Hello, this is Jin Life. In this video, I will discuss automatic water change aquariums. First, an automatic water change aquarium refers to a tank that continuously drains water and automatically refills it, eliminating the need for manual water changes. When managing an aquarium, it is not an exaggeration to say that the task that takes the most time is water changing. You can clean the aquarium less frequently than the water change cycle, and if you trim the aquatic plants regularly, it doesn't take much time. Moreover, trimming itself can be enjoyable, so I think it's fine. However, water changing feels like a task with a set deadline. The reason I felt the need for this automatic water change aquarium is that as my guppies and cherry shrimp continued to breed, the number of aquatic creatures increased, requiring more frequent water changes, which made the water change cycle shorter and shorter.

eventually, I began to feel the burden of endlessly completing tasks with deadlines that were getting shorter, as I reached the point where I had to perform water changes every two to three days. An automatic water change system can be seen as a way to save a lot of time from the pressure of these changes and to make aquatic life much more convenient. To briefly touch on the necessity of water changes, ammonia is produced from the waste of aquarium inhabitants, when organisms die, or from leftover food. The bacteria in the filter break down this ammonia. Without a filter, there would be very few bacteria in a typical aquarium, and ammonia would either be broken down slowly or not at all, becoming toxic to the inhabitants of the aquarium and causing negative effects. Aerobic bacteria break down this ammonia, ultimately converting it through nitrite to nitrate. There are also bacteria that break down nitrate and release it as nitrogen gas, but

It is said that an aquarium cannot create an environment where such bacteria can survive. Nitrates do not decompose any further and continue to accumulate in the water. As time goes by, the nitrate levels in the aquarium increase. If these nitrates keep building up, living organisms will no longer be able to survive. An increase in nitrates feels like fish cannot breathe in the water. Therefore, water changes are done to lower the nitrate levels. My experiences with fishkeeping could lead to a long discussion about water changes, so I will only cover this much in this video. One thing is certain: without the invention of a special filter that allows bacteria to decompose nitrates or without taking special measures to absorb nitrates, water changes are essential for all aquariums. The principle of automatic water changes is very simple.

Slowly, the water in the aquarium drains out, and as it drains, new water is filled in. The draining of water works on the principle of a siphon. By placing a hose in the aquarium and sucking out the water just once, it will continuously flow out. If we simply attach a control valve in the middle of this hose, it is possible to regulate the flow so that only a certain percentage of the aquarium water drains out over the course of a day. The filling of the water can be achieved using the principle of a ball valve, which is also found in toilets. This ball valve allows water to flow out when the water level drops, as the air ball descends. When the water flows out and the water level rises, the air ball floats on the water, naturally blocking the outlet and maintaining a constant water level. With this setup, the water in the aquarium will gradually and continuously drain out, and it will automatically refill as needed, creating a self-circulating aquarium.

the last remaining issue is the residual chlorine in the tap water that fills the aquarium. When we usually perform water changes, we let the tap water sit for about a day before using it to eliminate the residual chlorine. It would be a bit complicated to automatically fill the aquarium with water that has been left out for a day. Therefore, we use a residual chlorine removal filter. Using this filter simplifies the potentially complicated process. If you remember these three points, you can say that you understand the principles of an automatic water change aquarium. Now, let's take a look at the components needed for an automatic water change aquarium, starting with the hose that will carry the water. You can use either an air hose or a water purifier hose. Air hoses are inexpensive, but they are soft and vulnerable to external impacts. As the name suggests, air hoses are suitable for carrying air, but

When using a water hose, it is advisable to avoid it as it can create holes from minor external impacts, leading to a flood. Additionally, in corners, instead of bending at a right angle, the hose can easily bend and block the water flow. A suitable hose for use in an automatic return aquarium is the water purifier hose used in water purifiers. The water purifier hose is sturdy, making it relatively safe from external impacts, and it has a variety of fitting components available, such as L-shaped fittings, I-shaped fittings, T-shaped fittings, flow control valves, check valves, and source pressure reduction valves, making it very suitable and convenient for creating the desired water flow. The method of connecting the water purifier hose to the fitting components is very simple. You just need to press it in firmly until it is fully inserted. When removing it, press down on the moving plastic at the opening to prevent it from coming out, and then simply pull out the hose.

