How To Properly Use A Fish Tank Siphon
You're reading How To Properly Use A Fish Tank Siphon, posted on Wednesday, November 26th, 2008 at 5:48 pm in Ferrets, Pet Tips, on BrainBloggers at the Choosing Your Pet blog. More after the jump.
When it comes to cleaning out your fish tank you will need to purchase for yourself a siphon gravel vacuum. The worst part about this little machine is that many people do not know how to start the process without using their mouth. Cleaning a fish tank is bad – but having to siphon out the dirty water and to actually taste it is horrible! But we can teach you how to avoid this.
First remove the lid from the fish tank. Make sure that you have everything that you need before you begin. You will need a large bucket that will catch the dirty water. If you have a valve control make sure that it is open. Place the end of the hose of the vacuum into the bucket and hold the other end right above the fish tank. The open end needs to be facing up.
This next step is tricky and must be done quickly. Hold the vacuum upside down with the opening of it straight up in the air. Then submerge it into the tank and let it fill with water while you are holding it upright. Hurry up and lift the vacuum up while making sure that it is above the level of the bucket. Let the water flow down through the hose and into the bucket.
Before all of the water has left the wide part of the vacuum submerge it once again into the water the same as before and let it fill up once more and then quickly lift it again. What you are accomplishing with this is to fill the vacuum and hose with the water so fast that there is no air bubbles.
This helps to create a natural siphon. You may have to repeat this step a few times. Once the siphon has begun you will once again submerge the vacuum quickly and rotate it downward so that you can clean the tank.