Plumbing water change spigot in house

[jwcarlson]

I might be moderately crazy for thinking this, but wondering if anyone else has tried.  

I am not planning on an automatic changing system, but I'm wanting to basically install a hose spigot out of the wall behind my aquarium.  I would then plumb that back (flexible clear tubing) down to the basement laundry sink and attach it with a Python, basically.  Total rise to the tank would be like 15 feet or less and horizontal run from sink to tank is maybe 20 feet.  So not too much tubing.  Basement is unfinished and would just be snaked through the rafters.  

This would allow me do changes and refill really easily and wouldn't need to do anything crazy for water changes other than walk up/down the stairs a couple of times and screw my vac with whatever extension I need into the spigot.

 

Has anyone done this, if so any tips?  To be clear my intent wouldn't be to have this pressurized always or anything like that (so not a live hose line in the middle of the house).  Basically just a "permanently" installed Python that I can stash the last 15 feet of or so.

[lefty o]

ive done similar.  because so many faucets dont flow much water, i put on my laundry sink a sort of home made pot filler type deal. cut into water source, dropped down copper pipe with push lock fittings and sweated a pipe thread fitting on the end that i could screw a python right on with no adapters.

[Mydonkeyfish]

sounds like a very cool idea! Dont forget to treat your water😁

[Patrick_G]

Sound like a good idea! I’d install a temp mixer like @Dean’s Fishroom has while you’re at it. A Carbon filter to remove chlorine would also be nice and as long as you’re running supply pipes why not run a drain line too? If you’re going the diy route it won’t cost very much. If you’re hiring a plumber then ouch, it’s going to be expensive. 

[jwcarlson]

I'd be doing it myself.  The line would be drain and supply.  

I have thought about a temp mixer, but would just do that down on the sink (supply).

Think of my idea as basically just a semi-permanently installed Python line that I take the end off of when I'm not using it and store it in the cabinet.

 

*disclaimer is that I've been basically out of the hobby for 15 years and maybe there's a new wiz-bang Python type thing that everyone uses*  

I'm still thinking of the one I had back in late-90s/early-00s assuming it's basically the same now. 

Edit to add that we're talking about a couple aquariums, not a massive fish room or anything.

Edited January 11, 2022 by jwcarlson

[lefty o]

the python is still the thing in power gravel vac's.

[Patrick_G]

On 1/11/2022 at 2:44 PM, jwcarlson said:

Think of my idea as basically just a semi-permanently installed Python line that I take the end off of when I'm not using it and store it in the cabinet.

Oh, I get it, great idea! 

[scott the fishman]

On 1/11/2022 at 2:44 PM, jwcarlson said:

I'd be doing it myself.  The line would be drain and supply.  

I have thought about a temp mixer, but would just do that down on the sink (supply).

Think of my idea as basically just a semi-permanently installed Python line that I take the end off of when I'm not using it and store it in the cabinet.

 

*disclaimer is that I've been basically out of the hobby for 15 years and maybe there's a new wiz-bang Python type thing that everyone uses*  

I'm still thinking of the one I had back in late-90s/early-00s assuming it's basically the same now. 

Edit to add that we're talking about a couple aquariums, not a massive fish room or anything.

we're talking about a couple aquariums, not a massive fish room or anything. You say that now!!!!!

[tnnlynch]

I had water in my utility room for the water heater and outside sprinklers.  I had a plumber add a spigot and shutoff on that line so I could fill my buckets in the basement.  I still go upstairs for one bucket of hot water to mix but it saved me a lot of steps.

[tolstoy21]

On 1/11/2022 at 3:57 PM, jwcarlson said:

I might be moderately crazy for thinking this, but wondering if anyone else has tried.  

I am not planning on an automatic changing system, but I'm wanting to basically install a hose spigot out of the wall behind my aquarium.  I would then plumb that back (flexible clear tubing) down to the basement laundry sink and attach it with a Python, basically.  Total rise to the tank would be like 15 feet or less and horizontal run from sink to tank is maybe 20 feet.  So not too much tubing.  Basement is unfinished and would just be snaked through the rafters.  

This would allow me do changes and refill really easily and wouldn't need to do anything crazy for water changes other than walk up/down the stairs a couple of times and screw my vac with whatever extension I need into the spigot.

 

Has anyone done this, if so any tips?  To be clear my intent wouldn't be to have this pressurized always or anything like that (so not a live hose line in the middle of the house).  Basically just a "permanently" installed Python that I can stash the last 15 feet of or so.

I have done something like this for a 125. Mine is a little more automated, and plumbed directly into my tank return water lines. But the concept is essentially the same. My waste water is discharged by an overflow bulkhead in my sump. This eventually makes its way to a slop sink in my basement.

I also pump water from a brute trash can where I age and heat it, so it's not a pressurized system.  But one could just as easily run a pressurized pex line up to their room and fit it with a hose bib for the python hookup.

Not sure any of that would be 'up-to-code' but I won't tell if you don't.  🙂

This is what the plumbing looks like behind my tank.

 

Edited January 12, 2022 by tolstoy21

[jwcarlson]

On 1/11/2022 at 7:07 PM, scott the fishman said:

we're talking about a couple aquariums, not a massive fish room or anything. You say that now!!!!!

