water change with a sump...........

[wayne]

For all you guy's with sump's how do you do a water change let's say its a 5 gallon change do you stop your equiptment or is there and easier way :banghead: .

 

[inkblue]

i tuRn off my return pump and skimmer, leaVe everything eLse on

hope tHat heLps...

 

[KathyC]

It depends on how your system is plumbed.
I do turn off my return pump but my skimmer remains running.

Is your system troublesome to turn back on?

 

[OctaviousMonk]

I turn off my return and accessory pumps plus my powerheads because they will suck air,but leave skimmer running.
It all depends on your plumbing but really drainging enough water for a change will in most cases cause your return pump and maybe powerheads to suck air so you shut them off.

 

[JLAudio]

Is your tank RR (built in overflows)? If not an overflow could be a real pain to start again, so you might not want to always stop return pump. If your tank is RR, I would say to turn pump off, but keep powerheads and heater on, but make sure you dont put too much water in the display tank and overflow sump. If you have a over flow its more problematic with syphon, but I would still suggest turning off return pump for large water changes, unless you have a huge sump.

 

[wayne]

My tank is not rr but my plumbing has ball valves on both inlet and return so that might save me a bit i think with the water in the inlet to the sump i will be able to save the siphon but i just wanted to know if there was a trick to doing it without shutting off the outlet pump,thanks guy's
mods please close.

 

[thirty5]

This is one reason that a sump can never be too big. I can do a full water change without turning anything off.

 

[bueller]

good question, maybe someone can help me as well, my 90 is RR w/ 1 drain & 1 return, how i am doing mine is shut the drain and cut power to return. do a water change, open the drain, turn the power to the return.

I just changed out my old sump for a new sump / refuge I built [ will post pictures later ] and I really don't want to mess with the drain shut off since now in goes stright down into the sump and is not connected to a bulkhead in the sump [ which gave the drain line alot more support - tighter ] , it has more movement on the drain and puts alot more pressure on the tank bulkhead [ it leaked a little when i shut it off after the new install ]. just looking for the best alternate way to do a water change without touching the drain shut off.

thanks
Bueller

 

[vanceny]

Bueller, if its railroad then shutting the power to the pump will only drain the display up to the top of the overflow. The sump should have been made to accomodate the amount of water that is drained down to the sump. You dont need to shut the valve off.

Here's a link that should explain it.

http://www.cyberreefguru.com/general/overflow/overflow.html

Wayne,

if your return chamber in you sump is large, then you can try to siphon out 5 gallons without turning anything off. As long as the water does not drop lower than the pump. You dont need to turn off the skimmer if its in its own chamber. The water level in this section should remain constant.

HTH.

 

[partobe]

I turn everything off and I guess I'm lucky Ive never had a prob with my u tube not working when I turn things back on.

 

[donald_202]

when u turn your pump back on ,u dont have to suck the air out of the tube again? cuz i have to do that everytime i do water change....

 

[vanceny]

In the external box of the overflow there should be a partition that keeps water in the u-tube or the drain pipe should be higher than the end of the u-tube. Sort of its own overflow within the overflow.

There's an image here that shows how it should look when the power is cut off. Scroll to the bottom.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-01/gt/index.php

 

[SIReefer]

I also have a HOB overflow. I turn off the return pump, skimmer & ph's, change out the water & turn everything back on w/no break in siphon. As was stated, the siphon should be protected within the overflow box causing no air bubbles to form in the utube.