Alton...

[Europhyllia]

made me love water changes!
I've borrowed his pump and super long hose set up so frequently that I decided I couldn't live without it and got my own pump and 30ft vinyl hose.
Now only hauling the buckets with old water to the bathroom is a pain and refilling it is super convenient.
Just plug in the pump that sits in my 44 gallon Brute and in a matter of minutes 15-20 gallons of fresh saltwater are back in the sump.
LOVE it!
Maybe I should get a second one to pump the old water to the drain so I can stop schlepping buckets all together. lol

[Kristy]

Alton's been around a while and has a lot of wisdom to offer!

We were just discussing this water change issue the other day... from how we used to do it (lifting up those 5 gallon buckets to pour the water into the tank - don't miss that!) Now we have a super long hose for removing the dirty water and just start a syphon on it to drain into the kitchen sink. Then we roll the 44g brute of clean saltwater over to the tank and power up the pump with the long return hose on it and fill it right up! Super simple. Gotta make it easy because cleaning the glass is such a chore with that center brace.

[Europhyllia]

I wish I could just drain it into the kitchen sink!
It's stainless steel and my husband thinks the saltwater will corrode it (or something like it) so I have to haul the buckets all the way to the other end of the house to dump it into the toilet.
Anybody know if the saltwater would really damage the sink and toilet is safer?

[StevenSeas]

it depends on the grade of stainless steel that the sink is made out of. If it isnt scratched, and is used for a sink I am betting that it wont corrode. If it is scratched it will be more likely to corrode

[Europhyllia]

oh I just thought of something... I got a floor drain in the laundry room!

[Mr Cob]

oh I just thought of something... I got a floor drain in the laundry room!

Now, that's nice!

[Europhyllia]

I am just scared I'll suck up a rare polyp or something. In a bucket it can be retrieved. Floor drain - it's a goner.
Maybe I'll make a little net sack that can fit into the floor drain just in case...

[jpond83]

just syphon it into the cleanout (the pvc cap) in your yard.

[Europhyllia]

that sounds like it would require a really long hose. Laundry room would be much cheaper at the per foot cost of vinyl hose.
My 'yard' is kind of big (we live on several acres) and we have septic, not city water disposal.

[alton]

Nothing like getting on MAAST at 5:45am and seeing your name posted on a thread. First thought was "What Did I Do Wrong Now"?
With doing 50 gallon water changes on first my 200 and then on the 300, packing buckets was not an option. Rio pump and 50' of hose was the way to go.

MAAST and those who started it are the ones who should be thanked for giving us a place to ask questions and get ideas for our great hobby.

[BSJF]

I used to be much stronger when I lifted all those buckets though. Woman who can haul a lot of water is worth a lot. Woman who uses pump, maybe worth more?

Kristy, why are you moving your brute to the tank? Just get tubing that is long enough. I've moved my brute to the spare bedroom and just refill from there.

Anyone have problems with getting RO where it needs to go? We have long refrigerator tubing and quick connect shutoff on ours, I can run it directly to the brute in the bedroom. Of course I have a float on the brute so it doesn't overfill.

[Europhyllia]

Anyone have problems with getting RO where it needs to go? We have long refrigerator tubing and quick connect shutoff on ours, I can run it directly to the brute in the bedroom. Of course I have a float on the brute so it doesn't overfill.
Oh nice idea! Thanks for sharing :)

[BSJF]

I also just drain my water outside to an area that doesn't care about whether it gets saltwater on it or not.

[ErikH]

I drain to the sink, the only part that is stainless is the sink itself. Then when I am done, I plug the sink, fill it with FW, and yank the plug to flush it. You still should have the PVC access in front of your house in case something gets backed up, it's pretty much standard.

[Bill S]

When we put the big tank in, I plumbed one of the closed loops to the drain in the wet bar, thru the wall next to the tank. RO/DI goes to a 36 gallon RV water storage tank under it. To change water, I just turn the drain handle, let it drain to the line on the tank, then take the hose from the full topoff, and plug in the pump.

BTW, no, the saltwater shouldn't hurt your sink, as long as it's not leaking (to damage some of the hardware that isn't stainless, underneath). Karin, I'm guessing you might have a septic system? If so, the saltwater might not be doing it good. Not sure, but it might affect the bacteria that breaks down the waste. Might check it out.

[Europhyllia]

edit:
probably but why buy hose to go all the way to the yard if I can just drain it directly into the floor drain so close by? what would the advantage be?

bill:
yes we have septic. perhaps I'll just drain it to the weeds then... ;)

[roscozman]

We have one of the nicest lawns on the block, thanks to our RODI drain hose...

[Europhyllia]

yeah my RODI already drains to the outside. :)
But Bill got me wondering about my saltwater...

[alton]

I used to be much stronger when I lifted all those buckets though. Woman who can haul a lot of water is worth a lot. Woman who uses pump, maybe worth more?

Kristy, why are you moving your brute to the tank? Just get tubing that is long enough. I've moved my brute to the spare bedroom and just refill from there.

Anyone have problems with getting RO where it needs to go? We have long refrigerator tubing and quick connect shutoff on ours, I can run it directly to the brute in the bedroom. Of course I have a float on the brute so it doesn't overfill.
As we get older we get smarter. When I was 30 I packed 2 - 6 gallon buckets x 5 for water changes, when I turned 40 I changed to the pump and hose method.