To prevent the hose from coming loose, there are safety clips that keep the plastic from being pressed down. There is a stronger outdoor installation safety cover hose for water purifiers that can withstand external impacts, and there is also a dual line hose that allows you to organize the intake and outflow hoses into a single line, which is a significant advantage. Both the water purifier hoses and the fitting parts come in two sizes: 6mm and 10mm, and they can be easily purchased online, allowing anyone to connect and use them without difficulty. The downside is that the price is higher compared to air hoses. While you can use air hoses with water purifier fitting parts, the hose itself is soft, which can cause it to move and leak a little water over time, and it can easily disconnect from the fittings, so I do not recommend it. The water route I ultimately envisioned involves the aquarium in the room and the aquarium on the kitchen table; water flows out from these two aquariums and meets at a single outflow hose, passing through the balcony and draining into the boiler room's sewer.

The water inlet hose is the final water path I envisioned, which connects the kitchen faucet to the aquarium by diverting the tap water through a hose. When creating this water path, my first consideration was to minimize the visibility of the hose to maintain a pleasant appearance and to ensure it wouldn't interfere with daily life. Additionally, the outlet hose's position must always be lower than that of the aquarium, and finally, I had to think about where to draw the tap water from. These three factors were my main focus while contemplating the water path. I shortened the water path by drilling through the wall, but this is something that cannot be done without equipment or the landlord's permission. Therefore, each person should carefully consider their own situation and determine the most ideal water path. The aspect that took me the most time and consideration while creating the automatic water refill aquarium was deciding on the water path.

First, I will briefly explain the components used along the inlet hose. In the kitchen, the water purification hose is connected from the sink faucet to the purifier. I cut the inlet hose of this purifier in the middle and connected a Y-shaped fitting to attach the hose that goes into the aquarium. The upper hose is the one that goes into the purifier, and the lower hose is the one that goes into the aquarium. I used the hose from the kitchen that goes into the purifier, but you can also use an unused faucet or shower hose to draw tap water, or extend the faucet you are currently using. There are various ways to use tap water, so you can choose the method that fits your situation. The component located right at the start of the aquarium inlet hose is called a raw water pressure reducing valve, which reduces the water pressure of the tap water to prevent it from passing through the filter too quickly, thereby maintaining the filter's effectiveness. Normally, it’s not an issue if water enters the aquarium slowly.

When cleaning the aquarium and draining a lot of water, a significant amount of water will quickly flow back into the tank. At this time, the raw water pressure reduction valve helps to lower the water pressure, allowing the filter to function properly. After the raw water pressure reduction valve, the filter is connected. Additionally, ball valves have been installed on both the inlet and outlet of the filter. These ball valves are intended to be closed on both sides when replacing the filter, preventing water from flowing. There are various types of filters, but since I usually let tap water sit for about a day before using it for water changes, I believed that the effect I wanted from the filter, which is the removal of residual chlorine, would be sufficient. Therefore, I purchased the cheapest filter that only has the effect of removing residual chlorine. The filter case costs 15,000 won, the two L-shaped fittings for connecting the cases cost 1,000 won, and the back carbon filter costs 6,000 won, with a replacement cycle of 9 months.

I used the filter because I thought that the maintenance cost of about 6,000 won for nine months was reasonable. There weren't any particular disadvantages to the housing filter case I used, but water was leaking slightly from the L-shaped fitting connection, so I wrapped Teflon tape around the threads and connected it. One tip for wrapping the Teflon tape is to start thinly at the outer edge of the threads and gradually make it thicker as you go inward. After replacing the filter, you should circulate water for about five minutes to flush out any impurities in the filter before using it. To check if this filter is effectively removing residual chlorine, I purchased chlorine test reagents and conducted tests. I collected samples of tap water directly from the faucet, tap water that had been sitting for 24 hours, and tap water that had passed through the filter. The chlorine test reagent reacts with chlorine and turns yellow; the higher the chlorine concentration, the darker the color becomes.

