Aquarium ballast tank

[Astacus]

I don’t know whether that’s the right word for it. I have a 200litre Jewel aquarium that’s been set up for a few months now. I had some early water quality issues probably due to leaching of nutrients from some bog wood. But I’ve removed that and done a 40% change and it settling down again now.
Changing the water got me thinking. I used a siphon and a large water container that I then tipped down the drain and filled the tank up again with treated warmed water using a bucket. But I wondered whether it would be useful to have a sort of permanently connected separate water container through which tank water circulated, that I could just seal off and dispose of the water, then fill it up again and reconnect to the tank if that makes sense. I am not sure the jewel pump would cope so I might need it on a separate circuit, and maybe heated separately too.
Has anyone else tried this?

[Turn7]

Have a search for marine sump aquariums….

[Astacus]

Ah that’s what I wanted to say. Thanks

[Astacus]

Astacus said:

Ah that s what I wanted to say. Thanks

Ok now I’ve looked at it a full blown sump is not what I am after. I was just looking at keeping the original filtration system and adding a second volume of water that could easily be changed without the hassle of siphoning out and refilling by bucket when I did a water change. There seem to be some YouTube vids (of course!) so I’ll look at those. Thanks for the pointer.

[Turn7]

Search aquarium python for easy water changes …..

[Astacus]

That’s clever. It’s basically an old style water flow vacuum pump with a tap to switch flow back to the tank from the sink. All great if you are close to your kitchen sink.