Battery Vacuum

[chigwellhammer]

Quick question, Does anyone own one of these battery gravel vacuum? Does it work well and get the dirt out the gravel?


http/www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Aquarium-Fish-Tank-Battery-Vacuum-Syphon-Auto-Gravel-Water-Filter-Cleaner-Washer-/400436851153?pt=UK_Pet_Supplies_Fish&hash=item5d3be571d1


Thanks

 

[Fishmanic]

read the review on amazon---some positive some negative--don't have one myself--I just clean the substrate when I syphon water during a water weekly change

 

[coolie]

I was given one with my tank setup and it looked so cheap and tacky and pathetic I threw it in the bin without even trying it.

 

[Seal36]

I had one it worked for two months then broke so I have gone back to normal gravel vacuums and don't have any problems with it from Tom

 

[fluttermoth]

I had one many years ago (when we still thought that fish didn't like new water

 ) and it was a bit rubbish, tbh.
 
Syphon tube + water change is by far a better option.

 

[guppyguy1234]

i was thinking on trying one as i have a filter that somtimes doesnt pickup from the sand so i thought they would be good to clean the sand without removing water and tampering with ph plus sand and gravel vacum = sand in bucket

 

[fluttermoth]

Sand in your bucket is no trouble; just tip it back into the tank with the new water (preferably not all over your plants)

Doing water changes shouldn't 'tamper' with your pH.

 

[guppyguy1234]

well if the ph is low a water change boosts it up so i figured to pr three a week just to clean sand would give my fish ph shock

 

[fluttermoth]

Your tank water, if you're doing enough water changes on a regular basis, shouldn't be different to your tap water.

If the pH is very different, it would be a good idea to find out why.

 

[KirkyArcher]

They get rid of some of the larger bits of muck, but you'll find the finer stuff leaches out of the collection bag and clouds the water quite badly, regular syphon style cleaners are about 17X better

and also you have to be very precise with how deep you go with the mouth of the vac or you'll suck up loads of gravel/sand and fill the bag almost instantly