Ive Just Switched From Gravel To Sand How Do I Clean It ?

[Nosnibor]

Here's a Python fill no spill thing on petsmart... http/www.petsmart.com/global/product_det...030062&Ne=2

Does anyone know of a good place in the UK to purchase one from. I've seen one site but can't believe how much more expensive it is over here than the states

By the way, I love that photo on that site. I mean how many people have a fish tank literally right next to the sink Love it.

Martin

 

[Miss Wiggle]

i don't understand the big fuss over pythons, just get a hose pipe and a cheapy powerhead pump the water out of the tank and into the sink, garden, toilet etc then hook the hose up to the tap and pump water back in.

not really any more work but half the price!

 

[indigo]

i've got a long clear big fat tube kinda similar to that that was a fiver at my LFS, i only use it to clean my gravel with tho, water changes are done by hosepipe emptying straight to the garden, and filling is done by chucking dechlorinator in the tank then filling straight from the hose again, then again i'm doing 100 litre water changes, done this way takes 30 mins and the temperature only goes down by a degree or so if that, plenty of airation goes into filling back up as i use a trigger type attachment and agitate the water as i go, i also take that opportunity to give the bogwood a blast over to remove any stagnant bits left on there, fish love the agitation and usually most of them swim in the stream as i'm refilling!

i tried the whole filling with buckets thing, but my tank is taller than i am! it was too dangerous to lift a bucket then rest it on the tank while i was filling, and we tried filling a 25 litre container and bought a pond pump to try and pump it back in.. again an utter nightmare and water changes got done very irregularly as it took so long as was a right palava! then my fave dude at my LFS said, do it like i explained above, said that it was perfectly fine to do it like that, so long as the water wasn't so cold that it was freezing! the regular water changes are making a huge difference in my fish, it feels weird to say they actually look so much happier! as well as healthier, my tyre track eel ate 4 frozen shrimp yesterday, he'd stayed pretty much the same length since i bought him 9 months ago, but i've seen a change in him in the last few weeks, funny to watch him go from chewing on a bit of shrimp to swallowing it whole and swimming back to his hideout with a big bulge in his belly!

i just couldn't get my head around cleaning sand, the guy that installed my tank (my tank was replaced on house insurance when it cracked and the insurance company paid for the replacement of the tank and to put it back as it was before it broke!) put far too much in, and i didn't stand a chance trying to keep it clean, sure enough it took about 11 months till things went pear shaped and acid pockets started building up, wreaking havoc on the health of my tank! nice big pebbles for me from now on!

 

[Nosnibor]

i don't understand the big fuss over pythons, just get a hose pipe and a cheapy powerhead pump the water out of the tank and into the sink, garden, toilet etc then hook the hose up to the tap and pump water back in.

not really any more work but half the price!

I was thinking the same to be honest. Do you have any links to the kind of pump you're talking about Miss Wiggle?

Cheers

Martin

 

[Miss Wiggle]

just go to your lfs and ask for a powerhead, ours cost about £5, it's nothng fancy at all, basic motor spins a propelleor you attach the output to one end of the hose and it pumps water down the hose, just makes it run a bit quicker than when your siphoning, useful when you dealing with a nearly 100gal tank

 

[Nosnibor]

just go to your lfs and ask for a powerhead, ours cost about £5, it's nothng fancy at all, basic motor spins a propelleor you attach the output to one end of the hose and it pumps water down the hose, just makes it run a bit quicker than when your siphoning, useful when you dealing with a nearly 100gal tank

Excellent I'm also thinking about setting up an inlet to the tank so that the water doesn't go in so fast and will give the heater time to warm the water a little as our tap water is freezing.

I was thinking about making (if I can't buy one) an adaptor with say a 12mm in and 4 small tubes coming out that I can hook on the tank, then I can adjust the tap to get the speed right.

Martin

 

[Miss Wiggle]

just hook the hose pipe up to your taps to put water back in the tank, taps are adjustable so you can run water in slower if you like, we do on big water changes.