DIY 24/7 water changer plan, how's it look?

Ok, I'd like to set up a very simple auto water changer on my 400g. I was first thinking about an algae scrubber but it would cost a lot of money to build not to mention the electricity to run all the lights required for a tank my size.

I came up with this based on Li's design, but it definitely wont be as fancy! Trying to keep this as cheap as possible. I think the basic concept will work fine, but I wanted to see what others thought. So, what are your thoughts, will it work? Anything I'm missing here?

I plan to use a 35g plastic trash can as the container. To treat the water, I plan on dropping in a small bit of Prime every day, since i dont wanna set up one of those auto dosing systems. looks to expensive and complicated! I will also throw a heater in there to keep the water warm.

Now my questions:

- How the heck do I adjust the flow rate on this, or what can I use to give me very low flow rates? I'd like to go for about 1.5gph. At 24hrs a day, this will give me about 250g in one week, which is about the amount I change during my weekly water changes.

- If use a stronger pump, can I set it on a timer and just have it run for the desired amount of time to change the amount of water I want?

- Any other things I should consider?

thanks!

MONSTERUP;3776216;3776216 said:

sounds like a big water bill

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not anymore than what i currently do. thats what happens when you wanna play with big tanks

tank is in the garage, so no worries. for a living room tank, might have to get creative and keep the trash can in the garage and run a long line

also, since this is changing such a small amount of water everyday, do i even need to worry about heating or treating the water? im leaning towards no