Discus Fish Water Changes, Made Easy

A water storage tank is located upstairs, above the tank, gravity does most of the work.  A 95 litre drinking water tank (you can get bigger and they come in all shapes and sizes) is in the airing cupboard, fortunately located right above the tank in my instance.  This is filled via an HMA unit (see pic) from the upstairs bathroom.  Its then heated and stored.  You can age your water but I tend to use it within a day or two.  This removes the need for water conditioner (the HMA removes all the bad stuff and chlorine etc).  It removes the need to mix hot and cold to get the temperature correct and it ages the water so your not using it straight from the tap although some do.

Once your tank is cleaned and approx 95 litres has been removed by cleaning and vacuuming.  All you need to do is run a pipe from upstairs to the tank below and watch it refill.  

I have managed to cut cleaning and water changes down to around 20 - 30 mins depending on what needs to be done. 

Plans for improvements - use a handheld vacuum to remove debris and just pump the water out from one of the filters to a drain.  Fit a diverter valve on one of the filter outlets.  This should make it even faster and allow for very quick water changes once up and running.