The test results showed no color change in any water samples except for the tap water that was collected immediately. It is said that if tap water is left to sit for 24 hours, all the chlorine will evaporate. I was very satisfied to find that the results of the 24-hour-stored tap water and the filtered water were the same. I didn't expect such a significant effect, but since the results are good, I believe I no longer need to worry about residual chlorine. The water, from which residual chlorine has been removed through the filter, flows through a two-line hose from the purifier, passing through the kitchen and leading to the room. I connected the hose going to and coming from the aquarium in the kitchen using a T-shaped fitting. I also installed a ball valve before the inlet hose of each aquarium, allowing for easy control of the water flow from the aquarium side. The purifier hose is sturdy and does not bend easily. To guide the hose into the aquarium along the wall, an L-shaped fitting is necessary. Additionally, I attached a ball top at the end of the inlet hose so that when the water level decreases, it will automatically refill.

The ball top I purchased is an Amazon product that allows for adjustable water height and comes with one L-shaped fitting, which I bought for about 7,500 won. While using it, I occasionally noticed some noise when the water flow was low. During those times, I could reduce the noise by slightly adjusting the angle of the ball top's air ball or by tweaking the position of the hose. The most important point when installing the ball top is to ensure that the air ball does not get obstructed and can rise vertically, so that it can properly block the outlet when the water level increases. If the air ball gets stuck on an obstacle or is not installed vertically, it may fail to block the outlet correctly, causing water to continuously flow in and potentially flooding the entire room. Up to this point, I have discussed the setup of the inlet hose through which new water enters the aquarium. One issue that can arise when water flows directly from the faucet into the aquarium without being stored is residual chlorine, among other concerns.

there could be a risk of clogging. To prevent this, I installed a mesh filter over the outlet hose. This will help ensure that only water flows through while keeping larger debris and small creatures like cherry shrimp safe. Now, let’s move on to setting up the inflow hose.

There may be times when the holes get clogged. To prevent this, I connected the gravel to stop small debris from entering. The downside of connecting the gravel is that when it absorbs water, debris from the aquarium can be sucked in and cause blockages. To reduce this phenomenon, I installed the gravel at about the midpoint of the aquarium's water surface. By doing this, the amount of debris that settles at the bottom and gets sucked in significantly decreases, and since I do not perform water changes more than 40% at a time, the gravel does not get exposed to the air during water changes. If the gravel gets clogged after a long time of use, it can be cleaned by blowing air forcefully into it. Water is sucked into the aquarium through the gravel, passing through a fine flow control valve and then through a water counter. The fine flow control valve regulates how much water is allowed to flow out.

You can adjust the flow of water by tightening or loosening the screws. The product I initially purchased was a valve that connects to the water purification hose, but since the main material is plastic, there was a drawback: when the locking screw was tightened or force was applied to the screw part, the amount of water I had set would change. Therefore, I purchased a more durable fine control valve designed for high-pressure applications and connected it. This fine control valve for high-pressure applications is designed to be sturdier, preventing changes in the flow of water due to external forces. The price of the fine control valve for water purifiers is around 4,000 won, while the fine control valve for high-pressure applications costs about 6,000 won. I recommend that you purchase the fine control valve for high-pressure applications from the start to avoid duplicate purchases. Next, the water counter allows you to estimate the amount of water flowing out of the aquarium. It shows the flow of water similar to how you can see the fluid dripping when getting an IV.

In the existing automatic retrieval sets for the internet, a water counter is usually missing. Without a water counter, it is impossible to know how much water is currently flowing, whether it is flowing at the desired rate, or if the hose is clogged. Therefore, it is an essential component. If you search for water counter online, you can purchase one for about 4,000 won. The downside of this water counter is that it does not fit well with rigid water purification hoses. This issue can be resolved by briefly heating the purification hose before connecting it. The important thing to note is to heat the purification hose for just about one second before connecting it. If you heat it for too long, the hose will stretch too much, become loose, and water may leak out. It is crucial to heat it briefly and then push it in tightly. After slightly heating it, I ensured that the purification hose fit snugly into the hole and then reinforced it with super glue.

