Just a heads up: A 15 gallon Barrel HEAVY!

Ridewithme38

Ok so i have a 30 gallon tank, but its in the basement of my home, with no sink or drain anywhere around its actually two flights of stairs between a drain/faucet and the basement...my thought was, "why use a 5 gallon bucket and run up and down the stairs 3 times twice a week to do 50% water changes, when with a 15 gallon Barrel, you only need to take one trip"

The 15 gallon Barrel came in the mail, brought it down to the basement and started gravel vacuuming and doing a 50% water change, bucket got filled and went to move it up the stairs.....it wouldn't move at all...tried both hands, lifting with my legs, dragging it to the stairs, etc., nothing

So now i have a 15 gallon bucket filled with dirty fish water next to my tank.....that i can't move

Moral of the story:
Water is heavy

Romad

Ha ha ha.... I have enough of an issue with a full 5 gallon bucket. I wouldn't even attempt 15.

Have fun siphoning it out to the 5 gallon buckets :)

Boredomb

Ha ha yeah water weights almost 9lbs per gallon. That gets heavy when added up.

AbbeysDad

Live and learn weed hopper - every mistake yields knowledge and it's all part of the adventure.

Now you have a couple of choices. Invest in a small pump and route a hose out a basement window. Or get a friend who knows just a little about plumbing. Every basement has a clean-out in the main stack. You put a "Y" with a threaded cap on there and you now have a drain you can use.

In the meantime, yer bailing and hauling buckets from yer 15g boondoggle.

AD

Mikaila31

lol I'm amazed you even tried to lift it.

Ridewithme38

Haha, my brain doesn't always work, i'm not a small guy at about 6'2 200lbs...i even did the math assuming 7lbs a gallon so i thought it was "Only 105lbs"....and i remember carrying kegs in high school that weighed more then that....

But man, dragging a 15 gallon bucket up three flights of stairs..almost 15 years after high school...yah not something my body would let me do

Calmwaters

LOL lesson learned. ; )

TwilightGuy

I remember those days and all I can say is the incentive to carry 15 gallons of dirty tank water is definitely not the same as it is for a keg...lol.

You could try one of those electric drill attachments for pumping non-flammable liquids - should be powerful enough to lift the water out a basement window. Faster than evaporation!

snafudude

I got a chuckle out of this !!

AbbeysDad

doh