trying to make a water pump

[pandamonium]

hey everyone,

im trying to make a pump to help out with water changes. my tank is a 40 gallon on a 34 inch stand. so the top of the stand is quite high. i installed a drain valve to suction water out of the tank but now i was looking for a way to put fresh water back into it. i tried manipulatingthe canister inflow and outflow. what i was thinking of doing was buying an internal filter or water pump and putting it into my bucket of clean water then pumping it straight up into the tank. is this doable/has anyone done this before? will pump strength matter or will any pump do?
i was thinking of using this and sitting it in my bucket to pump water upwards. if there is a cheaper way to do it, please let me know
http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1...&storeId=10051

[tharsis]

pump in a bucket is my method of choice at the moment, it works great but you still have to lug the bucket to the tank though.

I would go for a larger pump than the one you linked to. At 40 GPH you are looking at a long fill-up especially with the 4 feet of head working against it.

I would look into a maxi-jet 900 or even the 1200.

[jasonpatterson]

You're looking at pushing water 4 feet upward, pump strength is definitely going to be a factor. You'll need to get something with at least a 4' head for it to work at all, and substantially higher if you want to get the water moved in a reasonable amount of time. It would take about 7.5 minutes to pump out a single 5 gallon bucket of water at its maximum flow rate with no head. An appropriate pump is probably going to cost you $50 or so at a home improvement store.

How do you add water to your tank? If you have an upstairs bathroom or tap of any sort, you can mix your water there then siphon it into your tank with a garden hose. Put a valve on the end and you've got your on/off set, no lifting, minimal cost. I've never done this myself, and I don't know that I would, but a lot of people simply add tap water to the tank directly and use their water conditioner in the tank itself without any problems. Unscrew the aerator from the kitchen sink, screw on a hose adapter, and go for it.

[jeremyTR]

I fill my tank straight from the tap but I add dechlore first of course.

[PlantedRich]

You do need to get a better system for water changing. It is a hobby killer to lug water around!!!

Some like the Python type water change system. Water changing systems of this sort are all over and work fine.

I went beyond them and set up a reserve water supply barrel so that I had a large amount of water to come up to room temp before adding it to the tank. There is no worry whether you add the dechlor product before, during, or after adding water. There is a lot of hysteria about chlorine in water. It is not a quick harm situation. It is a slow burning of tissue that does the harm.

One way to reduce the size of pump (and price) is by setting the bucket on a stool when pumping. It is the distance that the water has to rise (head) that controls how much water is pumped by any given pump size. Aquarium type pumps online are better choices than home store pumps.

I like Catalina Aquatics for pumps. Look them up and give them a call for info.

[pandamonium]

Originally Posted by tharsis

pump in a bucket is my method of choice at the moment, it works great but you still have to lug the bucket to the tank though.

I would go for a larger pump than the one you linked to. At 40 GPH you are looking at a long fill-up especially with the 4 feet of head working against it.

I would look into a maxi-jet 900 or even the 1200.

thats the same system i was thinking of. i looked up the maxi-jet 900 and its pretty cheap so that looks good. its a lot stronger than the 40gph that the home depot pump offers but would that stir up my tank when the water goes in? i have floating plants and a sand substrate, i defeintely wouldnt want to kill the plants or my filter if too much gets stirred up.

Originally Posted by jasonpatterson

You're looking at pushing water 4 feet upward, pump strength is definitely going to be a factor. You'll need to get something with at least a 4' head for it to work at all, and substantially higher if you want to get the water moved in a reasonable amount of time. It would take about 7.5 minutes to pump out a single 5 gallon bucket of water at its maximum flow rate with no head. An appropriate pump is probably going to cost you $50 or so at a home improvement store.

How do you add water to your tank? If you have an upstairs bathroom or tap of any sort, you can mix your water there then siphon it into your tank with a garden hose. Put a valve on the end and you've got your on/off set, no lifting, minimal cost. I've never done this myself, and I don't know that I would, but a lot of people simply add tap water to the tank directly and use their water conditioner in the tank itself without any problems. Unscrew the aerator from the kitchen sink, screw on a hose adapter, and go for it.

right now i fill up my tub in the bathtub (about 4.5 gallon tub) and then i lug it to the tank. today when i did it i used a smaller bucket to transfer water from the 4.5 gallon bucket into the tank. its rather inefficient (i dont mind the lugging much) but i want something that i can do quickly.
i would try the tap water technique but i dont think my mom would be too keen on me messing with her faucet. its one of those nicer ones so that option is out for me though i may be able to try it with the bathroon sink if it can unscrew. ill have to look into that.

Originally Posted by PlantedRich

You do need to get a better system for water changing. It is a hobby killer to lug water around!!!

Some like the Python type water change system. Water changing systems of this sort are all over and work fine.

I went beyond them and set up a reserve water supply barrel so that I had a large amount of water to come up to room temp before adding it to the tank. There is no worry whether you add the dechlor product before, during, or after adding water. There is a lot of hysteria about chlorine in water. It is not a quick harm situation. It is a slow burning of tissue that does the harm.

One way to reduce the size of pump (and price) is by setting the bucket on a stool when pumping. It is the distance that the water has to rise (head) that controls how much water is pumped by any given pump size. Aquarium type pumps online are better choices than home store pumps.

