Gravel Vac advice

[thegameksk]

Hey guys. I bought a gravel vac from petsmart for my 10g in december. It worked fine until last week. It doesnt work anymore so I need a new vac. What do you guys recommend? Anyone ever use the the battery operated vacs? Do they work well? I need something that I ca use in my 5g, 10g, and 13g (if I ever get it going lol). Thanks!

[Oldfishlady]

I don't know what kind of vacuum you have but some of them have a flap or valve type thing in the area where the large tube (hydrocleaner) and smaller tube connect, it is in the large tube part,(hard to explain, so sorry) anyway, I remove that flap/valve because they tend to stick sometimes and won't work right, you have to separate the two pieces to get to that valve and I used a pair of needlenose to break if off. Just a thought...sometimes you can fix some things or rig them so that they will still work, I hate spending money...laffs.....yours may not even have one...

For a new one, I am not sure of brand names but I know they have pretty small siphon type cleaners just get the smallest diameter one so it will work on all your tanks.

[dr2b]

My Petsmart vac was junk. After a few months of use the tube wouldn't stay connected to the actual vac tube itself. So I went and bought a new one recently @ a small LFS and I love it. I honestly can't remember which brand it is... but it actually vacs 10x better than the Petsmart brand. But I agree that the Petsmart ones are crap lol.

[thegameksk]

What is LFS?

[dr2b]

Local fish store.

[thegameksk]

Damn the only stores near me are petco and petsmart.

[dr2b]

I don't know what Petco carries. It is usually out of my way to go there, so I avoid it :)

[Mizzle]

Originally Posted by thegameksk

Hey guys. I bought a gravel vac from petsmart for my 10g in december. It worked fine until last week. It doesnt work anymore so I need a new vac. What do you guys recommend? Anyone ever use the the battery operated vacs? Do they work well? I need something that I ca use in my 5g, 10g, and 13g (if I ever get it going lol). Thanks!

Throw the gravel vac away and save the air tube. Be a man and put your mouth on one end of the tube with the opposing end in the tank. Suck some water down the tube and start a siphon into a bucket. Control the water flow and you can collect anything from the surface of the gravel or stop the flow and stir the gravel a bit.