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Re:Bill Ruff's fish room

In a message dated 97-11-21 03:52:35 EST, Bill wrote:

<< Can you please tell me more about the Meridian Automatic Aquarium Water
> Changer, I am building a new fish room in my house and I would love to
> hear about any device that can automate the hoohum/daily tasks.
> Any other list members who have ideas of products or DYI's that would
> make life easier in the fishroom let me know. And even on a less
> specific note, if anyone has any do's & don'ts for a fish room I woiuld
> love to hear the advice.
> Bill Ruff
  >>
I had a friend who DIY'ed an automatic waterchanging system.  He knicked a
corner out of the top of each tank, and glued two pieces of plexi onto the
outside to ccreate a sort of funnel over the gap.  Then he strung PVC pipes
around over the tanks with airvaives attached as needed.  He attached this
PVC system to a water barrel in the attic, which in turn was filled
automatically by an RO when a water level sensor said the barrel was low.
 This provided a gravity feed system.  He adjusted the airvalves, which now
were acting as water valves, to give a specific number of drops per minute
based on the volume of turnover he wanted. for each tank.  Then he attached a
piece of airline to the valve, and hung it down into the tank.  As the
automatic drip filled the water to the level of his little notch, the excess
flowed out the back, into the catcher arraingement, and down a piece of
tubing to a piece of plastic gutter.  Then the gutter led to a pipe that
emptied out over the basement floor drain.  He set up a ten percent change
every week, and never moved a pail of water.  If he needed to drain a tank,
he set up a siphon between the tank and a pipe elbow that stuck out of the
front of each stand.  The elbow led to the drain.  If he needed to fill a
tank, he had a valve on his supply side with a 3/8" plastic tube on it.  He
simply stuck the end of the tube into the tank and turned on the water.
  When he had the tank full, he set up the drip feed, and had the tank ready
to accept fish as soon as the water was at the right temperature.  If it was
for killies, the tank was already at the right temp when it came out of the
hose.  This guy had over a hundred tanks, and the most significant amount of
maintenance time he had was pulling the sponges off his filters, wringing
them out in the sink, and reinstalling them.

Bob Dixon