Please Help, Dumb Question

[FishySarah]

Hey. I'm not really a newbie, but I have a stupid newbie question.

Vacuuming gravel. I have siphons- no pythons, no hand pump- just ordinary gravel-vac siphons, and I stand over eacth tank for twenty minutes or more every pwc trying to get them started. I try to submerge them, end up covered in fish water with water all over the floor, and I usually give up after about twenty tries. There has GOT to be an easier way. Other than using my mouth (ew) can anyone give me a better idea how to start a siphon?

 

[Matt_northants]

Place it in the water and pump it up and down as fast as possible

 

[Chrispixx]

Place it in the water and pump it up and down as fast as possible

(being careful not crack the bottom of the tank with the siphon)

Using your mouth to create suction is no big deal as long as you are quick to not get fish water in your mouth.

 

[funkycat]

Sucking it is definitely the easiest.

Is your siphon just a hose? or does it have larger part at one end?

 

[Cooper2085]

I submerge it in the water, then place my hand over the end of the Vac. Take your hand of and place it back on and it creates a suction effect, should take three movements to get it working.

 

[pauly]

Yeah just put the large end in the water and thrust it up and down several times quickly, it'll soon be flowing.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

submerge the whole thing so it fills up with water, put you'r thumb over the small end making a complete seal, keep the big end under the water. Take the small end out (still with your thumb over it) and place it in a bucket, then take your thumb off, hey presto water will begin to siphon out of your tank.

that being said i always just suck it, jut put the big end under water, then the thin end out of water and below the water line. suck the little end, watch the water in the tube, once it's over the top of the tank and falling back down you can stop sucking and get your face out of the way. you'll get a gobful of fishy water the first few times but you soon get the knack of it. it's only really yucky with salt water, that stuff tastes vile!

 

[scooterchick]

The pump action's never ever worked for me. Sucking isn't actually that bad, as someon else said so long as you remove it quick before getting anything in your mouth, or worse, swallowing! You can watch the flow of water while sucking, and when you see the water 'going over the top' ie reaching the highest part of the tube and then going down, that gives you plenty of time of stop sucking and you should have a nice flow. If for some reason it stops, remember to shake any stuck water out the tube before sucking again. Yuck!