Gravel Vac

[andy d]

Hello

Physics is against me! I used to have my tank a lot higher of the ground and could syphon the water out and gravel vac with a bit of hose but now it's just off the floor its really awkward. Is there such a thing as a motorised pump of some sort that doesn't require gravity to pull the water through?

 

[youngfisher]

You can get electric motored gravel vacs for under £15

 

[jonp]

Iv got one that runs off the airpump, it was about £5.00 from my LFS. It is not quite as effective as the gravity powered one, but I only use if for my small quarentine tank as and when its in use.

edit: It collects the waste in a small net type bag and all water is returned to the tank so no good for combined vacs/water changes....

 

[saltynay]

Any old aquarium pump will do I use the pump from my diy filter I just disconnect the filter sponge and pump the water directly into a bowl using a 16/22cm pipe from the inlet for the pump swilling around the tank.

 

[Geoff1991]

I use a drill pump.

You attach to piece of pipe either end of it, spin the drill and it pumps water.

Theyre about £10 for more hardware stores and look like this...

For pumping water...

And a battery powered gravel vac to hoover.

 

[andy d]

Thanks for the help/ Ill have a look at the drill...

 

[england]

one of my tanks is just of the floor, i have a peice of pipe that meausures from floor to floor in tank, just fully submerge tube,cap end with thumb then wait til tubes at base of bucket right next to tank then move thumb away, works fine for me, abit slower but gooe enough

 

[Night61]

wait! there are electric pumps!? how come no one told me this....
i have been using a turkey baster all of this time to clean my ground level tank.

 

[Bignose]

It is important to consider looking for a pump that can handle things going through it other than just water, because doing a gravel vac you are going to get a fair amount of stuff that's not water. That stuff will wear on the internal mechanisms of the pump and make the pump fail significantly sooner than it would otherwise. Now, that said, they are still very cheap and you will get a fair amount of lifetime out of even a cheap one and when it does fail it won't be that expensive to replace. I suspect that finding a pump built to properly handle solids in the fluid would be many times more expensive than just buying several cheap pumps as they fail.

Since the laws of physics aren't going to change any time soon, you are going to be limited in your options.