# Using Power Head for Water Changes



## zerodameaon (Dec 2, 2014)

What power head did you buy? If it is similar to the MaxiJet stick a tube on the output and stick the whole power head in the bucket.


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## Wasserpest (Jun 12, 2003)

You buy a 6ft piece of vinyl hose that fits over the power head's outlet, then put the other end of the hose into your tank, and plug in the power head. 

Two things to watch out for - if nothing much happens, the power head is too weak to get over 4 ft of gravity, and you can either put the bucket on a chair to halve that pressure, or buy a stronger power head. Second thing to watch out for is back flow, when you turn off the pump, if the hose is under water it will siphon back into the bucket.


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## schnebbles (Jan 10, 2015)

ok, that's what I thought. I need to get a bigger hose to see if it'll work then. It has a little hole for an air hose areator. It's Aqua-Tech (I'm sure it's a cheap brand, cost $21 - I wasn't really thinking of how powerful it would need to be when I picked it up.)


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## BBradbury (Nov 8, 2010)

*Water Changes*



schnebbles said:


> I'm sorry if I'm sounding really dumb, but how do you use a power head to fill the tank from a bucket?
> 
> Can't use Python b/c of faucets. I looked around and when I saw this question I kept seeing people suggesting the Python.
> 
> I picked up a power head at Walmart for this but don't know exactly how to do it. It runs 170gph. I'm not worried about speed, just want to use a bucket from floor to tank maybe 4' high.


Hello schneb...

You don't anything mechanical to remove the water from the tank. I use the old "bucket method". To remove the water from the tank, I use a length of garden hose. Four feet or so should do. One end goes into the tank the other into a 5 gallon bucket. The bucket needs to be lower than the tank. Just suck on the bucket end of the hose a couple of times and put that end back into the bucket. Gravity does the rest. When one bucket is nearly full, move the hose to another bucket. Just like syphoning gas in the old days.

To put water back into the tank. Get a short, sturdy table and stack a couple of buckets on the table, so that the top bucket is higher than the tank. Fill that bucket with treated tap water and repeat the above to get the water going. You'll need a pitcher and several buckets of new water to keep filling the top bucket. It takes roughly 20 minutes to remove and replace half the water in my 60 gallon tank.

B


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## schnebbles (Jan 10, 2015)

B - That's how I did it last time, wasn't too bad. I want it more for the refilling the tank. I just thought it would be much easier and faster. I usually pour the new water into a cup and my hand got sore, lol!

I suppose I could stack some buckets but I thought power would be better! Need to do a change today, might run to the hardware and grab some hose. I was hoping the one that came with the vacuum would work but it's not big enough.


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## Bushkill (Feb 15, 2012)

Wasserpest said:


> You buy a 6ft piece of vinyl hose that fits over the power head's outlet, then put the other end of the hose into your tank, and plug in the power head.
> 
> Two things to watch out for - if nothing much happens, the power head is too weak to get over 4 ft of gravity, and you can either put the bucket on a chair to halve that pressure, or buy a stronger power head. Second thing to watch out for is back flow, when you turn off the pump, if the hose is under water it will siphon back into the bucket.


110% all of the above, but I'll just add one cautionary suggestion: wrap a couple of small zip ties around the vinyl tubing where it slides over the powerhead's outlet nozzle. Powerheads can be all over the place in terms of dimensions. So that depending on the particular powerhead brand, the outlet may have metric dimensions that make the ID of vinyl hose just a hair large and the next size up way to large. So if you use a vinyl hose that fits but isn't really snug, the hose may fly off and the powerhead sends water all over the floor. Go ahead, ask me how I know, lol! 

A REALLY good investment would be a set of remote outlet controllers. You'll be able to turn the powerhead on and off at the touch of a small remote control. Won't set you back more than $15 or so on Amazon and there's a bunch of different choices. Picture how tough it will be to plug the power head in and unplug it when the bucket's empty. Go ahead, ask me how I know, lol!


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## wootlaws (Feb 25, 2011)

I use a fountain pump from harbor freight tools just the cheapest one they have($10-15) and it works great never have to lift a 5 gallon bucket again! I just put the pump in the bucket with a long hose going to my tank. If you want to drain the water just put the pump in and hose into a bucket. Really fast to do.


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## Mojo31 (Dec 6, 2011)

Why not just pour the bucket of water into the tank? Much less complex and faster.


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## schnebbles (Jan 10, 2015)

lol Bushkill! I tried it with the Walmart power head and it was slow, very slow. Then, yes, I accidentally got water all over the floor (2nd time water change, 2nd time I had to change my socks). I had to buy a big hose to get it to fit but it was fairly snug. That power head is going back and I'm getting something else.

Might get the pond pump wootlaws, sounds cheaper. I don't think I need a remote, I can stand right by the plug and since it didn't empty the bucket 100% it was ok. 

Mojo - I can't lift a 5 gl bucket that high and be able to pour it with out just dumping it in and making a huge mess.


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## Notorious93 (Jun 3, 2013)

Just use a simple siphon to drain the tank, and the pump to fill the tank back up.

Do you have a canister? Plumb an inline drain


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## schnebbles (Jan 10, 2015)

no canister. That's what I'm doing Notorious. Got the pump wootlaws mentioned and will try that next week.


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## ced281 (Jul 6, 2012)

Using a powerhead is significantly faster than siphoning into a tank. Pouring a bucket of water into a tank also risks disturbing the substrate and plants.

Go to Home Depot or a hardware store and buy an appropriately sized "barbed" ball valve. This will make the remote outlet redundant and also prevent backflow when you turn your powerhead off. Just close the valve shut when your done and then walk over to your outlet to unplug your powerhead.


Also, make sure you buy some strong clips to clamp the end of the hose to either the aquarium sides when your pumping water in or to the bucket sides when pumping water out. That way it won't fly off when you turn on the pump.

I would also invest in a small breeder box to break the flow of water as you pump in. They typically have flat, solid bottoms and grating on the sides. You pump water in perpendicular to the bottom and let it break up the flow so that it causes less disturbance. The gratings further break the flow of water.


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## Diana (Jan 14, 2010)

Good idea about the breeder box to break the flow! 
Power heads don't seem to work so well. Fountain pumps are usually plumbed with some reasonable pipe size, so the tubing can be firmly attached. 

Pump to refill:
Read the label. It will have a chart that shows how good the flow is at different heights. 
For a small tank (10-20 gallons) something like 100 gph at the height you are working with is the max I would want. 
For mid-sized tanks (up to about 50 gallons) about 200 gph is OK. 
Larger tanks, 300 gph is OK. 

On all of these, monitor it as it starts to fill, it can blow the substrate around. As the water gets higher, I usually clip the vinyl tubing to the side of the tank so the water is aimed horizontally.


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## schnebbles (Jan 10, 2015)

I am going to be careful  my siphon was supposed to have a bucket hook but it wasn't with it.


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## bobfig (Aug 30, 2014)

i used a rio plus 800 pump that is "rated" for 211gph on my 20gal tank and it dose ok. just a hassle for me. just went back to lifting the bucket on top the tank and let it siphon out.

with you not being able to do that i would say get a bigger pump then you think as lift is whats going to kill the flow. i timed mine for transferring 5 gallons and it was doing around 110 gph at no lift. so lifting the bucket just made it exponentially slower. also i made a little hook with some pvc and fittings so that the end hangs over the tank rim and points sideways to fill. no clips or clamps needed. was like $3 to make.


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