Tank Vacuum Cleaners

[Chris McMahon]

I'm after some ideas.

I'm currently vacuuming my tanks with a hose into 9L buckets. I've got several issues with this:
1. I need to suck on the hose to get the flow going.
2. I have under a minute of vacuuming until the bucket is full and I have to stop, empty the bucket and restart.
3. On one tank I need to use a step ladder and it's not exactly ideal to have a bucket in one hand, a hose in another and be on the top step of a 3 step ladder.
4. To clean the tanks properly I use at least 4-5 buckets per tank which then required refilling the tanks slowly and treating them with dechlorinaters etc.

What I'm after is a way to vacuum up the waste, without dropping the water level, preferably something that only requires one hand to operate.

I've thought about using a canister filter just as a vacuum, but then I've have to clean the filter after every use as I don't think leaving it full of waste to ferment and be pumped into the tank next time is the best way to go.

I've also seem battery powered vacuums at one Aussie online store, but it was limited to 40.5cm water depth - not deep enough to reach the bottom of my 18" & 24" tanks.

I've also seem an Eheim vacuums for $300, which seem expensive to me and I don't know if they would do what I want.

Any ideas guys?

[kalebjarrod]

get some nylex garden hose fittings and a nylex joiner

get a "jiggler siphon" and attach it to your hoseand a nylex fitting

attch your "vac to some hose and a nylex fitting

put a ball valve on your waste water hose and a ball valve.

use the "jiggler siphon" to start with, next turn off the ball valve on the hose, keep the join underwater and change to the vac (this will be unnessecary if the waste hose is long enough, the suction from the remaining water will restart the syphon)

i would try to syphon it onto the lawn, if not get a plumber to fit a ball valve and you can fit a nylex fitting after this under your sink where the dish washer should drain to! or drain to to a drain in your bathroon or toilet or down pipe!

[happydiscus]

do u have any pics tis very confusing

[Aurora]

I use a gravel cleaner to syphon the water from my tank into a bucket, but like you my bucket is too small. So I put a pump with a long hose in the bucket and pump that water out a nearby window.

The pump pumps water faster than the syphon, so I use a powerboard that has individual switches for each thing and I can switch the pump on and off with my foot as I go so the bucket doesnt overflow. The water level will still go down though.

[kalebjarrod]

i tried to take some photos of my syphon,

i don't have a shot of the vac but you can get the idea

[jwight]

What I have done whcih may not work for your situation is get long tubing 5m in my case and siphon the water into the sink or outside onto the garden. A pump then takes water from a storage bin in the cabinet below back into the tank and then I refill the storage bin with a hose connected to the tank. As for the height thing my tank is 20" high and I can reach done with the house yet I am 6 foot 3". Hope I helped ya. A better explanation is in the topic 'Semi-Automatic Water Changer.'