how do you clean the water in huge tanks?

[koala]

If someone had something like a 125 or 150 gallon aquarium, how would they empty and clean the water? It would be way too heavy to lift. I'm just curious, I don't have one.

 

[Jennewt]

The great thing about a large tank is that you never have to completely empty it! This assumes that the owner does the proper maintenance on a daily/weekly basis, and there isn't any sort of catastrophic failure (for example: the filter fails during a vacation and all the fish die).

By proper maintenance, I mean:
-Partial water changes (10-20% of the total volume weekly).
-A method for cleaning the "gunk" out from under the sand/substrate (weekly or monthly).
-Prompt removal of all uneaten food (every feeding).
-A filtration system adequate to the amount of waste the animals/plants produce.
-Appropriate testing of ammonia, pH etc, during the cycling period and occasionally thereafter.

Even a small tank CAN be managed in the same way. I have several 10-gallon tanks that I have not emptied or disassembled in the past 5 YEARS. (I moved 5 years ago, or they would have gone much longer!)

I would also mention that there are certain kinds of animals that cannot be managed this way. Turtles, for example, are just too messy to avoid total cleanouts, unless they are in really huge setups. An axolotl in a small tank may also need more cleaning than the procedures I listed above.

 

[koala]

Thanks for the info! I'm considering buying about a 20 gallon tank for my paddletail newt, because it's at a great price and he's too cramped in his space now.

 

[Zapher]

With the larger tanks (i usually consider 40 gallons+) there is a product where it is a gravel vacuum that attaches to your sink faucet. When the switch is down, it uses water pressure to siphon water straight into your sink and when you flip it up, it then puts water straight back into the tank. Naturally you would have to dechlorinate it as your filling the tank and with amphibians being so delicate to anything in the water, it may not be the best idea. Yet i have never had any trouble at all with using it on my amphibian tanks. Though on the other hand, it is a little pricey. The main company that makes it is Python. http://www.petsolutions.com/Python-No-Spill-Clean-Fill+I94002514+C10251.aspx

 

[Jennewt]

An ordinary gravity-driven gravel-washing siphon is helpful (essential, if you have sand or gravel), but I personally don't like the Python. It uses blasting tap water to create a vacuum, so it probably wastes a couple of gallons of unused tap water for every gallon removed from the tank. I'm one of those people who is totally averse to wasting water, so it would really bother me to use this thing.

 

[Zapher]

So you know, you can use the water to start the siphon and then turn off the running water, once all the air is out of the tube it will continue to siphon out water, granted the sink is any bit lower than the water level. And even still, if you are opposed to using that bit of water to start it, there is always the old fashioned way of sucking or switching the tube with a "clip" when draining water and replacing it with the "unclipped" tube. (Clip meaning the trap that allows you to start siphoning without getting a mouthful of aquarium water). Just make sure you put the "unclipped" tube on before putting water back in. Makes it alot better than dragging 5 gallon buckets everywhere and splashing water on the floor! :lick:

 

[eros719]

a cheaper alternative might be to get a fill kit for a waterbed. there's a gadget in it that works exactly like the python thing you're talking about that you use to suck out the water of a waterbed, and it's usually around 20 bucks at a waterbed supply place.

 

[JWERNER]

I have simply used a pond pump on big tanks and just pumped it out the door and at the same time I would try my best to remove any dirt the normal gravel vac way into a bucket. I usually only got 1 bucket full and let the pump do the rest cause the pumps do good at changing the water but not vaccing the gravel. Now I got a ton of small tanks and I live in a apartment so I use a python.