Anyone using any of them? Which ones, what do you like/dislike about it? I have tried the pennplax super, and the aquatic gardens version, both have a nice feature of being able to attach a hose for water removal...but the penn plax is too tall for my short tank (20 gal long) and the aquatic gardens seems to lose power easily. I would like to have a good one for the 20 gal long that is on the bottom of a tank stand, so siphon action sucks, and the sand substrate is fairly new so it is going to take some time to learn to vac without getting sand! I have also tried hubby's python sink attached vac...not a whole lot of suction there either, maybe not a lot of water pressure? Saw the Eheim, but it didn't look like you could attach a hose for water removal so I tried the aquatic gardens instead.
What are you using, and what do you like?
suggestions on battery gravel vac....sand substrate?
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kimmers318
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Barbie
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Take your hubbies Python vacuum, start it siphoning, then shut off the water. Kink the hose, and walk it out the front door onto the lawn, or set it so that it drains into the toilet. The increase in "drop" will increase the suction and not lose you a lot of water down the drain. Then you can just reattach it to the sink and fill and dechlorinate and you're set!
IMO those battery operated vacuums are just really not worth the money they cost and they clog easily and what not. You'll find the python will work great, the problem will be remembering you can't leave it unattended or you'll siphon out all of the sand in short order. Carefully grazing the surface of the sand usually works well with the Python. Good luck!
Barbie
IMO those battery operated vacuums are just really not worth the money they cost and they clog easily and what not. You'll find the python will work great, the problem will be remembering you can't leave it unattended or you'll siphon out all of the sand in short order. Carefully grazing the surface of the sand usually works well with the Python. Good luck!
Barbie
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kimmers318
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Now why didn't I think of that??? 
The room the tank is in actually has a back door that has maybe a 3 inch step down with a drain just around the corner....hmmmm...this just might do it! Thanks a bunch...don't know what I will do when the snow starts flying, but it will help things for a couple of months anyway!
The room the tank is in actually has a back door that has maybe a 3 inch step down with a drain just around the corner....hmmmm...this just might do it! Thanks a bunch...don't know what I will do when the snow starts flying, but it will help things for a couple of months anyway!-
RogerMcAllen
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Is there any reason that you are against just a standard siphon? For my sand bottom tank (currently only 2' off the ground) I use a 3' piece of hose (1/2" ID I think) that I bought from the hardware store, and there is plenty of suction power.
To get the siphon started put one end of the hose in the water, and then slowly put the rest in a bit at a time making sure that the hose is filling with water as it is added to the tank. Once the hose is completely full with water, put your thumb over the final end, put it into a 5 gallon bucket (a convenient 25% waterchange), and release your thumb. Keep your hand on your hose, and you can control suction by adding/removing thumb pressure from the end. The great part about this is that if you start sucking too much sand, put your thumb over the end to stop the flow and the sand falls right back into the tank.
To get the siphon started put one end of the hose in the water, and then slowly put the rest in a bit at a time making sure that the hose is filling with water as it is added to the tank. Once the hose is completely full with water, put your thumb over the final end, put it into a 5 gallon bucket (a convenient 25% waterchange), and release your thumb. Keep your hand on your hose, and you can control suction by adding/removing thumb pressure from the end. The great part about this is that if you start sucking too much sand, put your thumb over the end to stop the flow and the sand falls right back into the tank.
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kimmers318
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All along I have been using a standard gravel vac and thought all was working well, although slowly. I then "inherited" a pleco from a friend who said all of her son's fish were dying and she didn't want it to keep happening so the pleco and tiger barb were given to me to "save". They were quarantined in this tank and I quickly found that the large pleco "poos" didn't always want to get sucked all of the way up thru the hose into the bucket! He is now in my 64 gal, so that isn't an issue anymore in this particular tank....but that doesn't change the fact that I found out I get very little siphon action on the floor level tank! If the siphon isn't strong enough to pick up a piece of poo from a 4 inch pleco....what else may it be missing? I was hoping that a battery vac would be the solution, but it doesn't seem like it will, so alas, I will continue to do things the old fashioned way...with the only change being trying the python out the door to give me a "lower" drain creating a better suction.