Gravel Cleaner

[Mola Mola]

I need to get a gravel cleaner for my 80L tank. I can't find my tape measure but as far as I can tell the water is about 40cm deep.

Is this cleaner OK?

http/tinyurl.com/44a3zpj

They have made a mistake with their length conversion on the pipe, basically all of the models have their length converted to 25cm.

The medium version has a pipe that is 15 inches (which is just under 40cm), so I reckon that I should go for the large version.

It has a "QuickStart" feature, which I think is basically a self-starter, so that I don't have to manually try to get the flow going.

Any advice on this would be welcome.

 

[Rickzayne]

Looks like a good one.

The self start is you put it in the water then lift it up and down quite fast, forcing water down the pipe to start the siphon.

 

[Gilli]

Yep - you just jiggle it up and down and do the 'shake and vac and put the freshness back'!!

 

[Mola Mola]

Yep - you just jiggle it up and down and do the 'shake and vac and put the freshness back'!!

Thanks to both of you for your advice.

I did indeed do the "shake and vac", and it started very easily.

It was so powerful that I almost didn't notice that the bucket was about to overflow. Must have taken all of 45 seconds to vacuum up 12 litres. I don't have anything to really compare it to, but it seemed to do a good job and was easy to use.

 

[maisy12345]

Just for interest did it generate loads of cloudy muck as you was doing this as mine does?

 

[Overload]

Yep - you just jiggle it up and down and do the 'shake and vac and put the freshness back'!!

Thanks to both of you for your advice.

I did indeed do the "shake and vac", and it started very easily.

It was so powerful that I almost didn't notice that the bucket was about to overflow. Must have taken all of 45 seconds to vacuum up 12 litres. I don't have anything to really compare it to, but it seemed to do a good job and was easy to use.

Does yours have a valve on the output?

Mine does and its really handy, means you dont have to shake it everytime you change/empty the bucket!

 

[Aqua Tom]

I just use a 10m piece of foodsafe tubing. I syphon the muck straight into my outside drain, via a bucket first in case I suck up a snail or somthing.
Then when it is time to refill I duck tape the same tube to my upstairs shower & roberts your mothers brother.

Tom

 

[Mola Mola]

Just for interest did it generate loads of cloudy muck as you was doing this as mine does?

Not that I noticed. I was expecting it to, but it didn't seem to. There was just a lot of black grit in the bottom of the bucket when I emptied it.

Does yours have a valve on the output?

Mine does and its really handy, means you dont have to shake it everytime you change/empty the bucket!

Yes it does. I didn't use it, because I was only planning to do one bucket, and just pulled it out of the tank when the bucket was full. I'm sure it is useful though, for multi-bucket situations.