Water change

[Azear]

Tired of doing the painful "bucket water change" ??? well, I am... So at first, I decided... Let's get a pump, hook it to the gravel cleaner and throw the output in the sink (or toilet)... Result : I ended up that the transfer pump is not enough strong (don't suck gravel at all), It's consuming WAY TOO much energy for half of nothing, It's SOOOO Noisy ! (Can't hear me think when draining part of the tank) and ... I ended up loosing about 4 hours trying to figure out how I could fix the D***ed transfer pump so It wouldn't leak (and it still leak now)... So... I'm fed up... I was about to buy a python *BUT*... I got another S***ty idea.... On Freecycle.com (Thanks CAF for the hint and link :19: ), I'm getting a pool filter for an inflatable pool... It's small, only 610GPH flow (which = ~10Gal/minute) but it'll be 500% better than the old transfer pump... I was planning to use that pump to drain and then, using quick connector, invert the flow and fill up with it too... So instead of costing me 100$ (or more) for a python, I'll end up paying ~ 20$ for hoses and I'll have a super fast/great system....

So... anybody have an idea if this will work ? before I (once again) fail to do something efficient ? (Tho I never stop trying... because someday, my plan will work perfectly ! ... lol... DIY philosophy... )...

Btw, here's a link on the specs of the pool filter...
http://www.qualityinflatables.com/aqsa3766.html

And for all this, I was planning to remove the filtering media so there would be no possibility to contaminate the water with anything pool-related... But on the other side... maybe that I could "add" this filtering device to my tank in case of "filtering" Emergency ? *Just throwing idea on the plate like that...

so if anybody had experiences (good/bad) ... please let me know...

[markbob]

You could get a Randolph pump or something similar. They are pumps that you just route the tygon hose from your water python through and the pump manipulates the tygon to cause flow. I've seen electrically driven and pnumatically driven ones. They also work great for dewatering the bilges of submarines.:c10:

[Azear]

Ok, here's an Update... don't try this at home kit... it'll save you a lot of time... The pool pump was WAY too strong for this... I could have emptied the whole tank within 5 minute and don't even think about cleaning the gravel at this speed... Reducing input or output would have done no good so... I'll try to create a modified Python with what I have now... I just hope that it won't leak nor explode this time... LOL... probably will use a water bed filling & draining kit... and hook it the way Python works (as Elmer suggested in one of his post about DIY python)... but instead of using garden hose, I'll use the old 3/8 clear hose I already have... still lots of "false" fun coming !

tho on the other hand, I'll have a good use of the pool pump... When I'll have the 150Gal I'm planning to do, I'll use it as a circulatory pump... like a power head but with some "other" features... I might start a new threat bout it... if somebody is interested tho... :ezpi_wink1: lol