fishish Posted October 2, 2010 Report Share Posted October 2, 2010 Lol is it rocket science? totally not working! I looked on youtube for a demo video, still not working! It works once, ie gravels starts to get sucked up and water goes into bucket, all the water comes out of tube and it just stops, siphon is empty and is no longer sucking up gravel. Doesn't seem to work lifting it up and down quickly :confused: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishbites Posted October 2, 2010 Report Share Posted October 2, 2010 Length and thickness of the hose will change power of the uplift.... short hose is more powerful.... longer hose is less powerful.... the higher the tank the faster it siphons and more gravel it picks up.... tanks low to the ground lift little gravel and siphon slowly.... I put a garden hose on my siphon to drain tanks out to the garden so never really get gravel sucked up more than a few cm in the gravel vac.... If you're just using the short tube that comes with a gravel vac... keep your thumb near the end of it and close it off if gravel looks like getting close to the top and it should settle back down then let go of the thumb and keep vacuuming.... Some gravel vacuums have a little flap or filter at the top to stop fish and debris from going down the tube - this can block up sometimes too.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishish Posted October 2, 2010 Author Report Share Posted October 2, 2010 Thanks. I ended up sucking on the end of the tube as couldn't get it going otherwise. It worked though tank water doesn't taste too brilliant :P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delyall Posted October 2, 2010 Report Share Posted October 2, 2010 Yaa thats how I do do it too fishish.. I could never get the damned thing to work any other way Though yes, dont suck too hard :lol: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishish Posted October 2, 2010 Author Report Share Posted October 2, 2010 Thanks, I'll keep that in mind... next time! :giggle: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zhong89 Posted October 2, 2010 Report Share Posted October 2, 2010 lol, it takes practice... it's being a while that I sucked aquarium water into my mouth. But it still happens after so many years! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul Posted October 2, 2010 Report Share Posted October 2, 2010 If you're just using a hose to siphon, then you can fill the tubing with tap water, keep your thumb over the two ends then release the end that's in the tank, put the end that's draining LOWER than the tank, then release this end, the siphon hose will start (and continue) to flow until the flow is interrupted with either air or blocking the hose (or by raising the draining end higher than the tank). No yucky tank water E.coli taste! (unless you're into that kind of thing ?!?!!). If you're using a gravel vac - that becomes a litle more tricky, because the shape of the vac means you can't plug it with your finger. Try connecting the water filled hose to the top of the vac when it's submerged - might get tricky coz you gotta keep the other end of the hose plugged while reattaching the vac end of the hose underwater to prevent the hose emptying of water before its connected. If I use the my DIY version of a gravel vac (the syringe part of a turkey baster) I suck the water up into the hose, just coz it's the easiest way, but I'm very cautious to have a see through hose, stand on a stool so that I'm alot higher than the tank and suck very slowly to get only tree quarters of the tube filled. I then block off the end with my thumb and then tip it below the level of the tank. I also made the mistake of tasting tank water - once! ... or twice... :embarrass: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishbites Posted October 2, 2010 Report Share Posted October 2, 2010 (edited) if its starting a gravel vac that's the problem.... just fill the large gravel vac section with water and hold it up so water drains from it down the tube (put end of tube lower than tank and preferably in a bucket if its not long enough to drain to the garden outside.... once water starts to flow just put the gravel vac under water and the siphon will start.... no sucking on tubes..... vid shows it very well.... Edited October 3, 2010 by fishbites Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bec Posted October 3, 2010 Report Share Posted October 3, 2010 Hahahaha ... thats how I stay hydrated, I swear if it went for siphoning I'd never get any fluids :P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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