Water change refill without buckets

[Gary]

My wife doesn't like me carrying buckets through the house as I always seem to spill a little. So the first step to a happy wife was to plumb the water change tank in the garage to the sump.

I put a couple of bulkhead fittings in the 20 gallon tank. Using 3/4" PVC I made a manifold then ran 1/2" PEX to the sump manifold. The PEX pipes are in the crawl space and are insulated.

When I built the sump I put an overflow drain in in case the auto top off ever got stuck open. I used that drain as a way to fill the sump back up.

I drain the tank into buckets (this is the next thing I need to figure out how to get around). Then I turn the main pump on. I adjust the return flow into the tank with a valve on the pump outlet (not shown in these pictures). I then open up valve 7. So far it works pretty well!

The water change tank has a Quiet One 6000 in it.

Manipulating the valves allows the following:

Recirculation in the water change tank only with overflow on sump operational

Valve 1 Closed
Valve 2 Open
Valve 3 Closed
Valve 4 Closed
Valve 5 Closed
Valve 6 Closed
Valve 7 Open

Recirculation through the PEX tubes with overflow on sump operational
I do this for a day prior to the water change so the temperature and salinity are consistent.

Valve 1 Open
Valve 2 Closed
Valve 3 Open
Valve 4 Closed
Valve 5 Open
Valve 6 Closed
Valve 7 Open

To fill tank after a water change

Valve 1 Open
Valve 2 Closed
Valve 3 Closed
Valve 4 Closed
Valve 5 Open
Valve 6 Open
Valve 7 Closed

To fill a bucket (that pipe is incomplete) with overflow on sump operational

Valve 1 Closed
Valve 2 Closed
Valve 3 Closed
Valve 4 Open
Valve 5 Closed
Valve 6 Closed
Valve 7 Open

Water change tank manifold.

Sump manifold

 

[Peppie]

Great job Gary!!

Your post makes me wonder..... How many thousands of dollars, countless hours, new intonations in this hobby can be traced back to pleasing our wives????

 

[james734]

Nice job.. Lugging buckets is in thing I hate. My sump is in the garage so I can do a WC pretty quick out there if that's all I'm doing. The problem comes when I need to vacuum the sand in the DT. Gotta use a bucket for that..

 

[Gary]

I think you are right, james734. I am stuck with buckets for sand sifting. I'm not sure how I will drain on non-sand sifting water changes.

 

[Gary]

So true peppie!

 

[NC2WA]

gary, I have an automated system as well and I use a wet vac to clean my sump..it is the only manual work I do..pics of my system can be found under my signature..I've upgraded one of my 55g vats to 165g for saltwater changes..

 

[Gary]

NC2WA

That is AWESOME!!! I would love an in-wall tank. I love the pipe pictures! IMG_0433a is my favorite!

 

[NC2WA]

Gary,

yeah that is a good photo..Sums up the heart of my system..along with the water vats and plumbing that leads to my drainage system under the crawl space.

 

[cubalz]

Very cool indeed!

 

[jlh81]

Very cool indeed!

 

[merob94]

This is easily top five coolest things I have seen in any forum! Nice work.

 

[trido]

And I thought my four valve water change system was complicated. My WC pump is also my reactor feed pump and it is also plumbed directly into the house. Nice job.

 

[kpiotrowski]

I'm going with a 2 valve. one 2in valve on the bottom end of the sump plumbed to outside and one a 55g drum wich will dump by gravity to sump. looking for about a 45g wc in less than a minute. why? Just because!