What an Idea!!!!

[NJGourami]

Do you guys have a method of removing excess food thats not eaten and other junk thats is in the tank with out using a python? I thought of a way to remove waste from the tank so that it is not their to break down, hopefully slowing your nitrate creeps. Would you buy it pending price and functionality if you saw it in pet stores?

 

[newfound77951]

If you have uneaten food in your tank for more than 10 minutes or so you are feeding too much. By and large there should never be any leftover food, except maybe for things like algae wafers that may take a while to get eaten. Your filter should get most of the fish poo if it's appropriately sized for the tank. Cleaning the filter and vacuuming the rest of the poo out with a Python while doing a water change will keep your nitrates in line. If nitrate is too high, you need to either clean the filter out more often and/or do a water change more often. Or get some plants to suck up the excess nitrate.

 

[Jchillin]

I agree that you shouldn't have any leftover food in the tank. However, we can and know that sometimes this can happen. The best suggestion is to get it out before it descends to the substrate (yeah, if you overfeed, the tank looks like snow).

I doubt if a product could be manufactured that could absorb leftover food from the substrate since the market for such a product would be too small to make it viable.

 

[JustOneMore20]

In my tanks with smaller fish, I do tend to overfeed, since some of the fish are very shy. I usually use a turkey baster to get up leftover food. Much cheaper than something sold in pet stores.

 

[theotheragentm]

A UGF is supposed to do this, but it gets so clogged it's ineffective without constant maintenance. I really wish there was something like pool cleaners to roam the bottom of the tank. Someday...