When using instant adhesive, it is important to apply an appropriate amount to prevent the adhesive from entering the hose and blocking it. Next, I connected the ball valve. The ball valve serves the purpose of shutting off and opening the water flow. It is not used for fine-tuning the outflow but is simply intended to easily stop and start the water exiting the aquarium. After that, I connected the check valve. This check valve is a component that prevents backflow. If water is flowing out of one aquarium, there should be no backflow; however, in my case, since I have two aquariums connected, if I remove the hose from one side for work, there is a possibility that water flowing from the other aquarium may backflow and spill out. Therefore, I connected check valves at the ends of the outflow hoses of both aquariums to prevent water from backflowing. The water then passes through the check valve and flows into the kitchen via a two-line hose. Up to the inlet hose connected to the filter, both the inlet and outlet hoses run together through the two-line hose.

From the point where it goes outside, we connected a safety cover hose that is more shock-resistant. At this connection point, we added a check valve for backflow prevention to block odors or small microorganisms that might enter from the sewer or outside. We connected the safety cover hose through the veranda to drain into the boiler room's sewer. For the section leading from the kitchen to the veranda, we drilled a hole in the lower part of the frame to pull out the hose, and we also drilled a hole in the wall for the hose leading to the boiler room. When connecting the outlet hose for drainage, it's important to ensure that the end of the outlet hose is not higher than the aquarium's height. According to the principle of siphoning, if the end of the outlet hose is lower than the aquarium, the water will continue to drain even if the middle hose is somewhat elevated. However, if you want the water to flow more smoothly, it's best for the entire outlet hose to be laid out at a lower level.

On the other hand, the inlet hose does not depend on height since tap water has pressure. In an automatic water exchange aquarium, water continuously drains, so depending on the amount of water that drains, more than 100% of the aquarium water can be exchanged in a day, or conversely, if too little drains, the effectiveness of the exchange may be insufficient. To prevent this, it is necessary to determine the amount of water that needs to be exchanged daily and measure and adjust the amount of water that drains. The method is not very difficult. First, determine the amount of water to be exchanged in a day. I thought that exchanging about 10-15% of the aquarium water per day would be fine. Next, check how many liters 10% of the aquarium water is. Multiply the bottom length by the width and then by the water height, and divide by 1000 to find the amount of water in my aquarium. I found that the total amount of water is 47.872 liters. Ten percent of that is 4.7872 liters. If about 4.7872 liters drain each day, I will achieve my goal of a 10% exchange.

To let 4.7 liters of water drain in a day, the amount of water that needs to flow out per hour is approximately 0.199466... liters, which is 199.466... milliliters. When we divide this by 60 to calculate the amount of water flowing out per minute, it comes out to about 3.324 milliliters. Based on this calculation, if approximately 3.32 milliliters flows out per minute, about 10% of the water will be recirculated in a day. While this is not an exact figure, aiming for this amount should yield the desired recirculation effect. Since 3.32 milliliters per minute is a very small amount and difficult to measure, I decided to measure 33.2 milliliters over a 10-minute period. In my case, I didn’t have any specific tools to measure 33.2 milliliters, so I filled a transparent cup with about one-third of the weight of 100 milliliters of water and marked the level. This way, the water up to the mark would be approximately 33.3 milliliters. I collected the water flowing from the aquarium into this marked cup for 10 minutes.

