Water change emptying

[sarah1953]

Hi, I'm a newbie, I have a huge 197L tank and I'm finding it difficult to both empty water and clean the sand. Is the hose on the attached picture the easiest way to do a water change with such a big tank? And how do I clean the sand sufficiently without hoovering too much up? I'm quite a short person so need a stool anyway

Thanks in advance for any answers

 

[54seaweed]

there are many types of siphon hoses out there I use one similar to this but with with out the plunger the longer the bigger part is the less sand/gravel you will suck up it will only pull out the lighter crud
, I use a 7/8 hose for faster siphoning , the hose you have pictured looks to be about 3/8 and that will make draining water slow , since I use bigger hose I can drain and change water in about 5 min , small hose tends to clog fast large diameter hose gets less clogs and is more efficient IMO , the only downside with larger tubing is you have a bigger chance of sucking up fish if your not careful

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