Someone explain a python

[Sky042]

I've seen them.
I've read about them but can someone explain how they work?
I'd just like to understand how the vacum the gravel before filling?
I'm really looking for an easier solution to my cleaning than a 5G bucket and sump pump especially now that I'm getting a monster tank running and can't imagine that many buckets.

Thanks

 

[Synirr]

(This will be a lot easier to understand if you've already seen what they look like)
You screw one end onto a water faucet and stick the other in your tank... with the little end valve thingy open you turn on the water which flows straight out the valve, causing suction on the tube so that as you run the water in your sink, water is also suctioned out of your tank. When you've drained as much water as you need to, you just close the valve thingy which prevents water from flowing out, so instead it flows through the tube and into your tank

It does waste a bit of water in the draining process, but it's soooo worth it.

 

[Sky042]

Is the siphon effect as strong as with a regular gravity style?

 

[SarahBravo]

I guess it depends on your water pressure - the more that comes out your cold tap, the higher the suction it creates. For me, yep, it suctions just great!

Can't live without it now!

 

[ncjharris]

Sarah,

your sig says you are in the UK, can you tell me where you got the python from?

I have read about them loads on the site, but people always add that they are not available here in Blighty.
I've never seen one either, but then again its not as if I have been on the lookout for them specificaly.

Cheers!

 

[CathyG]

I bought mine from Maidenhead Aquatics in Hillingdon

 

[ncjharris]

I bought mine from Maidenhead Aquatics in Hillingdon

Really? I have about 6 of them near me, and I have never seen one for sale there.

Are they kept 'under the counter?!!?'

Or perhaps I should just ask!

Thanks!

 

[CathyG]

Just ask! I bought mine off the shelf!

 

[Bignose]

The physics of the whole situation are quite interesting (well, ok, too me, anyway). When fluid travels through a pipe, it has a dynamic pressure associated with it. Bernoulli's equation shows that the faster the fluid moves, the lower the dynamic pressure in the fluid itself.

The python attaches to the sink, and when the sink water flows by at a high speed, it has a lower dynamic pressure. Lower than the ambient atmosperic pressure in fact. So, the atmosphere is pushing down on the top of your tank water, which gets pushed into the tube and down the drain next to the flowing sink water.

The gravity siphon is similar... though in that case, the flow rate is limited by the height difference between bucket and tank and the shape of the siphon you are using. The pressure differences aren't nearly as significant as the pressure difference between the height of the tank and the height of the bucket on the floor are incredibly tiny. Though, of course, you have to get it started by sucking on the siphon or some equivalent.

 

[smithrc]

I bought mine from Maidenhead Aquatics in Hillingdon

Really? I have about 6 of them near me, and I have never seen one for sale there.

Are they kept 'under the counter?!!?'

Or perhaps I should just ask!

Thanks!

our maidenhead dosnt sell them either - but we got ours from an online store...

Animal House

add something worth a few more pence to the order and P&P is free (over £30)

(Its the Python No Spill Clean & Fill)

Get the 25ft one - you can extend it with normal garden hose if you need to

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