Gravel Siphon recommendations?

[fishcurl]

I bought a gravel siphon last night to use with my 5 gallon tank (whenever it gets here, waiting is hard!) but I think it might be overkill

I bought the small size of this:

http://www.petsmart.com/product/inde...ductId=2754084

Is that too big?

What does everyone else use? Any assistance would be most appreciated

[TonyK]

You should be alright. Its hard to tall what the tube is. I bought the cheapest, smallest tube siphon I could find at Petsmart. The orginal one I had I accidently siphoned the Betta through the funnel and tube into the bucket. He was alright but scared me pretty good.

[Tisia]

I have the mini petsmart brand one as well. one of my guys decided it looked like fun to swim up into but because it's small and not that powerful he came out of it without any damage except being a bit scared from when I freaked out and pulled it away from him as fast as I could.

[Lion Mom]

If you find the tube is too long for your tank, you can always cut it down. :)

[fishcurl]

Thanks for the feedback, everyone!

I liked the idea of the mini petsmart brand so I went ahead and bought it on clearance this afternoon. I used it to drain a 6 gallon tank that I'm trying to fix and it worked quite well if a little slowly. I think the Marina siphon I bought will do the job quicker on the 6 gallon, but this mini-one should be pretty fabu for getting into the corners of the Hex.

Originally Posted by Lion Mom

If you find the tube is too long for your tank, you can always cut it down. :)

Brilliant!

Never thought of that. Fabulous idea. I'll do that for sure if I find it's too big.

Thanks again for putting up with my newbishnessness

[lessandler]

Just want to add even though my response it late, I am a big fan of the biorb siphon/gravel vacs. They have a hand pump so you don't have to disturb the fish by pumping it up and down, or suck on the end. Works great for smaller tanks and is pretty fast in removing water.

[fishcurl]

Thanks for the tip, lessandler! I don't think I've seen those around here but I'll keep my eyes open for them

I also wanted to mention that I ended up returning the Marina. Although I'm sure it'd do the job much quicker, a smaller siphon like the mini topfin will give me more time to suck up things properly.

I also saw OFL's super cool homemade one using chopsticks and tubing. What a great idea. Looks like something that'd be handy for QT tanks and such.

[copperarabian]

You guys are lucky you have small siphons, I have a huge one and I'm cheap so I'm not buying another LOL