my diy quick drain!!

[midnight]

so with the many ideas ive seen on here i came up with this beast


i had alot of 1-1/4" pvc so thats what i went with
glad i didnt go with 2",it would have been to fast lol


so i timed it
drum roll..................

2 min flat to drain 80g
that adds up to 2400gph
not like a pump and rated at 2400gph with no lift,that is true constant flow

and remember this isnt like the diy overflow so that wont flow like this

and this setup was cheap to,about 10 bucks in all i think


before it would take about 2 hrs to drain and fill my 240
now its well under an hour


i made this screening so i dont suck up any fish lol
few zip ties
some galvanized metal screen
a cap and coupling
i drilled air holes in the middle of the coupling to stop the draining at that point

here it is in tank

here it is going out the window

closeup of the screening in tank
and the beast checking it out

here it is going outside and into some gravel

pic when it first started

look at the flow!!!

i flooded my yard in 2 min flat

heres the 2 pieces
everything is glued but where the 2 pieces connect,cus its on the outside

and the good thing is it all fits behind the stand

i will be making some more of these sometime
and the window is higher for the next one im going to make
i will post that here also so keep an eye out for that one

 

[SemperFish]

How do you get it started?

 

[midnight]

also it took my python 30 min to refill
im thinking a garden hose might do it a bit faster
will post the difference next time i do it

 

[midnight]

How do you get it started?

good ole suckin

one good suck and get the heck out of the way

then when it hits the holes in the coupling it stops on its own

 

[ilikewomen]

Very very nice, i need to make one of these for my tank.

 

[midnight]

Very very nice, i need to make one of these for my tank.

ya its sooo nice
i wont go,ugg ,next time i need to do a w/c

 

[black&white]

nice what kind of screen is that, and how did you attch it to the caps, I need one for my 180Gal

 

[midnight]

nice what kind of screen is that, and how did you attch it to the caps, I need one for my 180Gal

just plain galv steel mesh screen lol
get it anywhere i would guess
just molded it round
stuck it in the cap and coupling
drilled holes for the zipties to go through
and slid the tie through the hole
then through the mesh
then through the other side
then around and zipped on
so that zip tie is in the shape of a half moon
hope you got that lol

you can see all that in the first pic

 

[duke33]

I like it but I don't think I could get it started.Also a garden hose is faster to refill. I also learned to run the hose from the bathroom where the new 3/4" plumbing is.

 

[Dan F]

It's amazing how the flow goes up when you get bigger pipe/tubing.

I use a piece of 1 1/2" acrylic tubing if I want to empty something fast!