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Constant water change tank

omen

omen

Member
Joined
19 Jun 2009
Messages
102
Hi all! I've been skulking about the forum for a quite some time now. I've always kept high tech tanks, and the articles, journals, and advice provided on ukaps really makes it the best planted tank site around imo.

I'm currently awaiting planning approval for a house I bought about 4 months ago. Obviously as part of this, I have already picked my site for a very large tank! I'm thinking of a 400-500 litre tank, but will decide nearer the time. Over the last few years I have messed around with different types of tanks, high tech, walstad, and low tech. However for the new tank I want to set up a continuous water change system with overflow to drain. I have been using untreated tap water for nearly 2 years now, and seen no adverse effects. And due to the huge amounts of pearling after water changes, my thinking is that if I add 20-30% tank volume on a constant basis over a 24 hr period/7 days a week, I may be able to run a high tech tank without the need for co2 injection?

I've looked around the web, and am unable to find anyone who has tried this yet. I reckon I will have to continue with my daily fert regime, and if necessary add co2, but would rather try to find a balance without co2 injection.

Any thoughts on this? All input is welcomed, and I'd just like to thank all members for creating such a great community!

Conor
 
So your plan is based on the C02 already contained in your tap water?
I can see some logic it what you are trying to achieve but I doubt if you could keep the same level of C02 compared to an injected system so I doubt you would get the growth to warrant high lighting?
Interesting thought though...
 
I would have thought that this would prove really costly to run. I think you'd have to work out the amount of fertiliser you put in as you'll constantly be loosing some down the drain so would need more to get to the same level as a traditional Ei setup. I'd also be concerned that if the water board did any work you could come home to find a tonne of crap in your tank. However I can see the logic of a fully plumbed in system that you could cycle out a portion of water every day.
 
Yes, I figure I will probably have to overdose to achieve the same level of dissolved ferts in the tank. The water supply is pretty solid here, however you are right, I may come home to find brown water being added :eek:

We don't pay water rates here, so water supply is free! :D I figure I may as well make the most of that.
 
This something my husband goes on about every week when I do water changes. Its his ideal scenario so I'm interested to see how it goes for you.

Viv
 
Free :) that's a great word! Why is it free for your area, just out of interest

In the tanks you have been using untreated tap water on you've been keeping what?
 
Rather than having it constant, set it to come on in the evenings and change overnight, therefore you can dose in the morning and fertilise throughout the day?

Or something along those lines.
 
T1Karmman on Tff has a constant water change system on his tankbuster tank. he has vids on youtube.
 
Cheers Gill, but not able to find any info on his set up asides from big tank, big fish, and no plants...

RudeDogg, I've thought about putting it through a HMA unit, but I've never use one and from what I can see you have to add a lot more to the water.

Morgan Freeman, night time water changes are certainly another option, I'd require a solenoid for that, and its just another bit of kit. In my mind its best to keep things as simple as possible.

I'm surprised no-one has tried this type of system on a high-tech tank before (that I can find), maybe there is a good reason for this?
 
Sorry Nayr, missed your comment!

In the tanks I currently have, I change 50% water approx once a week, though sometimes more like every 5 or 6 days... I work shifts...

Stock wise, I currently have Peacock Gobies, Honey Gouramis, Ember Tetras, Celestial Pearl Danios, Sakura shrimp, MTS.

Currently breeding the CPD like mad, as I want to have a 200+ swarm of them in the new tank!

N Ireland has no water charges! :D

They've been trying to introduce them for years, but its an uphill struggle for them considering we have never paid for water!
 
omen said:
RudeDogg, I've thought about putting it through a HMA unit, but I've never use one and from what I can see you have to add a lot more to the water.
Click to expand...

HMA's don't produce waste water so would provide a really good benefit for what you're after doing, plus it would filter out quite a bit of junk from your water :)

omen said:
I'm surprised no-one has tried this type of system on a high-tech tank before (that I can find), maybe there is a good reason for this?
Click to expand...

You've already covered the biggest one - water costs! I also think that a lot of people have their tank away from the water supply so plumbing it in would be quite difficult.
 
omen said:
I'm surprised no-one has tried this type of system on a high-tech tank before (that I can find), maybe there is a good reason for this?
Click to expand...

One of the iaplc winners this year has a setup that does round the clock top up. :)

Will find the article and post here.

The guy end up on the 1st 30 I believe.


___________________________

I don't know what is the secret of success, but the secret of failure is trying to please the world!
 
Here it goes, Gold prize at the IAPLC..
http://www.aquascapingworld.com/forum/g ... e-hai.html

6388307.jpg
 
Totally inadequate at expressing at how I feel about this scape but - that is so amazing!!!!!

Viv
 
Wow! That's incredibly impressive!

I wonder if he uses the water straight from the tap, or passes it through a hma unit first though.
 
Aparently he does it straight from the tap. :) quite interesting setup.


___________________________

I don't know what is the secret of success, but the secret of failure is trying to please the world!
 
omen said:
I'm currently awaiting planning approval for a house I bought about 4 months ago. Obviously as part of this, I have already picked my site for a very large tank! I'm thinking of a 400-500 litre tank, but will decide nearer the time. Over the last few years I have messed around with different types of tanks, high tech, walstad, and low tech. However for the new tank I want to set up a continuous water change system with overflow to drain. I have been using untreated tap water for nearly 2 years now, and seen no adverse effects. And due to the huge amounts of pearling after water changes, my thinking is that if I add 20-30% tank volume on a constant basis over a 24 hr period/7 days a week, I may be able to run a high tech tank without the need for co2 injection?
Click to expand...

If you add tap water straight to a fish tank you will get what appears to be pearling but this is just air degassing from the new water due to higher temps and lower pressure in your tank compared to your tap. Are you sure that the pearling you are seeing after the water changes is actually due increased photosynthesis or just the tap water degassing?

If it is just tap water degassing then it might not make a constant w/c system worthwhile after all.

Though if you want to run a high volume tank and do large weekly water changes, it would be good to automate it.
 
Always after a 50% water change I see much higher levels of pearling, plus if my normal co2 schedule is left on all fish are at the surface nearing the end of the lighting period which is not normally the case. This has always indicated to me that the water does contain dissolved co2, am I wrong? I thought this was normal.

My intentions are two fold, obviously great advantages to be had from not having to do massive manual water changes, but more importantly to me, with a regular w/c system such as this my hope is that the water parameters will remain consistent always, asides from any fert dosing. I intend to experiment with different levels of w/c to see if I can hit a sweet spot for dissolved carbon.

By all means, I'm not a scientist, just a lowly IT bod. And my tanks tend to be run via trial and error, and the huge knowledge base that is UKAPS!

:D
 
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