Cleaning Debris From Substrate Without Syphoning Water?

[SamLovesCorys]

Is this possible? I never have enough time to get all the poo before the water gets down to the right level. Is there a way of getting it out without doing a water change?

 

[Akasha72]

absolutely. Do you have an air pump? there's a product at P@H made by algarde that you connect to an airline and pump and you skim it across your gravel and all the debris goes into a little bag and leaves the water where it is.

I have one, it's reasonably good. It doesn't replace a good syphoning session but I tend to use it mid week for a general tidy up

Hopefully here's a link (if it works) http/www.petsathome.com/shop/aquarium-power-cleaner-by-algarde-30323

 

[SamLovesCorys]

Yeah, I have a pump. Can you just attach it to a conventional air pump?

 

[Akasha72]

yes, just get some airline (again p@h have some, it's about £2) one end onto the pump outlet nozzle and one end goes onto a pipe that comes off the cleaner - it has a little blue valve on the end that the pipe slots onto. It'll start buzzing away and then submerge it in the tank.

It will pick up bits of gravel unfortunately - it's the downside. It's also sucked up my trumpets snails sometimes but I now just tip the bag contents into a cup of tank water and check what's there before binning anything

 

[SamLovesCorys]

absolutely. Do you have an air pump? there's a product at P@H made by algarde that you connect to an airline and pump and you skim it across your gravel and all the debris goes into a little bag and leaves the water where it is.

I have one, it's reasonably good. It doesn't replace a good syphoning session but I tend to use it mid week for a general tidy up

Hopefully here's a link (if it works) http/www.petsathome.com/shop/aquarium-power-cleaner-by-algarde-30323

Just tagging you to make sure you see it!

Lol, bit too late!

Would it be hard to use with sand d'you think?

 

[Akasha72]

Would it be hard to use with sand d'you think?

I've not tried it on sand yet as my main tank has soft pebbles at the moment. I would imagine it would still suck up some sand if you tried to dig it in too much. I tend to just hover mine over the pebbles as it's powerful enough to suck up the poo without digging it in.

All I can suggest is you give it a go and find out. I suppose the other option would be stood over the tank with a turkey baster sucking up random bits of poo and that would take hours

 

[SamLovesCorys]

The reviews list issues with the bag falling off. Have you had this problem?

 

[Akasha72]

no, never. It does loosen over time but I can always put an elastic band around it if it becomes so loose

 

[SamLovesCorys]

Awesome. I think i'll get one.

 

[Akasha72]

cool, I've not regretted getting mine. It was hardly expensive and it does what I want it to do. The little niggles of a loose bag elastic and it sucking up the odd pebble is nothing to worry about IMO.

I'm more worried about my cories sitting around in fishy poo for too long. I don't want them to get infections or anything like that

 

[Dazzler666]

There's also a battery powered gravel cleaner which has a bag on & sounds very similar to what Akashia mentioned. I think my other half bought it off e-bay & it was pretty in-expensive.
Hope this helps

 

[balashark6]

I had a battery one. Packed up on the third use. Waste of money. Will have to look for one of these airline ones

 

[bikerfish]

Hi I have just reserved 1 as having to water change in middle of week to get bits up of sand so cheers for info, getting tomoz

 

[Akasha72]

yeah, I've heard bad things about the battery powered ones. Apparently gravel and debris can get into the mechanism and the motor burns out.

The air pump type are so simple and there's nothing to go wrong - so long as you remember to check the contents of the bag before you chuck owt away. I've sucked up my trumpet snails, fry and bits of gravel but amongst it all was a heck of a lot of poo, rotten plant debris and basic detritus that every tank gets in-between water changes

 

[Dieses Madchen]

You can also buy battery powered gravel vacuums that do the same thing. Don't have to hook them up to a pump or anything. Very lightweight and handheld. Siphons everything up, catches it in a finely netted compartment and leaves the water in the tank. That's what i have and I love it for getting the extra bits of food should I happen to overfeed....I also have large plecs so its very handy.