Battery-powered gravel vac, any good??

[NikkiY]

Is it worthwhile to get a battery-powered gravel vacuum? I saw one made by Hagen ($14) and one by Eheim ($80). Are they effective at all? I like the idea of cleaning the gravel without removing the water.

Nikki

 

[smithrc]

we use one for tidying up our sand tanks.

Just remember that it wont replace water changes!

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Try a Hot Magnum with the gravel cleaner attachment. I love being able to vac long and slow w/o removing water esp in planted tanks. $40 + shipping online.

 

[NikkiY]

we use one for tidying up our sand tanks.

Just remember that it wont replace water changes!

Certainly, this is not a replacement for water change. I think it will help me to keep the appearance cleaner. Which one do you have and is it powerful enough? I found the

Thanks.

Nikki

 

[NikkiY]

Try a Hot Magnum with the gravel cleaner attachment. I love being able to vac long and slow w/o removing water esp in planted tanks. $40 + shipping online.

Too bad, I already got a filter. What would be nice is some kind of attachment to a powerhead and use it as a powerful gravel vacuum. I too have a planted tank. I found the normal gavel vacuum suck up water too fast and won't give me the time to do a decent cleaning job. This just comes to me, could one attach a gravel vacuum to a cannister filter and use it to suck up the dirt?

Nikki

 

[SarahBravo]

Hmmmm, that's not a bad idea. I wonder what the suction would be like? I actually have the Eheim powered gravel cleaner, and it is quite good, but some of the dirt does get returned to the water if you do a lot of cleaning in one go - the suction is not enormously powerful and it just goes into like a plastic coffee filter thing which does let small particles back through. It's good as far as stand alone cleaners go, but not as good as my Python, purely cos the water and all the dirt gets removed. That HOT magnum thing looks great, running the dirty water through a filter and a water polisher must make it sparkling by the time it gets back into the tank, it's just the money and all the bits of equipment everywhere. Maybe I'll have a play with my Eheim canister filter and some hosepipe, and see what I can do I'll let you know if it works!

Sarah