Gravel Vacuums

[fishnewbie]

The guy at the lfs reccommended the larger pebbles for my 6 gallon. But now the regular self-starting vaccums won't pull up the pebbles to get at the waste. I really don't want to change the pebbles out at this point. Any reccomendations on brands and types of vaccums to purchase that can help clean the pebbles. Is it neccesary to pull up the gravel as you clean? Thanks for any help you can offer. :?

 

[peterp]

Not sure if you would want to use this on a 6 gal but for large tanks the
"Python, No Spill Clean and Fill", comes in 25/50/100 ft lengths.
On the expensive side(about 70$cdn for the 50ft) but works well.

You want to pull up any debris in the gravel while leaving most of the good bacteria alone.

 

[Allivymar]

Naw, no need for the siphon to pull the gravel up into the tube as long as the debris goes up. The gravel in my 55g is pretty heavy and does not go up the tube at all, but I dig deep and the fish poo and uneaten food sure does!

 

[fishnewbie]

Thanks for the advice. I ended up buying the python vac. It's great because you don't have to pump up and down to get the siphon working - that was scaring the heck out of my fish. (Or suck tank water - yuck!)

 

[Allivymar]

*grin* I lurve my Python. Can't imagine doing water changes on my 55g without it! I still use the small siphon for my 10g tanks; I like the control of the small diameter hose, especially since both tanks have small fish and one is also well planted.