Gravel Vacs

[loachman]

That whole shaking up and down thing is crap. It doesn't work and makes a mess.

Take the fat end of the gravel vac, dunk it until it's full, lift it up quick out of the water so water starts to flow out of the bucket end (you can plug the bucket side with your finger at this point), then dunk it again. That should work to get the flow going. You just have to dunk it again before the fat part drains.

If you have sand, like I do, you pop the fat end off and just use the hose once the flow is going.

 

[markandhisfish]

base of my tank is 4 foot by 2 foot. imagine spooning all that in thru a gravel vac tube !

 

[pippoodle]

base of my tank is 4 foot by 2 foot. imagine spooning all that in thru a gravel vac tube !

it doesnt take too long really it sounds like it would but when you are using a large serving spoon - or anything else you have got to put the sand in with -the sand easily just slides down the tube and goes where you put it - it doesnt take very long at all - was just an easy way of doing it without having to remove the fish or anything
it took me an hour to do the rio which is approx 40x16 so maybve set aside a couple of hours and youd be done

was just an idea

Sarah x

maybe get a 2" tube from a diy shop and try that instead - it dsont have to be a gravel vac tube but that was all i had lol