If you fill the tank with water for about 2 minutes and 30 seconds to 5 minutes, you'll get a sense of how much water will be collected. By adjusting it little by little, I ultimately matched the amount of water collected over 10 minutes to the measurement marks. After trying it a few times, I developed a sense of how much water would be recirculated based on the size of the droplets falling. To achieve about 10-15% recirculation per day, the droplets should fall at the speed you see in the video, based on the water counter I purchased for my aquarium. Although it may appear that the water is falling very quickly, the hole through which the water drops inside the water counter is very small, causing the droplets to form and fall in a tiny size. Therefore, even if it seems to be falling quickly, the actual amount of water dropping from the hose is not that much. This is why it’s advisable for you to measure the amount of water flowing out using a method similar to the one described above for a few minutes when you adjust the water flow.

When creating an automatic water return aquarium that connects multiple tanks with a single water line, there are several considerations to keep in mind. First, the thickness of the outlet hose must be able to accommodate the volume of water exiting from all the aquariums simultaneously. Since water continues to flow by the principle of siphoning without the aid of a motor, if the volume of water exceeds the capacity of the hose, the amount of water flowing out will not increase. Therefore, a hose with an appropriate thickness that can handle the water exiting from all tanks is necessary. 

Second, when disconnecting the hose for maintenance in the middle of a check valve, water from other aquariums may backflow. It is advisable to install check valves for backflow prevention in each aquarium. 

Third, establishing the initial flow of water: if one of the hoses from the aquariums is disconnected while using multiple tanks, the backflow preventer will prevent backflow, but temporarily, the flow of water may change, which could affect the amount of water flowing out.

After connecting the hoses of all the aquariums, it is advisable to let some water flow out to release the air from the hoses and ensure a smooth flow of water. Then, you should check the amount of water flowing out several times and make fine adjustments. Here are the components needed to set up one aquarium, focusing on the parts I used. First, the necessary components for the tap water intake line include a source pressure relief valve, two ball valves, a housing filter case, two L-shaped connectors for the housing filter case, a white carbon filter for the housing, and a Y-shaped fitting (which may vary depending on how you extract the tap water), totaling 34,200 won. For the outlet line, excluding the aquarium side, I used one I-shaped fitting and one backflow check valve, costing a total of 4,000 won. The components used in one aquarium include gravel, a ball top, and three L-shaped fittings (including one that comes with the ball top, so only three were purchased).

The fine-tuning valve, two ball valves, a backflow check valve, and a water counter cost a total of 29,500 won. Additionally, for the hose, you should measure the length of the water route you have decided on and purchase it according to that length. For safety clips, you will need one safety clip (40 won) for each connection point of the hose with the parts. If you are adding just one aquarium to your existing water route, you will need to purchase the parts for one aquarium along with two T-shaped valves (1,400 won) to connect them. Since I was inexperienced and making this for the first time, I ended up needing to purchase additional parts due to unforeseen changes or issues with the components. As a result, I incurred extra shipping costs. I hope that by watching this video, you can learn from the trial and error I experienced and create a more solid plan to reduce unnecessary expenses.

Looking at what I've worked on, it may seem like a very complex and large task, involving breaking through walls and making holes in the chassis. This is mainly because I've expanded the project in my desire to make the hoses as inconspicuous as possible. However, connecting the hoses to create a water flow and building an automatic water-replenishing aquarium is not difficult and can be done by anyone. The most challenging part of making an automatic water-replenishing aquarium is figuring out how to create the water flow. It took me about a month to think of and design this water flow and to address the problems one by one. Now, I have moved past the task of water replenishment. I used to have a large container in my room to collect water for replenishment, but now that I no longer need to collect water, it is very convenient. I just occasionally check the aquarium and see how much water is dripping.

However, just because it is made into an automatic water change aquarium does not mean that no time is spent on aquarium maintenance. Time is still needed for tasks like cleaning the aquarium and trimming aquatic plants. If you were someone who used to clean a little during water changes, you should still do a bit of cleaning about once a week, but you can save time and effort on filling and preparing water for the aquarium. I find this alone to be very convenient. For those of you who find water changes too difficult or bothersome, or who are short on time, considering an automatic water change aquarium might not be a bad idea. This is the end of the video. Thank you for watching, and if you liked the video, please give it a like and subscribe.

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