What A Silly Gravel Cleaner!

[Athena]

You don't shake it, you sort of thrust it up and down in the water (don't ever bring it above the surface of the water). The outlet end of the tube needs to be lower than the inlet (in a bucket on the floor). The idea is to get rid of the air in the tube so the thrust just forces water up until its full and syphoning begins (it only take about three firm thrusts).

I find that the more water there is, the easier it is to start it. You're not trying to use a large syphon on a goldfish bowl are you?

Also, if you need to temporarily stop the syphoning whilst you change buckets, just pop your finger over the end of the outlet end.

Pauly.

LOL - no, not a golfish bowl (thought of that is hilarious) - it's a 3ft tank. Oh, and I was thrusting rather than shaking (although "shaking" sounds a politer word the thing up and down.

I think where I went wrong was that (a) it wasn't fully submerged and full of water and (b) I didn't hear any clicking noise (as suggested above) and © I'm just plain useless!!

Thanks again guys for the input - it's given me the incentive to give it another try...


hehehe somehow I managed to copyright myself being plain useless..! (see above)

 

[Gill]

i had to use one of those in Dobbies. had never seen them before and was really impressed once i had figured out how to use the blasted thing.

i just stick a hose pipe onto a powerhead now. much easier and let it drain into the veggie patch.

 

[piranha_tim]

Sorry I didn't have much time to read this ...

I have a Hagen Gravel vacuum ...

By shaking it up and down it does start ... but its a small talent.

Things to note ...

1. when you shake the thing up and down and stop does the water immediately flow out of it? If it does ... it might be damaged or you might not have one with a valve.

2. the source of water is obviousely higher then the waters destination right?

 

[gaz gun man]

Hagen to an electric one for about £20 I think, its soo easy to use.

Just pop into the water and push the on button and you'll immediately start sucking water.

It does need a hose though to transfer water into a bucket.

It fills a 10L bucket in about 1-2 mins.

 

[piranha_tim]

Hagen to an electric one for about £20 I think, its soo easy to use.

Just pop into the water and push the on button and you'll immediately start sucking water.

It does need a hose though to transfer water into a bucket.

It fills a 10L bucket in about 1-2 mins.

Super Gravel Vaccumer ... I couldn't do my 75G in 1-2mins HA HA

 

[orange shark]

do you mean you could do your 75g in 1-2 minutes or am i getting slow?

 

[Essjay]

What I do is to hold the narrow tubing a couple of inches above where it attatches to the big, clear section. That way you dont put your hand into the water when you shake it up and down. This keeps the whole of the big bit under water all the time, and you don't cause a tidal wave by plunging your hand in and out. You also have to shake it fairly rapidly so the water that goes into the narrow tube doesn't drain away before the next shake.

 

[gaz gun man]

Hagen to an electric one for about £20 I think, its soo easy to use.

Just pop into the water and push the on button and you'll immediately start sucking water.

It does need a hose though to transfer water into a bucket.

It fills a 10L bucket in about 1-2 mins.

Super Gravel Vaccumer ... I couldn't do my 75G in 1-2mins HA HA

I said you could fill a 10L bucket, read properly!