How do you dry your siphons?

[PlatyLady]

I think I have mold or something growing in my gravel vac. It's a small tube and now it has black spots in it. I think maybe it's because I use it so often that it never gets a chance to fully dry out.

How do all of you dry out/clean your vacs?

Thanks!

 

[William]

I drape mine outside in a tree, in sunlight for a day.

sterilizes and drys

 

[Sati]

I imagine it's mildew PlatyLady. My old vaccuum has a bit of that in it. I don't really worry about it, but that one I could drape over the shower head in the bathroom to drain it. I bought a 50 foot python last night and it does not drain the way it said it would. It drains for the most part but there is probably a quart of water left in all that tubing and I don't have a 6 story building to hand the whole cumbersome thing from. I'm really not sure what to do about it. Right now I have it coiled up in my big plastic bucket I was using to drain and add water with.

 

[PlatyLady]

William, if only I didn't live in Canada where it's cold outside and the tubing would freeze! LOL

I usually hang it in my 'fish closet' where theoretically, the water would drain and it would dry out, but it's not quite working.

 

[oscarbreeder]

Sati,
I just start at the vac end of my python and roll it up and the water drains back into the sink.
HTH

 

[justDIY]

dry?

hmm

my siphon is a 3ft piece of 1/2" vinyl tubing... once it's used, I give it a little shake and then it lays on the floor till next time (yes, I'm a slob sometimes hehe)

I haven't noticed any mold or mildew, but some white spots from calcium deposits

every now and then it gets a soak in bleach water when I clean my filter hoses

 

[myriam]

I roll the Python up and make sure the gravel vac and the other end are both facing down in the bucket I keep it. They drip dry enough, it seems.

William, I cannot imagine what would happen here in Seattle if I draped my Python over the tree in my yard. It would be perennially wet, or the squirrels and crows would chew it up. Sunshine...Florida...sigh.

 

[PlatyLady]

Don't you find that there are still little water droplets in the tubing? After reading your posts, I'm starting to think I have defective tubing! I don't think the water droplets ever seem to go away.

I'll think about the bleach water - never thought of that before.

 

[madasafish]

Oscarbreeder's spot-on. That's what I do and it works perfectly. Took me a week or so to figure it out.

 

[Sati]

Sati,
I just start at the vac end of my python and roll it up and the water drains back into the sink.
HTH

I know... I'm lazy though. I don't want to go through 50ft of tubing

 

[madasafish]

Hunh?

You should be able to do this at the end of each usage, Holly. When you're finished filling the tank, unscrew the bottom of the sink adaptor and allow the water to cascade back, reforming the vacuum. Some of the tank water will be sucked back in, but not much. At this point, grab the gravel vac end and walk towards the sink, rolling up the tubing and holding it at head-level. Each loop you make should force the water closer to the sink as long as you're keeping the tubing high.

I guess if you meanyt doing it now, it is a pain. Wait until next water change!

 

[Sati]

Well hopefully I'll get more handy with it! Last night was the first time using it and we changed all 3 tanks. It took a *lot* of effort to get the Pur water filter off the kitchen faucet, and the brass adapter for the python was far too large for the bathroom sink. Then water kept shooting out no matter how hard we screwed the darn thing in, so we ended up putting a towel over the whole thing to keep water from spraying all over the kitchen. I'm telling you, I was exhausted when it was all done, lol

 

[TankGirl]

Yeah, my kitchen sink does not accept the Python, adapter or no. I wound up getting the 50' and run it in from the bathroom where it fits. I drain it like I drain my garden hose at the end of the warm season - I leave the draining end in the sink and hold the vacuum end up, and coil it up as I keep the whole thing up above my head, like Oscarbreeder said, and all of the water drains out with gravity. However, I use it so frequently that I don't think it every dries completely, and does not have a chance to grow any mildew!

 

[Guest]

i have the same problem, my hose never dries out and i get mold too, black mold. I try using a hair drier and blow it into it but it still has tiny water drops where mold grows..i use it once a week and it takes like 2 months before it gets to be too much but theyre has to be a way to dry it...i also live in canada where outside it WILLNOT dry

 

[Sati]

Yeah, I'm in Seattle and it just happens to be pouring outside

 

[ferret]

In the same boat at TankGirl, but I have a 25 foot. I do the 'let it vacuum and loop it' method, then leave it in the bath tub until shower time. Then I make sure its neatly rolled up and hang it from a hook.