Clean Tubes

[Gilli]

Nice one amigo

Just ordered one there

G

I also got mine from the same place!

 

[Teacher Martyn]

They owe us commission!

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

I got mine from Maidenhead Aquatics

 

[Gilli]

Well what a big fat waste of time that turned out to be! After getting into a panic finding out I should be cleaning my external filter tubes I quickly bought myself the tube cleaning kit off ebay. My previous tank I had for about 2 years, then upgraded to a 250L which has now been running for about 2 1/2 years and I had never cleaned either sets of tubes!

I dismantled everything to clean them today - no gunk came out, just a very little residue same as when I clean the filter and restart!!!! I thought they would be well dirty after all that time! It took me about an hour by the time i had dismantled them, scrubbed them connected it all back up (wrongly of course the first time so had to start again) and do my usual gravel vac and water change.

So! I dont think i'll be doing that again sometime soon!

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

lol well I just did mine and I got loads of gunk! My tank hasn't been running that long and when I first set it up I got diatoms quite badly. They were gone in the tank but the brown yuck was left in the tubes so that's all nice and clean now! I did have a moment of panic when one of the brushes came off inside the valve head of my filter, I got it out and decided that part maybe didn't need to be cleaned after all

Also my filter does seem more powerful now, so win win!

 

[Teacher Martyn]

How odd. My pipes, as well documented, gunk like there's no tomorrow.

 

[FishFanatic04]

I bet in an older tank the organics wouldn't build up any more.

 

[garyspence84]

I try do my pipes 2-3 times a year and each time there usually always pretty bogin. Bit that was the thick end of a year without cleaning them and they were disgusting. Will still give them an other clean when the jbl thing arrives.

G

 

[tomtomtom1230]

I just like that it's genuinely called a 'cleany hose brush'

 

[Teacher Martyn]

People say." a tidy desk, a tidy mind' etc

When my pipes are clean, I feel clean.

 

[Aqua Tom]

I have used a piece of curtain hanging wire (easier to thread through the tube than string) attached to a clean piece of cloth. Just poke the wire through the tube, attach the cloth to one end & pull it through the tube.

Tom

 

[cornclose]

Over the years, I've found after trying various things to clean out pipes/uplifts/tubes etc that there is only ONE thing that will clean them sufficiently to make them spotless and as new;

Remove the tube and, using a funnel, pour wet gravel into the tube, gently agitate the tube to aid the gravel slip down (it will occasionally get stuck, but it's easy to get going again) and allow the gravel to exit into a bucket or something, ready for reuse. The gravel I use is bog standard 'natural' aquarium gravel like the stuff you get in common-or-garden pet shops, around 4-5mm diameter - not the smooth round stuff, but the random/natural stuff that has the odd jagged edge. This process not only removes gunk, but also removes the usually hard to remove growths of algae or any other stubborn buildups etc.

Pass gravel through a dozen or so times and you will have very clean pipes indeed, depending on how 'bad' thy were to begin with of course.

Try it, you'll be amazed.

 

[garyspence84]

That actually sounds quite good, passing gravel through it. Would never have thought of that. Will give it a go if my cleany thing doesn't do a good enough job

G

 

[DrRob]

I hate it when people tidy my desk, I can never find anything afterwards.

 

[jojouk]

I think the amount of gunk generally depends in the level of gunk in water for the inlet to pick up? Like overfeeding, that's my main problem. I have lots of flow, and when I feed flake, it suspends in the water, so my bottom feeders get some too. If I don't turn off the external, it gets sucked in before they reach it! My gunk in the tubes is a fish food type colour!