Transferring to Larger Tank

[outofwater]

So I actually had a question about gravel cleaning cause I just did one today. I think my vacuum is to big, I think it was made for much larger tanks. It worked but my vacuum is too wide and long. I was only able to clean maybe half my tank and it took up about 50% of the water. Which was okay because I needed to do about a 50% water change( because of high Nitrates due to plant fertilizer, I usually do about 10% once a week and that keeps my parameters in check). With my little 10g tank I think I need a smaller vacuum, I was hoping to vacuum whole tank. When I transfer over to 20gal long, I'm switching to sand substrate for my Cory Cats. ( Before you criticize, I already know, I didn't know about sand and Cory's when I got them, that's one of the reasons I'm upgrading, so please don't hate me in the comments, I'm working to correct it, and my Cory's are doing okay and are healthy at the moment)

You could try to control the water flow by pinching the hose a bit. Some siphon sets even come with some plastic xontraption to do just that. Although slowing the flow takes from the vacuum action, it also helps with not taking too much water too quickly. Maybe you could also try to rig a pvc pipe with a smaller diameter so that you don't lose vacuum power but reduce the volume of water that it moves.

Congrats on changing to sand for cories, I went thru the exact same thing when I first started my tank back in December last year.

Yeah, a bigger tank will help with the fish, 3 more cories would make them a happy bunch, and the female bettas usually work better in community tanks than a male would.

I'd go for a 30g or even 40g with the plans you have in mind, don't short yourself now and go thru another tank change a few months down the road.

 

[Luna0341]

Naw I pinch the hose to control the flow, it's just this vaccum is huge. I feel like it was meant for like a 40gal and up. I mean it worked. I was able to clean half my substrate, and I wasn't worried about water loss cause I needed a large water change, but in the Future I don't want that. Lol. They sell like mini vaccums at Walmart, I'm gonna try that. Or I'll just take my fish out of tank, and do deep cleaning next time.

 

[Colin_T]

Post a picture of the gravel cleaner in the aquarium. You don't need to be using it, I just want to see the size of the gravel cleaner vs the tank.

When I did gravel cleans, I would remove about half the water in the time it took to gravel clean half the tank. I simply did the other half the following week with the next water change.

Nobody is going to badmouth you for using sand. Lots of people here have or had catfish with gravel and changed it to sand. You are doing that as well so good stuff

 

[Luna0341]

I can take a picture in next couple days. I was able to clean maybe half the aquarium and lost about half the water but I was changing it anyway so it worked. I guess that's just how to do it, vaccum on large water change days