Gravel Vac - Long Hose

[PERCY]

I need a gravel vac. My tank is 2 foot deep what's the best out there? I need one with a long hose approx 10 feet. That way I can siphon straight out the window into the drain. Is there anything out there?

 

[matt_storey]

Just use a hose pipe.

 

[PERCY]

Yeah but the wide tube is handy for picking up the dirt.

I'm gonna be using sand substrate, are the vacs any good on sand?

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

Just get a a hose connector to connect your siphon hose to your regular hose? Also you can buy lengths of clear PVC hose from places like B&Q so that way you get just how much you need. You'll still need the hose connector though.

 

[garyspence84]

I used to just use a length of old hose pipe, connected to an old 2ltr bottle with the bottom cut off, and used that to dig into the substrate to clean it.

G

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Because sand has small grains, you need to reduce the flow for the vacuum. it is really easy to suck the sand right out of a tank. Use smaller diameter tubes and hoses until you have finished vacuuming. For emptying bigger diemeter hoses are fine.

Different sands have different grain sizes. So finding which size works for your tank may take some trial and error.

I never vacuum into anything but a bucket. You can accidentally suck up small fish or plants etc. and retrieving them when they go out the window may not be so easy nor timely.

You can also reduce the flow rate in a siphon setup by have an inline flow control like a ball valve etc.