Poll: Water Changes - Automatic or Manual?

[VA5]

Due to poor installation by a previous professional , I need to redo a large tank at this time (he never leveled a 300 gallon).
Anyway I was given the option of auto water changes. I will likely not do it for several reasons.
1) space for mixing containers
2)as noted another thing to fail
3) spending time with your tank is a good thing to me. During maintenance is when I most often notice anything that needs fixing.
I will likely have auto RODI top off from the an RO unit versus from auto from a tank that needs to be manually top off but will do my own water changes.
PS, when speaking with the new installer he has said that many older fish keepers go the auto way as they no longer are physically able to do water changes, so this can be a great thing to help keep some in the hobby who would otherwise not be able to

 

[Tiatank]

Love my DOS awc, I have it installed on my three tanks. The lines for my tank upstairs are 60’ away and the DOS pulls the water with ease. Once every couple months I’ll get into the tanks and siphon out some detritus. My corals have never looked better since installing the awc.

 

[Junk]

I have a sliding glass door right next to the tank so it's easy to just syphon away.

 

[Admann]

Forrest Gump?

(ten points for guessing the film in the background!)[/QUOTE]

 

[The Reef Dork]

Forrest Gump?

(ten points for guessing the film in the background!)

[/QUOTE]
Nope!

 

[Arthurfarris]

Back in the day, I needed to use a rubber hose to siphon the water from the aquarium and into a bucket. Then I bought a product of Laifoo, I loved the most about this aquarium water change equipment is that it comes with a 50-foot rubber hose. This means that I no longer need to haul a bucket of stinky water across my living room. lol The gravel cleaning attachment works quite well. The water flow is not so strong that it will kick up the dirt and cause the water to get cloudy. It is just strong enough to pick up dirt.

 

[MnFish1]

I do not trust automatic changers - plus - I do water changes about as often as I would want to siphon off some debris anyway. With a Python - or something similar - its easy to remove 40 gallons - then unscrew the python to the outlet/spigot on my saltwater container - and just pump it back in - the total time is about 30 minutes every 2 weeks. I have had so many problems trying to automate my tank - that to me its just not worth it.

 

[LiveFreeAndReef]

Manual, because I like to get my hands in the tanks and I feel that it keeps me more "in tune" with the aquariums. Automation is clever laziness