I'm an engineer and run a part time honey bee business (selling honey, queens, and nucleus colonies).  Honey bees requires me to be doing stuff during the day when everyone else is awake and makes me feel like I'm shirking family/other responsibilities.  But I can screw around with fish basically anytime.

I jokingly mentioned to my wife the other day that I could sell all my bees and just turn the basement into a fish room (~1200 sq feet that we basically do not use).  She was all for it.  That's not going to happen just yet.  Been doing bees for eight years and kind of feel myself slipping towards being a little 'bored'.  This spring I need to move my 40 colonies from their current location to one four or five miles away.  That could push me over the top as moving bees is not fun.

[jwcarlson]

On 1/12/2022 at 6:51 AM, tolstoy21 said:

I have done something like this for a 125. Mine is a little more automated, and plumbed directly into my tank return water lines. But the concept is essentially the same. My waste water is discharged by an overflow bulkhead in my sump. This eventually makes its way to a slop sink in my basement.

I also pump water from a brute trash can where I age and heat it, so it's not a pressurized system.  But one could just as easily run a pressurized pex line up to their room and fit it with a hose bib for the python hookup.

Not sure any of that would be 'up-to-code' but I won't tell if you don't.  🙂

This is what the plumbing looks like behind my tank.

I've also thought about the aged water trash can in the utility/laundry room downstairs.  I'm not going to save any trips up/down really, but having a setup where I can dechlorinate and heat up to temp and then pump it upstairs might make sense.  That would probably be a bit down the road.  Need to do some checking of tap vs aged tap first to see if that would make anything better.  The one wrinkle is that I have a water softener, the hot water is always going to be soft.  The cold in the laundry sink is currently soft as well, but could be plumbed (easily) to bypass for the cold so that I could mix it.  Our tap water is very hard.  But if I'm going to mix it for temp then I need to be relatively consistent in hardness (I'd guess).

So many things I never really thought about when I was younger keeping oscars, guppies, and yellow labs.

[tolstoy21]

On 1/12/2022 at 8:30 AM, jwcarlson said:

The cold in the laundry sink is currently soft as well, but could be plumbed (easily) to bypass for the cold so that I could mix it. 

This is what I do. The water for my aquariums comes from line that i installed before the water treatment system. This way, I bypass both my softener and a second house hold filter we have that boosts the Ph for tap water.

The aquarium water runs through a sediment filter and a de-nitrate filter that I installed specifically for my aquarium water (my well water is high on nitrates. Higher than I want for aquariums, but not high enough to warrant the cost of a whole-house de-nitrate solution).

I'm getting straight well water this way. It has a very low natural Ph, but I mostly keep south American, softer water species.  I age the water mostly just to bring it up to temp (I have a heater in the barrel), and a bag of crushed coral to boost the Kh a tad, and get it above zero. The water coming out of the well is like ice cold, so i cant go straight to the tanks with it.

I have one tank of Multis that I have to put additives in to boost the Ph.

 

Edited January 12, 2022 by tolstoy21

[lefty o]

On 1/12/2022 at 7:30 AM, jwcarlson said:

I've also thought about the aged water trash can in the utility/laundry room downstairs.  I'm not going to save any trips up/down really, but having a setup where I can dechlorinate and heat up to temp and then pump it upstairs might make sense.  That would probably be a bit down the road.  Need to do some checking of tap vs aged tap first to see if that would make anything better.  The one wrinkle is that I have a water softener, the hot water is always going to be soft.  The cold in the laundry sink is currently soft as well, but could be plumbed (easily) to bypass for the cold so that I could mix it.  Our tap water is very hard.  But if I'm going to mix it for temp then I need to be relatively consistent in hardness (I'd guess).

So many things I never really thought about when I was younger keeping oscars, guppies, and yellow labs.

most water softeners have a bypass on the head, so can be bypassed while doing fish tank things.  while bypassing wont eliminate the 30/40 gallons in the water heater, all the cold will still be hard water so it will mix. softened water is not the end of the world for aquariums that some make it out to be.

[jwcarlson]

So here's what I ended up with.  

 

Hole in the wall, hose drops down through the floor, runs/supported by the floor joists over to the laundry sink, then it drops in.  Normally this hose will just be in the sink so any time I need to I can hook up gravel vac upstairs and start a siphon that drains to the sink.  I've tested this and the flow rate is sufficiently slow that the sink/drain "stays ahead".  So siphoning water is simple.

Then to refill, if all I want to straight tap, I can just hook it up to the python "pump" dodad.  I put in cold water bypass around the soft water for the cold water in the laundry sink.  To refill with aged, preheated water, I have a 32 gallon trash can that has a heater and air stone.  There's a ~$60 submersible pump that I bought that then pumps that water up out of the can and out of the gravel vac.  The pump is connected to a Kasa WiFi outlet so I can turn it on/off remotely (from upstairs) so that I don't have to run back/forth for that (or if I'm refilling two tanks or something).  I do have to move the connect the hose when I want to fill, but that's not a big deal at all.  Refilling the trash can is from the sink, just a short piece of hose from the Python pump into the bucket which is adjacent to the sink, it fills pretty quick so standing there waiting isn't too big of a deal.

Once I make sure this all works like I want, I might do a little more permanent plumbing/valving so that I don't have to connect/disconnect hosing... I'd just have to change the valve line-up.