DIY endless gravel vac no more hurry

[Fastfossil]

We all use gravel cleaners ever wish you could do that bit more but don't want to do a huge water change here is your solution. I clean three tanks every months with this and it really works well and you don't have to hurry and scare your fish or remove them I leave it running afterward to clear the water.

You need
1 X tall vacuum seal container must seal air tight
hose pipe fittings see in pics
epoxy resin and hardener
1 x pump the stronger the better
2 x sponges
filter media
filter coal
about 2 hours free time
the over all item looks like this

 

[Fastfossil]

1)First make sure the pump fits snug into the container at the bottom
2) you need to make sure the holes you make for the electrical lead and hose fitting are not to big and must be snug fit
3) use epoxy between all fittings when you tighten then to the lid
make sure the lead is just long enough and you don't have excess in the container.
Use hose pipe fitting that click on and off you can use short hoses to pump water out the window if you want and make storage easy if you clip them off.
You may want to use you gravel cleaner the normal way as well and that is just a clip away.
I used sponge filter media sponge coal and filter sponge but you could make it less I just make sure to remove as much waste as I can.
Any question just ask it was a nice build and on a scale of 1 to ten it rates a 5 for difficult and 10 for handy helper. I will attach a few pics for you to get ideas from

 

[Fastfossil]

I used a 200 gph pump and keep it on full

 

[Fastfossil]

all you need to do is keep both ends in the tank when it is on or big mess.Start the siphon by keeping the one side below water level till the container is full of water the I used a pipe bucket clip that came with the gravel filter to clip it on the tank or bucket where I want the water to go. Clip on clip off I have three lengths of hose to transfer water long distance or short all have hose clips on.

 

[mfdrookie516]

This thought crossed my mind yesterday. I was thinking of making one with a more simple filter setup, but basically the same principal. I think your idea is pretty cool

 

[Fastfossil]

Thanks one more photo, packed ready or next months big clean.

 

[redneckgearhead]

I love it! When I do my water changes Im always trying to hurry and try to remove as much HA that I can. But I worry that I would have to add a UV sterlizer to it to kill the spores that might slip thru the filter. Or it would just spread my problem. What do you think?

 

[Fastfossil]

You can add an inline one it will only make it better, but if you have one you may as well set it up in you tank just remember parasites, viruses, algae and bacteria (good and bad) are the types of things that are "killed" after passing through the ultraviolet. UV kills even the good .You could also do the full clean and then do a water change after by just moving the pipe to the bucket or clipping on a long hose to push it out a window or into the toilet,sink.When you are done cleaning the gravel do the water change to remove even more as they may be floating around in the water you moved around if they did pass the filter but it quite sound. Do the gravel clean a few times to get it started and after a while you will have removed most if not all but they are small. I only have fresh water tanks so its a bit easier for me.

 

[FishEggs]

you could just use that as a canister filter essentially.

 

[WhiteDevil]

I use an old canister filter to do this. great DIY though.

 

[Fastfossil]

Could do that but I would upgrade the filter system a bit more maybe make baskets for it to hold layers of filter media

 

[jcamaro]

Where can I get the gravel end and cap? I'm talking about the big end that the gravel goes in and then the reducer on the top for the smaller hose. I can't find anything and don't want to buy a gravel cleaner setup just for that. Is there anyway you can just hook to the filter inlet pipe? Do you think it would have enough power? Thanks

 

[Batt4Christ]

Seems like basically a "home-brew"/DIY miniature canister filter! Cool!

 

[Fastfossil]

I do not know of a place to buy such things sorry jcamaro pipe but 38mm pvc and a hole in a end cap could work but it will not be transparent. You could even use a smallish bottle and cut the bottom off and tape the pipe into the neck of the plastic bottle.