems that can control water going into your tanks for you. They can be used from an R/O reservoir, and make use of a water level controller in your tank. To water change, simply remove the water, and let the auto refill do its job. The systems are not cheap though. I priced a system out to control five 75 gallon tanks (for discus), using dosers to get the right mix of tap and R/O in the reservoir. THe total was about $1500, but it included a 500 GPD RO/DI, two 200 gallon reservoirs, two doser pumps (one to fill the reservoirs and one to empty them to the tanks) and the auto level controllers for the tanks. The total did not include an auto system to take water out of the tanks.

The guy who was wanting the system wanted the fish without the work!

Spectrapure's dosers are pretty nice. If I had a huge plant tank, I would get one. They can dose up to six different things and varying rates and volumes, up to (I think) 50 gallons per day. They sell a lot of them to reef keepers I guess.

 

[cootwarm]

Wow! $1500! I was hoping for something between $200 and $300.

Sounds like I'm best off improving on my existing set-up. I think next week I'm going to shop for the components Rick mentioned. On Monday I'll talk to my electronics buddies and get an idea of what I need. If I know what I need where, I can put it together. I know where I can find solenoids and float switches.

I kind of have an idea of what I need to make this work. One thing I need to figure out, would be a holder of some sort, to hold the float switch and the filler tube, that would be easy to move from tank to tank. The float switch would wire to a solenoid valve. It wouldn't be too difficult to mount 4 solenoid valves in a box located at a junction off the main hose. This would make it possible fill 4 aquariums at once with no baby sitting.

The draining system I guess would be best done separately as I do now. One improvement I have in mind there, is to mount drain tubes that stay in the aquarium and are routed to the back of the tank where a quick connect coupler would allow this drain to to be "quick connected" to a siphon hose. This would eliminate a great deal of the 'hassle' with draining the tanks.

I'll get back to you after I come up with a shopping list and get some prices to go along with it. I'm not expecting it to come to more than $200 to $300, but I guess I'll find out. It's not the work I'm looking to avoid, it's the needless consumption of time. As it is now, it's difficult for me to do something else at the same time my tanks are slowly filling, because when I do, I lose track of the tank level and I end up with a flood! Waiting for a tank to slowly fill is like watching for a pot of water to boil!

I'll have to look at low volume pumps as well, so I'm not totally dependant on gravity. I think the quick connect couplers are going to be the key to removing most of the 'hassle' out of setting it up. Instead of doing a complete set up everytime I do a water change, I could just do a quick hook up.

Any other tips or suggestions?

Thanks,
Michael

 

[aspen]

i am an electrician, and i don't think that you can do a job that will be reliable for 300 bucks. the more components you buy, and the less you spend on each, the more likely one will screw up. that is some law.

>>'As it is now, it's difficult for me to do something else at the same time my tanks are slowly filling, because when I do, I lose track of the tank level and I end up with a flood!'

how about a float switch, on a plexiglass mounting bracket which rings a battery powered alarm when the water gets near the top. i think that is possible for 20 bucks.

rick

 

[tjudy]

I have built a couple big central systems for stores, and designed a few for private fish rooms. Here is my biggest advice... Do not make your system so automatic that you can ignore it for long periods of time. Sometimes people with totally auto systems become complacent and lose track of their hobby a bit.

Here is how I designed a system in a store once... It is how I will do it agian for myself someday.

Each tank was drilled in the upper right corner to fit a 3/4" bulkhead. A 90 degree fitting was placed in the bulkhead, and it could turn. Straight lengths of pipe could be placed in the elbow that, when turned towards the bottom of the tank, would determine the amount of water that would be drained. Different length pipes could be used if more of less of a water change was desired for a specific tank. These overflows were piped to a drain, but there was a master valve to shut the draining system on and off.

On water change day, the lengths of pipe were put in the overflows, the elbows turned down and the valve was opened. Every tank drained down to the desired level. The worker would then wipe glass, remove the length of pipe and turn the elbow back up before the tanks were refilled. That was teh water removal system.

To put water back, there was a 300 gallon vat in the back room with a 1000 GPD RO system and tap. Water would be mixed and aged in that vat, depending upon the type of water that was needed. When the tanks were wiped and an overflows turned back up, a pump was turned on that would fill the tanks from the vat.

The store had 6 systems all running on this same system. Each system used specific water types: africans got hard and alkaline, marine, a soft water rack, etc... The vat's pump first pushed water to a set of switching valves that could be shut on or off to direct water to the correct system. When water changes were done, about 250 gallons would be removed from a system, but 300 gallons of water woulf be made. The tanks would fill up, and the ones that filled first would overflow water back into the vat until all the tanks were full (remember that some tanks got 20% changed, while others had as much as 80%).

I loved this system because it was not a central filtration system, and it required that a person actively turn valves on and off. It was not truly automatic, but it cut labor costs in that fish room significantly. In a home fish room, a hobbyist could literally turn a valve and drain every tank in the room that s/he wanted to, then turn another valve to fill them back up.