Gravel/sand Cleaner Help Please

[rayza]

i need to clean the sand in my fish tank and am looking to buy a gravel/sand cleaner kit but i dont know what i am looking for please can you help
it will really help me

 

[TigerIssey]

Hi

Not sure of your question exactly, but most lfs sell them, make sure it has got a self start function (Usually by pupmping up and down) if it hasn't you will need to suck on the tube, my days of swallowing fish water are well and truly over.

 

[Bullrock74]

i need to clean the sand in my fish tank and am looking to buy a gravel/sand cleaner kit but i dont know what i am looking for please can you help
it will really help me

You didn't say where you live, so I'm going to assume in the USA. Get your hands on a python gravel vacuum. They attach to your faucet and make water changes a breeze. I had to reduce the size of my siphon by getting an el cheapo gravel vacuum and taking its hose and inserting it in the python's hose to increase the suction power. Now, I can just hover over the detritus and it gets sucked right up.

 

[TigerIssey]

[/quote]
You didn't say where you live, so I'm going to assume in the USA. Get your hands on a python gravel vacuum. They attach to your faucet and make water changes a breeze. I had to reduce the size of my siphon by getting an el cheapo gravel vacuum and taking its hose and inserting it in the python's hose to increase the suction power. Now, I can just hover over the detritus and it gets sucked right up.
[/quote]

I am curious, am in UK. When you say faucet, thats tap, right, so how do you dechlorinate the water before you put it in?? If I did that I would have no bacteria whatsoever, I can still smell chlorine on my hands from washing them 1/2 hour ago!!! Sounds a great timesaver though!

 

[ImperfectFaerie]

The siphon will be your best friend when it comes to cleaning the gravel/sand. We just use a normal cheapie, and it works great.

*disclaimer* Tsi_User does the water changes/vaccuming in our house, so I'm going off of his usage/statements... I havn't had to swallow fishy water and I really don't want to LOL The python sounds fantastic, I might have to look into that for oh, any sort of occassion in which you'd give a fishlover a present *cough* Might have to make it into the Christmas ideas (haha, I bought him his 29g for his birthday, a cool siphon for christmas isn't all that odd in our house)

 

[Callum]

can i ask which are better battery powered vaccums or the standard ones and why i like the idea of battery ones because it seperates the dirt from the drained tankwater, so you dont wash your filter in muck and tank water, just tank water

 

[Bullrock74]

I am curious, am in UK. When you say faucet, thats tap, right, so how do you dechlorinate the water before you put it in?? If I did that I would have no bacteria whatsoever, I can still smell chlorine on my hands from washing them 1/2 hour ago!!! Sounds a great timesaver though!

faucet means tap, yes. Most people just pour in the dechlorinator (I have chloramines) as they're refilling the tank. I have had no problems with this, either.

Something sounds seriously wrong the amount of chlorine that is in your tapwater if you can smell it after washing your hands.

 

[TigerIssey]

faucet means tap, yes. Most people just pour in the dechlorinator (I have chloramines) as they're refilling the tank. I have had no problems with this, either.

Something sounds seriously wrong the amount of chlorine that is in your tapwater if you can smell it after washing your hands.

I think so too, am trying to get hold of the water company, it may have to do with the fact that our water comes from a local reservoir in the middle of agricultural peat moors. I know (I work at the local PHLS) that at certain times of the year cryptosporidium can enter the water supply. Crypto is a faecal parasite. However our water company is terrible to get hold of, even the web site has been down!!!

 

[ant0]

nothing wrong with a bog standard siphon unless you have a large tank in my opinion, quick cheap and easy

 

[DoyouWantsum]

Hi

Not sure of your question exactly, but most lfs sell them, make sure it has got a self start function (Usually by pupmping up and down) if it hasn't you will need to suck on the tube, my days of swallowing fish water are well and truly over.

You dont need to suck on the end of the pipe. Just put the vacuming end under the water and then lift in a scooping motion so that the water starts draining down the pipe. When the water comes out the other end put your finger over the end to stop all the water flowing out. Then put the vacuming end under the water again and take your finger of the other end.

 

[TigerIssey]

When I first kept fish when I was a kid, all I had was a length of siphon tube, you did then have to suck to get it going!!!!!! Newer style had started to come out but too expensive for a kid, kids buy what they have to, it was classed as a luxury over test kits, dechlorinator and food!!

 

[Tsi_User]

The siphon will be your best friend when it comes to cleaning the gravel/sand. We just use a normal cheapie, and it works great.

*disclaimer* Tsi_User does the water changes/vaccuming in our house, so I'm going off of his usage/statements... I havn't had to swallow fishy water and I really don't want to LOL The python sounds fantastic, I might have to look into that for oh, any sort of occassion in which you'd give a fishlover a present *cough* Might have to make it into the Christmas ideas (haha, I bought him his 29g for his birthday, a cool siphon for christmas isn't all that odd in our house)

Meh i've gotten used to the taste

 

[ImperfectFaerie]

Ewww... and I kiss that mouth.

 

[wendyngd]

I just bought a battery operated "Gravel Vac" by Aquatic Gardens today but I can't seem to get it to work--no suction at all--and veeery noisy!! Unless anyone has any suggestions or experience with this, I'm going to return it to Petco where I purchased it! I'm disapppoinntd--I wish I could afford that "sludge cleaner" that people rave about but it retails for about US$65...

What's so great about the python? Is it that you can run a hose from the sink to the tank? Also, my husband insists on emptying the dirty fish water into the toilet. Sounds like many people use the sink.. Hi to all, Wendy.

 

[Bullrock74]

What's so great about the python? Is it that you can run a hose from the sink to the tank? Also, my husband insists on emptying the dirty fish water into the toilet. Sounds like many people use the sink.. Hi to all, Wendy.

Imagine doing a water change on a 350 gallon tank with buckets and an ordinary siphon! Python hooks the faucet, so dirty water goes right down the sink and then fresh water goes right into the tank! No hauling buckets around!