I like Catalina Aquatics for pumps. Look them up and give them a call for info.

right now i lift it on a stool just so the distance from bucket to tank is lower so i spill less water as i transfer. so the head is basically the height that the pump can move water up? so i should find a pump with a head that is roughly equal to the height difference from the bottom of my bucket to the top of my tank?
and i will look at the pumps you guys suggested too! really helpful ill keep you posted on progress. or ill post it in my tank journal too.

[pdavis41]

I run my water though a carbon filter before using a hose to fill the tank. I remove the shower head and run a short hose to the filter input and then hook a long hose up to the output.

However my water pressure sucks in the bathroom with the filter on, but I don't have anywhere else to hook it up. It takes me about 30 minutes to put 30 to 40 gallons back in to the tank.

[brogan]

I fill a bucket in my kitchen sink with water from my under counter carbon filter and hot tap water adjusted to match the water in my tank. I add dechlorinator and put my Rio+ 800 submersible with a 25 feet long 1/2 O.D. tubing pushed into the output of the pump with the other end into the tank. The input of the water into the bucket is only slightly less than the bucket so it is easy to monitor the amount of water in the bucket.

My tank is almost 5ft high and the pump is about 28 inches off the floor, and because the tube drapes across my kitchen table, the pump is only pushing about 3 feet of head pressure. This has made my water chages exponentially easier, and I am more likely to do a full 50% water change now that I am no longer hauling buckets.

here is a link to the manufacturers website with GPH at different heights of there various models:

http://www.riopump.net/products_pumps/Rioplus_desc.html

[pandamonium]

this is exactly what i would like to do. i look on the site you gave brogan but i didnt see any prices. is this just like a customer service site? so i should look elsewhere for these pumps?

[In.a.Box]

i use a 25ft water hose cut that in half.
i use a 320GPH water pump.
my sink is 24 feet away from my tank.
so water pump 24 feet to the tank. thats about 100 -/+ GPH total.
take about 5-10 min to fill the tank back up depends.

a 40GPH is to weak pumping 34 inch up will break it down to maybe 5 -/+GPH if your lucky.
you can get a 3rd party 320GPH water pump of ebay for about $25 shipped.

[jcgd]

I use a python to drain to the toilet (outside if it's not uphill ) and go straigh from the tap to refill. I dose prime straight to the tank when the water is refilling.

[brogan]

Originally Posted by pandamonium

this is exactly what i would like to do. i look on the site you gave brogan but i didnt see any prices. is this just like a customer service site? so i should look elsewhere for these pumps?

I posted it so you could see max head and GPH of each unit. I bought mine on amazon.

[pandamonium]

i found that i had an old old old pump from the 90s that was hanging out in an old lawn fixture in my back yard. just dug it up today and cleaned it off. it is still pumping and i figured i could save a bit of money using that. it took about 7 minutes to pump out a 4.5 gallon bucket upwards about 3.5 feet. time isnt too much a concern for me. if the pump eventually burns out, ill invest in a better one. i like the rio pumps since they are pretty clear thought he maxi-jet900 was pretty cheap on amazon too.
im planning on keeping the bucket in my tub during changes and filling the bucket with my bathtub faucet, mix the dechlorinator, and then pump from the bathroom to my tank. its a bit of a distance and i have to test it but im hoping it will work. if not then im gonna go to home depot and find a nozzle adapter for my bathroom sink to fill the bucket right next to my tank. then pump straight up only.

[PlantedRich]

An item to be aware of that might blow your shopping? The listed maximum head may mislead you. They often list how much water is pump(GPH?) and the maximum head it will pump to but they sometimes don't make it clear the you don't get both at the same time. If a pump says 100 GPH and max head of 12 feet, you may find it only pumps 5 GPH at the max height. Check carefully before buying as pumps can be a disappointment. Many reliable pumps show a graph of what is pumped at what height.

Somewhat like ourselves. We may be able to lift 100 pounds off the floor but that doesn't mean we can put it on a shelf six feet high even though we can put a feather up there! Devil is in the details!

[roadmaster]

Originally Posted by PlantedRich

You do need to get a better system for water changing. It is a hobby killer to lug water around!!!

Some like the Python type water change system. Water changing systems of this sort are all over and work fine.

I went beyond them and set up a reserve water supply barrel so that I had a large amount of water to come up to room temp before adding it to the tank. There is no worry whether you add the dechlor product before, during, or after adding water. There is a lot of hysteria about chlorine in water. It is not a quick harm situation. It is a slow burning of tissue that does the harm.

One way to reduce the size of pump (and price) is by setting the bucket on a stool when pumping. It is the distance that the water has to rise (head) that controls how much water is pumped by any given pump size. Aquarium type pumps online are better choices than home store pumps.

I like Catalina Aquatics for pumps. Look them up and give them a call for info.

Chlorine,or ammonia from chloramines(most tap water treated with chloramines) ,both are unnnecessary to subject fish,invert's to.
Simply adding dechlorinator during, or before adding new water, makes the most sense.
If water from tap only contain's chlorine then letting it set for 12 to 24 hours would make dechlorinator un-needed.
I have in the past used aged water untreated to top off a tank but for large water changes,,I dechlorinate while water is coming from the tap to the tank.