water mixing tanks 101

[pc4400]

Hi,

I getting ready to head out and pick up a new heater for my mixing tank since it's getting pretty cold now. My air pump is way too small. But I have to ask, do you guys use heaters and air pumps in your mixing tanks? Im sure you do use a power head to move things around.

Here's my list

1. 50 gallon rubbermaid trash can on wheels
2. power head (forgot size)
3. Air pump (small)
4. Heater (replacing today)
5. A little Seachem - Prime
6. Salt - I've been using IO (BW tanks)

What else do you guys do/use?

[jmiller]

That's pretty much it.
My only difference is have a pump in the can to pump directly in the tank.

[RTR]

Ditto for me as well, but I do not use air pumps. The circulation pumps provide sufficient aeration for me. My mixing/circulation pumps double as pump to target tank equipment also. My setup is castered food-safe Rubbermaids, heater, mixing/circulation/transfer pump, and one of the small cheap electronic thermometers.

[JRC3]

Here's what I also do in an attempt to get more KH in the water. I circ the water through aragonite and I let it all run the whole time between water changes...

http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk16 ... CI0726.jpg

I put in an old filter tube which helps with the mixing and filling the tank with aged water. It hangs on and couldn't be easier.
http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk16 ... CI0727.jpg
http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk16 ... CI0728.jpg


I've decided to set one up for my FW tanks too. It's just so much easier to set the temps the same and just pump the water directly into the tank without having to get the correct temp from the faucet.

[RTR]

LOL! I love it! Another lazy man gets smart about partials. I use similar tubes when I do not need to vacuum to pull old water out of the tanks for partials - easy to mark the needed tube length. I tend to use PVC pipe with a nylon stocking prefiler on the end to avoid small-fish or fry capture - just hook it on the the tank and it stops at the desired level. Switch over to a similar device from the holding tank for refill, but it has another reverse curve on the end to aim up rather than blasting the substrate. That one I still have to watch, but an auto-shut-off is under design.

Progress is made by lazy people. The fact that my eyes are not what they were, and the back and shoulders are long past their prime, but my partials have not been hindered at all - they get easier and simpler all the time. Someday we need to generate a book on fish-keeping for the aged, infirm, physically handicapped or just plain lazy people (I fit all of those categories).

[JRC3]

I never thought about a setup like that for emptying.

And to cover the end you could also us a filter strainer. And a strainer could be used for filling as another way of diffusing the water so the substrate doesn't get blown around.

In fact, consider this done on my end. Thank you, lazy man.


It's funny, when I drain water from my tanks I put the end of the hose in between the lid and seat in the toilet because when I clean the substrate I always pick up snail shells and a little sand and it's easier to just flush it away. But (not butt), I always have to examine the contents in the bowl to make sure I didn't suck up a fish or shrimp. Luckily so far I haven't and with a strainer I never will. I always though to myself if somebody did make it to the bowl, how would I get them out with out scaring them up and over past the trap...That would be a rough way to go, wouldn't it?


*edit*

I just made myself think of the toilet snorkel for breathing in case of a fire...
http://analogartsensemble.net/blog/toilet%20snorkel.GIF

They say that desperate times call for desperate actions.

[Pufferpunk]

Here's mine:

33g Brute can, with an external pump plumbed into the side. Mixes salt thoroughly in the can & with a slick of the valves. pumps it up & into my fish room, at the other end of the house on the 1st floor. Water is removed from tanks via Python, into a floor drain in the basement.

[RTR]

I do use filters on the Python end when draining any tanks w/fry or shrimp, but it does slow down the flow a bit. A simpler strainer is suited to the catfish or goldfish tanks, and is faster. The catfish and goldfish tanks are also below the water tap for the Python, so the unit is not as effective there - the simpler strainer slows it much less than the true filter for those tanks where it must actually lift water to the sink.

I cannot afford to risk and substrate or other insoluble materials down the toilet or drains - I use a bucket in the sink to catch such from the Python outlet. It also holds the big pump to send water outside during the season. I am on a septic system, no insoluble materials to the septic tanks please.

Laziness is smart.