Photo Gallery :: My oh my, what is this contraption for ?

[MoreBloodWine]

Answer soon to follow, needless to say I got an idea at Home Depot today...

[MoreBloodWine]

Oooooooooh... thats what that is for.

Ok, so the green line coming in is the water supply and the white line going out is for my CatGenie self cleaning litterbox. The "unit" I made is seen in the middle of the two lines and the function it serves is simple as seen in the next pic.


I figured that since I already have the water line coming into my room for the litterbox that I may as well make use of it for the aquarium. Ok, so it's a bit overkill for such a small (20g) tank but consider this water feed setup a trial run for when I get Nikos permanent (huge a**) tank.


Ok, so we all hate to carry jug after jug of water to our tanks to replace evaporated water or refill after partial water changes right ?

Well, thats where my idea comes in that I had while at Home Depot today. As you can see I have a T valve in the middle of my unit and as seen by the pic above the top output has a valve / handle on it. Well, say good by to bucketing water to the tank since now all I need to do is pull the valve / handle forward to fill the tank then push it back to a rested position to cut the flow off.

What more could be simpler when it comes to replacing water in the tank, especially on those large 100+ gallon ones ?

Stay tuned for another update where I show how draining a tank for water changes is simplefied just as much as the filling method shown above.

[MoreBloodWine]

If someone withe the proper mod rights wnats to sticky this I'll rename the post to a howto and do a complete breakdown of parts needed for anyone else interested in something similar.

[Caphits]

Wow, what a great idea!! One to empty water would be even better though.

[MoreBloodWine]

Wow, what a great idea!! One to empty water would be even better though.

Like I said stay tuned because thats what I'm working on right now ;-p

Been up all night lastnight so goin to bed early / now lol so lets say to be continued

[MoreBloodWine]

Still working on setting up my emptying project which will rival any other setup in the past (pythons etc.).

Anyway, heres a literally short video of my filler in action... the reason you see me fishing around for the handle is because I was using the viewfinder on my camera to try and grab it LOL.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dl0qAV7Bd8

[papoopeepoo]

haha you look like a person wandering in the dark...

I like the idea, but my problem is: that that's water right from the tap right?

[MoreBloodWine]

haha you look like a person wandering in the dark...

I like the idea, but my problem is: that that's water right from the tap right?

Yes that is water right from the tap but since I have well water I dont have much to worry about. Even if it did have chlorine etc in it as long as your wuick about adding the dechlorinators and stuff in it wouldnt hurt to have the water thrown right into the tank like it is.

[geekyturtle]

There's also the water temp to think about too, but if you only do a little at a time it shouldn't be a big deal.

Cool setup though. I wish I had a water line near my tank!

[jozzep]

Great idea, but i don't think a permanent garden hose would look good in my living room lol.
A "python syphon" is all you need for tank maintenance IMO.
1) I hook it up when i need it.
2) I vacuum the rocks and in the meantime drain water.
3) Top my tank off with the right hot/cold water ratio.
4) Maybe a few drops of water to wipe up when i'm done unless i get careless.

But if this set-up works for you, i'm happy if you are

[MoreBloodWine]

There's also the water temp to think about too, but if you only do a little at a time it shouldn't be a big deal.

Cool setup though. I wish I had a water line near my tank!

The water line I ran myself because I got one of those self cleaning litterboxes in my room and as said before since I already have the water line in my room for the litterbox I figured [!!!], may as well use it for the aquarium to since all I needed to do was splice into it.

As for water temp, sicne I do this daily I'm only replacing no more than a gallon of evaporated water so nothing to worry about in regards to temp. But ya if your doing it on a large scale you could do like 2-5g an hr but it all really depends on the size of your tank and how much water your replacing.

Great idea, but i don't think a permanent garden hose would look good in my living room lol.
A "python syphon" is all you need for tank maintenance IMO.
1) I hook it up when i need it.
2) I vacuum the rocks and in the meantime drain water.
3) Top my tank off with the right hot/cold water ratio.
4) Maybe a few drops of water to wipe up when i'm done unless i get careless.

But if this set-up works for you, i'm happy if you are

It works and it is nice but you also have to look at it like this, yes some people dont mind pulling out the buckets and hoses every so often to fill a tank but with such a setup as mine it eliminates the needing of pulling out anything since its just a matter of turning a handle twice, once for on the other for off ;-p

Also, the garden hose is just one method, a person could use PVC and properly place it which is what I plan on doin after we move for the last time.

As the saying goes, theres more than one way to skin a cat.

[MoreBloodWine]

Still waiting on the last pice for my drain system which will rival the filling system in a way but just an FYI. The filling system is working great as seen in the vid. Every day I just turn the handle to replace lost water due to evaporation shut it off when I'm done and it's back to TV, BYE BYE bucket / jug brigade ;-p

[Caphits]

The drain idea will be great. Cant wait to see it in action.

[untsmurf]

Holy cow! This is amazing! I for one can't stand using my python, it's such a pain. Not to mention I broke part of it so it doesn't remove water anymore. I'm going to seriously consider this when we move into our apartment next year! I'll just have to find a way to discretely run a water line to the tank. I can't wait to see your idea for emptying it.

As for the temperature, our tap water only gets down to like 78 in the summer and it only takes a second or two for it to warm up in the winter, so that's not a big deal. I think most people that do water replacements every month know what temp their tap water is and how far to turn each handle to make it just right for the turtle tank. Plus, with the larger tanks like mine the two seconds of cold water doesn't affect the overall temp of the tank water.

And for the dechlorinator, I always add that after right after (or during) filling my tank, so that won't make a difference.

It's like having a permanent python attachment!

[jozzep]

Holy cow! This is amazing! I for one can't stand using my python, it's such a pain. Not to mention I broke part of it so it doesn't remove water anymore.

I know exactly what piece you broke...lol

The little funnel looking thing inside the faucet attachment....Am i right?:)
I bought a whole new faucet piece on ebay for 10 bucks shipped.back in business.