help with vacuuming

[bob]

hey all its me again with another problem . just went bare bottom with some help from everyone here. (took gravel out slow) NOW my gravel vacuum is not picking up everything. what can I use for bare bottom?
thanks again Bob

[Ben]

hi Bob,
i have one of those gravel vacuumes, i find them almost useless for bare bottom tanks, as the hose is very thin and there is not enough suction power.

i went down to my local hardware and bought 3 metres of 1 1/2 inch plastic tubing. it works great as there is more suction because of the width of the tube and i can put the end of the tube down very low and due to gravity get a very strong flow,
but i have to be very careful no discus get sucked onto the end as it would do a great deal of damage!
maybe even suck there guts out! because the power is so strong.

sometimes i can suck algae off the glass it works so good!

i hope this helps
cheers,
Ben

[bob]

they I know sometimes im am a pain but how do ya get that 1 1/2 hose to suck :?: not sure how this works thanks Bob

[funkyfish]

suck on the end of it till u get water coming out the end of it
or sumerge the hole thing and get all the air out of the line put ur finger on one end of it take that end out of the water and put it in ur bucket or what ever u use and take ur finger off and there u go

[bob]

thanks funky :D I was kinda freakin out tryin to get the bottom clean

[DiscusMan]

I use a piece of PVC tube as my sucker. Work out what size hose you want to use. Then get a piece of PVC that the hose fits onto the hose snuggly. I have used this on both 20mm and 40mm hoses and they both are able to suck the algae off the glass no problems as well as being hard so if there is a stubborn bit you can scrap it as well, and what more you can cut the PVC to the depth of you tank and you dont get your arm wet reaching the bottom. Bunnings sell PVC offcuts in the plumbing section.

Wayne