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Time spent?

idris

idris

Member
Joined
3 Jan 2011
Messages
816
Location
Herts
I timed how long it takes me to do a water change.

I've got a system in place, and valves and hoses fitted to one filter to pump water in and out. Short of fitting a higher-powered pump (which is on my Xmas list) it couldn't get much more efficient.

It still takes about 1h 20min to change about 30% (70-80L) and clean the filter media.

So I'm wondering how much time folk spend in their tanks each week?
 
2l jug emptied into 10l bucket, empty and repeat. Clean intake sponges in the bucket before emptying. Then refill. About 10 minutes if I don't fuss around.
 
About an hour or so to do a 40/50 percent water change on a 400l tank. However probably takes about 4 hours to make enough ro water for this.
 
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idris said:
It still takes about 1h 20min to change about 30% (70-80L) and clean the filter media.
Click to expand...

I've managed to cut down the time I spend cleaning filter media.

Before coming to UKAPS, I thought I had to clean the sponges thoroughly (using fish tank water) until there was no more brown stuff coming out of them.

Now, I do clean the pre-filter sponge thoroughly because the prefilter catches all those dead leaves, but all the other sponges, I just give them a couple of gentle squeezes using fish tank water and thats good enough, because those sponges are also doing bio-filtration.

For purigen and my 100 micron polishing pad, I have a few 'stand-by' bags /pads so I just swap them in and out, and dip the old ones in bleach . The polishing pad is not strictly necessary, but I fall into 'addicted to clear water' category....
 
so i timed my self today, 200l tank, and i drain about 45l a time via sython then refill with a small 1500l/hr pump but it has to push a good distance so slower.
and it was my once a month filter clean too where i rinse the course sponges and just bin and replace the white polish stuff.
also did some pruning.

1 hour.

can be cut down to about 30 mins odd if its just a water change and i have some help.

the pump is a game changer tbh, i'm going to make something i can just hang over the tank with a defuser on it so i don't have to stand there holding the hose under the water defusing with my hand!
 
I spend about an hour on a Saturday morning on my 90 litre, i could spend less but i choose to allocate one hour a week for maintenance. I'll be honest i don't have a filter, just a pump so there isn't a sponge to clean. i siphon the water out the window, organic debris collects in one place, and fill up with a hose from kitchen tap straight into tank. Really is quick and simple and it's great just to tinker and prune 😃.
 
Hi all,
About five minutes per tank per day. I change a <"small volume of water"> every day and pick any dying leaves of the floating plants. Feeding/curating the food cultures probably another five minutes, mainly because I only have Grindal and Banana Worm cultures running at the moment My Asellus, Crangonyx, <"Daphnia"> and <"Lumbriculus"> cultures are all outside in buckets and receive no regular maintenance.

Saturday morning <"clean the pre-filters"> (probably another five minutes per tank) and once every few months clean the hoses (~20 minutes) and every six months or so open the filter body and give the media a rinse. This doesn't take much longer, but picking out all the Asellus etc to return to the tank and/or filter takes a while.

cheers Darrel
 
Hi all,
Currently doing water changes about 3x week on my 1200 scape and 1x week on my 900 scape. Takes me about 20-40mins each water change using the python hose system connected to the tap.

Filter maintenance about 1x month

Thanks
 
Big tank about an hour per week, 50 mins to clean windows, 50% water change, and clean one of the three sump spunges, and the remaining 10 mins is spot dosing suspicious spots with easycarbo, feeding fish, removing dead leaves etc. Small tank about 45 mins for cleaning windows, cleaning skimmer, cutting back plants, and changing 2 buckets of water (which equates to about 40%). And another 10 for spot dosing, feeding, removing dead leaves etc. Water changes and pruning happen on monday so the bulk of the work is done on one night of the week, rest of the week its just the regular checks and feeding.
 
I do my 50% water changes / maintenance each Sunday morning (3 tanks). I find it enjoyable and so go about it leisurely. I pump my refill water from a reservoir in the basement where it is already Primed and heated. I change out about 150L, so if I had to haul buckets I don't think I'd find it so enjoyable...

Canister filters get serviced 2-3 times a year.
 
For my two heavily planted low-tech 151 L (40 US gallon) tanks I change ~40% per week (usually during the weekend). I mix 40% Tap with 60% pre-made RO water (I usually make the ~70L of RO water the day before the WC - takes about 7-8 hours, but takes care of itself). The actual process of changing the water in both tanks probably takes me about an hour, including mixing in all the minerals and macro ferts for the week, and an additional 30 mins to clean filters, if needed, weed out overgrowth, remove dead or struggling leaves, light vaccuming etc. I rarely ever spend more than two hours per week on maintenance. Occasionally, I go with the Walstad method and let the WC's slip a week if it interferes with other plans and tasks or if I am just plain lazy. Other than that I feed every day and add micro ferts twice a week - once the day after WC and then again midweek if I remember to do so :)

Cheers,
Michael
 
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