water pump question

[zookeeper]

Friend of mine has a 100-gallon saltwater tank on the first floor of their house. For water changes, they mix the water in a huge barrel in the basement, and then haul it up the stairs in bucket after bucket after bucket . . .

They (and I) think there's gotta be a better way. Surely there is a water pump on the market suitable for transporting water from a basement barrel to a tank above it!

Anybody got any recommendations for a pump and how to set it up?

[hungryhound]

not sure if this would work, but you could try and buy a pond pump and set this in the bottom of the barrel. THen you could use that to pump the water up to the first floor. Seeing as it will have to go 12 feet you will need a good pump.

For you tubing I would recommend using the python tubing. This tubing would allow you to have a built in shut off valve at the tank, but you would want to have someone ready to pull the plug on the pond pump when you close the tubing to avoid burning out the motor.

Not sure if it would work, but it could.

[William]

There are a lot of pumps powerful enough to do this but you would needa lot of suitable tube which together with the pump might turn out to be expensive.

[hungryhound]

There are a lot of pumps powerful enough to do this but you would needa lot of suitable tube which together with the pump might turn out to be expensive.


Good point. My suggestion would cost at a minimum of 125 dollars.

Why not get a python and pump water into a bucket next to the tank and then mix the salt in there. Then all you would have to do would be to lift the bucket up and dump it in the tank.

[jeffs99dime]

just to add to William's remark, for pumps and related equipment, check drs foster and smith's website. the pumps are very expensive as stated by William.

[zookeeper]

Considering all the money they have already put into their setup, $125 is a drop in the bucket (no pun intended).

[hungryhound]

Before you try this. Let me reiterate that I have never tried this and only came up with the idea after I saw your remark. Proceed with caution, and be Forewarned that It may not work.

[Drumachine09]

You could use a sump pump, like what people have in their basements.

I made a DIY filter for a bait livelwell, and let me tell ya. That thing can pump water like crazy!

Its actually made to pump water at heads higher than 10 feet, so it would do what you are wanting to do perfectly.

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That is like the one we used, but we took off the floating swith, and kept it on at all times, with the plug in as the on/off switch. Get some reinforced tubing, and use that. The only down side, is after running the pump for a couple hours, it begins to run hot, but since you are only running it for no more than an hour at a time, you will not have a problem with it.

It would be a good idea to run a couple gallons of freshwater through the pump after you are done pumping saltwater, to remove any residue from the inside. This will keep it clean and working as long as possible.




The cheaper soulution, like hungryhound said, would be to put the barrel next to the tank and pump water into there, where you will mix it.



Let us know what you decide!