gravel vacuums
- Thread starter bala_aquarium
- Start date
If you have to change the water anyway (which you definitely do, at least once a week) why not just clean your gravel at the same time... kill two birds with one stone, so to speak. Cuz if you use this air thingy, you still have to do the water change, so you're not saving yourself any work at all. You're actually doubling your work. Sounds silly to me, wouldn't waste my time. Are you the one that just got a 250gal aquarium? If so, then what you need is a Python. Period. You'll wonder how you lived without it.
Hi bala...
I've the used the following product and it does an okay job of sucking in water/debris and letting the water (without debris) back into the tank. I wasn't sure that it would work, but figured I could use it as a regular gravel vacuum in any case. http://www.bigalsonline.com/catalog/product.xml?product_id=19139;category_id=2001;pcid1=3347;pcid2=
I found that it did a pretty decent job of clearing out debris...I could see it suck up some floating debris and the "sock" that catches the debris got pretty dirty, so it was filtering out some solids. Unfortunately, the suction power was a bit weak at the bottom of my 25-high tank...so it wouldn't work well for your large aquarium. Not sure how similar this is to the air-driven products you're interested in, but I'd say "give it a try" if the price is reasonable.
As for me, a regular gravel vacuum would've cost the same as this battery-operated one...so I wasn't losing anything. By the way, it works like a regular gravel vacuum too...and the battery-driven impeller gets the suction going for me, then I just turn it off and gravity does the rest of the work.
I've the used the following product and it does an okay job of sucking in water/debris and letting the water (without debris) back into the tank. I wasn't sure that it would work, but figured I could use it as a regular gravel vacuum in any case. http://www.bigalsonline.com/catalog/product.xml?product_id=19139;category_id=2001;pcid1=3347;pcid2=
I found that it did a pretty decent job of clearing out debris...I could see it suck up some floating debris and the "sock" that catches the debris got pretty dirty, so it was filtering out some solids. Unfortunately, the suction power was a bit weak at the bottom of my 25-high tank...so it wouldn't work well for your large aquarium. Not sure how similar this is to the air-driven products you're interested in, but I'd say "give it a try" if the price is reasonable.
As for me, a regular gravel vacuum would've cost the same as this battery-operated one...so I wasn't losing anything. By the way, it works like a regular gravel vacuum too...and the battery-driven impeller gets the suction going for me, then I just turn it off and gravity does the rest of the work.
I have a 2 10 gallon tanks that I do water changes on twice a week between 10% and 20%, depending on water params. I have a standard vacuum that takes water aswell as debris. I find by vacuuming twice a week, there is not as much of a mess compared to when I only clean it once a week. I find the ordinary vacuum quite good. I also try to take out any uneaten food after I give a feed. My only problem is nosy White Clouds who have become so used to the vacuum that they actually swim into the nozzle. I have had to remove a minnow from my waste water bucket on one or two occassions. It did'nt do them any harm, but it hasn't stopped them from gathering around the vacuum looking for a few scraps that come up from the gravel.
Thats my routine anyway. Hope it helps.*thumbsups
who have become so used to the vacuum that they actually swim into the nozzle. I have had to remove a minnow from my waste water bucket on one or two occassions. It did'nt do them any harm, but it hasn't stopped them from gathering around the vacuum looking for a few scraps that come up from the gravel.Thats my routine anyway. Hope it helps.*thumbsups