So... I got the booster pump and fitted it, temporarily for now as I just need some RO!

And now we have pressure. Too much pressure I think. A tad over 110PSI. I will call them tomorrow, but for now ive restricted the outlet a little to drop it to nearer 100psi.

So... its water change day and I have decided on 50% RO and 50% Tapwater. I mixed some up in the big green water butt and added a little temp gauge to get the temperature right. I will hook this in permanently at some point.

My 50/50 mix has brought me down from 223ppm to 117ppm. So far so good...

Now... todays water change will be a little different. All the time I have been building this aquarium ive had it in my head I am NOT spoending another ten years carrying buckets of water. So I have made a plan, and today will finally see if it works.
Maidenhead Aquatics sell these little water change pumps. I was going to use a pond pump until google revealed this, so I took a punt on it for £30.

I added some hoze with hozelock connectors on it. And dangled it in the tank. Its connected to my garden hose which runs right through the dining room window and out to the garden drain.

In the middle I have added a hosepipe flow meter. This cool little device will show me live litres per minute.

Along with a live counter showing what volume of water has flowed through it.

As you can see, at almost 5 litres per minute, it should shift my required 50 litres in ten minutes. So I sat and had a brew and watched it empty feeling very pleased with myself I must say.


Once it was done, i disconnected it and then added a spray head to the hose and put it back in the tank. The hose was then run right round the rear of the house and into the garage and the pump put in the water butt. Once powered up... hey presto... its pumping the RO mix straight back into the tank.

Its a bit slower at 3.8litres a minute... due to the length its pumping I guess.

However... I reckon thats not a bad thing anyway, better to pour it back in slowly... this was proved by the fact the fish carried on as normal, totally unaware a water change was even taking place!
So... all in all, a great day. Im well pleased this water change idea works, its going to make the 100 - 150 litre a week watere change a joy instead of a chore.
And I reckon the boys will never even notice!


Time for another brew... and maybe some brione shrimp for the lads!