Best Way To Clean Gravel ?

[Llegmore]

I'm a shaker. The very idea of fish-water in my mouth

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

lol it's not that bad and the one times it's happened to me is when I've lost suction near the end of a water change and then had to suck really hard to get it back going again

 

[Bugdozer]

There's a very simple solution to having problems with shaky type siphons without sucking them.
When my water level is below a certain amount, I can't get the shaker to work properly because it keeps whacking the gravel at the bottom yet not reaching the ball valve. So what I do is get a 2 litre jug, close the tap at the bucket end of the siphon, and fill the tube up by tipping tank water in from the jug. Once it's almost full, quickly put the end into the tank and get an assistant to open the tap for you. Presto, the water will flow.

 

[fluttermoth]

I'm a shaker. The very idea of fish-water in my mouth

And yet you're happy to let your fish swim and breathe it?!



You can always coil your gravel cleaner/tube up and immerse the whole thing in the tank, turning it round until all the air is out, then, thumb over the end and into a bucket. It's probably the easiest, most reliable way (apart from sucking, of course, which hasn't done me any harm over the last 20 years!).

 

[RossC]

Another way is just fill the gravel end up then tip upside down with finger on other end, then release a little out to get rid of air then put gravel end back in water horizontally pointing upwards, the flip upside down and wal-lah. But that's a lot of hassle and gets water everywhere lol

 

[BlueDragon]

I have a one of those you have the shake up and down in the water to get going. Never had a prob with it. I dig the gravel end right into the gravel, and then every few seconds I do it again in the same place till the water going up the pipe looks clear. Then I move on and repeat it until I've done the whole bottom.
The way I get around plants is to just do around them and then every so often I take them up along with the drift wood to do underneath. But I don't yet have that many plants compared to other people so that might be harder to do for others.


With the fry tank I take the big 'hoover' bit off the end and just use the pipe to suck up the poops off the bottom. Works a treat as long as you keep it touching the bottom so you don't suck up the fry too. I do have to suck-start it this time though so's not to hurt the fry. But I do it by having a drop-loop that then points up so when I suck the water it can't run into my mouth : )

 

[hensonc4098]

This has turned into an amusing topic Do you suck or shake??

 

[spongy]

I used to be a shaker, but lost the knack of it, or i broke it so now I'm a sucker......

Never had a mouthful of water though, these things have clear pipes so you can can see the water coming down the pipe. If you couldn't see the water flowing then it would be a whole different story.

 

[gilaesther]

I'm a shaker, lol. Always works for me

 

[Yanks15]

I'm a shaker! And I let my faucet do the sucking

 

[Mikey1]

the best way to clean gravel is to not have gravel at all.....the only time you should have gravel in a tank is if you are using an undergravel filter, then the gravel serves a purpose....other than that there is no need for it, and your tank will be alot cleaner/healthier without it

 

[Mrsdubs]

I got that battery powered vacuum but its no good and in the end i got the plastic shake to start vacuum. Heres a way i start a gravel cleaner without shaking to start it
1) With the gravel cleaner scoop up some water and make the gravel cleaner point up
2)The water will begin to go down the pipe and when its close to emptying the gravel cleaner put it back into the tank water.

This mostly starts my gravel cleaner quickly

If you have plants in you aquarium which rooted down i would move the gravel around with my hand to take the dirt out from the bottom and use the gravel cleaner to take it out

Exactly how I do it, no shaking and no mouthful of fish water its so simple I can't belive people still use the sucking method

 

[snazy]

the best way to clean gravel is to not have gravel at all.....the only time you should have gravel in a tank is if you are using an undergravel filter, then the gravel serves a purpose....other than that there is no need for it, and your tank will be alot cleaner/healthier without it

It won't, without any substrate the bottom of the tank can develop a film/bacteria very harmful to fish, especifically dangerous to fry. Tank with substrate is best. If you don't want a dirty substrate and siphoning mad several times a week, get your filtration and water flow in the tank up to scratch instead of spending money and time on some battery operated stuff. Whats' causing all the bits falling in the gravel is lack of flow and good filter to take in the debris. I've got sand in one of my tanks and I don't siphon anything at all, that's with a 7 inch common pleco inside on top of other fish.The poop never settles long enough for me to see it.

 

[snazy]

And here is a video how to best start a siphon without being a sucker or a shaker

The only problem with this video is that the woman doesn't clean the gravel properly after she starts the siphon, she just goes around stirring. Once you start the siphon, stick the tube deep into the gravel and wait until the debris gets sucked up by the siphon(the dirty stuff is lighter than the gravel so it floats on top and gets sucked in, then put your finger on the bottom end of the tube to move to the next spot, put the siphon again down to the bottom of the gravel and release your finger to proceed the siphon.