Compatibility between big tank and lazy people.

[spiff]

I vacuum my 2000gallon once a year or less. Maintenance is generally easier on a large tank. I flip a couple levers for water changes and filter cleaning. The most work is window cleaning, which isn't that much work at all. I do that every 2 weeks.

When it does get vacuumed, I use a thin weighted wetsuit and a long snorkel fasten to overhead hooks so that I can work uninterrupted.

 

[redm18]

I think you are overestimating how fast the water drains in a big tank. On a 70 gallon tank, I vacuum all the gunk out of the gravel and then set a stove timer for 10-12 min. The stove timer is so I don't forget the tank is still draining. If I vacuum for 10 min and drain for another 10 min... that is 20 min just to reduce the water level to about 50%. Filling takes another 10 min or so... That is at least 30 min to do a 50% water change on a 70gallon tank with a python. It takes a LOT longer to drain the big tanks.

Perhaps you are only planning to do 10% water changes? Your fish would thank you for doing larger volume changes.

I think you are underestimating the amount of time saved by larger diameter hoses.

 

[krichardson]

I do weekly water changes of at least fifty percent on my tanks and it helps to have a drain right in the center of the floor and a sink nearby.

 

[Newt]

It takes me about two hours to do WCs on my tanks.

I have two hoses for draining and one for filling. Filter cleaning takes place during the draining part (if needed.) In the time it takes to fill up the 180 all the other tanks are drained and it's just a matter of moving the filling hose from tank to tank.

It's the filling that takes the longest; I don't generally do a WC of less than 50% on any of my tanks. When the tanks are filling I read a book or play on my PSP, it's a good time for me to relax away from the family!

 

[toffee]

I vacuum my 2000gallon once a year or less. Maintenance is generally easier on a large tank. I flip a couple levers for water changes and filter cleaning. The most work is window cleaning, which isn't that much work at all. I do that every 2 weeks.

When it does get vacuumed, I use a thin weighted wetsuit and a long snorkel fasten to overhead hooks so that I can work uninterrupted.

Nice to know that you can make do with vacuum once a year or less. Big tank, or small amount of substrate? In our smaller tanks, if we don't vacuum at least once a month, nitrate goes up the roof.

 

[spiff]

Nice to know that you can make do with vacuum once a year or less. Big tank, or small amount of substrate? In our smaller tanks, if we don't vacuum at least once a month, nitrate goes up the roof.

Yeah, its an educated decision. I test parameters frequently, more so as the year goes on. If I thought for a second that any accumulated junk was contributing to parameters being off, I would deal with it. As it is though, it doesn't seem to effect readings at all. It takes a month to raise nitrate readings 10ppm and its that way also after close to a year on not vacuuming.

So I mostly do it for esthetics when I see stuff accumulating in corners and what not.

There is almost 4 inches of sand, but the stuff generally stays on top. The sand gets packed like concrete over time and you have to prod it or step on it loosen it up. I didn't plan on that much sand, but the rocks took up more floor area than anticipated. Some will come out eventually.

 

[sostoudt]

I could be missing something here, but how do you dechlorinate the water in this process?

the step above, add a bunch of prime to the tank. prime is a dechlorinator. when doing it like i recommend, you add enough prime for the whole tanks volume not just amount your changing.

 

[Symbiosis]

It takes me about 30 minutes to do a 50% water change plus vacuuming the bottom of debris on my 8x2x2.5. I use my FX5 to drain water out of the tank which i have connected to hoses that diverts water to the garden as sprinklers. Whilst that is happening, I use my gravel vac to clean the bottom and that process takes me about 20 min for 50% draining and gravel vac. Once the water drains, i reconnect my FX5 output hose and start the filter again and straight after that, I grab a hose that is connected to a tap and start filling my 8 footer, wack a few capful of prime based on the tank volume then i can start packing up all the gear i had used plus wiping the glass down. Gonna start using a couple hydor powerheads to circulate the water at the bottom of the tank to see if that would minimise the waste build up at the bottom. Been doing that for a few years and it seems to do pretty well.

cheers

Eric

 

[toffee]

Yeah, its an educated decision. I test parameters frequently, more so as the year goes on. If I thought for a second that any accumulated junk was contributing to parameters being off, I would deal with it. As it is though, it doesn't seem to effect readings at all. It takes a month to raise nitrate readings 10ppm and its that way also after close to a year on not vacuuming.

So I mostly do it for esthetics when I see stuff accumulating in corners and what not.

There is almost 4 inches of sand, but the stuff generally stays on top. The sand gets packed like concrete over time and you have to prod it or step on it loosen it up. I didn't plan on that much sand, but the rocks took up more floor area than anticipated. Some will come out eventually.

I have 4" of substrate in my 180g, although I like how it looks, I wished for a bare bottom tank every time I have to clean them.

May I know more about your tank?

 

[spiff]

I have 4" of substrate in my 180g, although I like how it looks, I wished for a bare bottom tank every time I have to clean them.

May I know more about your tank?

Its built into the corner of my basement, using the two concrete walls and floor for 3 sides. Then I used cedar 6x6's to make frames for a 4x4 and a 4x8 acrylic window. I'm running 2 Ultima2 4000's and an LFI filter sock for filterization. I'll be posting an article for it in the next month or so. I have been waiting for the fish that are in it to get large enough to show up in a picture. Here is a picture after a recent rebuild. There are almost 200 fish in there but you can't see them. The average size at the time of that picture is about 1 inch.