Water change siphon

N

Nonfamous

Reefing newb
Okay, I'm sick of battling cyano and trash on my sand bed. Up till now I have been doing water changes via the sump with a small pump. I want to start siphoning out some of the gunk on the sand now instead. I have a standard 90 gallon tank and need a suggestion for a good siphon. Name me one!


I am so sick of this crap that even if I have to do 5 gallon water changes every day, I am going to get my sand bed clean or remove it! Yes I'm that sick of it. Don't try to explain how and why cyano is in my tank. I have done all of the standard things to get rid of it and I still have it. So, I'm just going to suck it out now. All of my parameters are solid and have been for a long time. I have run Phosban and Kents phosphate media in a reactor and still test positive for phosphates. Its gotta be some of my rock. I just do know which it could be.
 
A good siphon? Your mouth. Stick one end of the hose in the tank and suck on the other. I suppose that's the "old school" way of siphoning.

The other option is to stick a hose on the end of a MaxiJet and use the pump to suck.
 
There really isn't much difference in the brands. They are just rubber hoses with a larger diameter tube on the end. I've had mine forever and couldn't tell you how much they run.
 
I had one Of the clear tube ones. Tube was too short, hose was too short and always made a mess. Never sucked up much anyway. How about those ones that hook up to a faucet? They any good? I really like the idea of hooking one up to a pump. Going to examine that.
 
You don't need to buy a siphon -- get a tube that fits on the sucking end (intake) of the MaxiJet and it's so much easier to use and it has power! With my first tank I used to have one of those that hooks up to the faucet. The faucet has to run continuously and it wastes a lot of water. And it was a pretty weak siphon, IMO.
 
So I picked up a small pump and about 8 feet of tubing today. Sucked that crap out of my tank. So far has not returned. Every other time it was like all I did was stir it up and it was back on the sand as soon as the dust settled. This time its gone.

I also moved my LED strip closer to the tank. It was sitting about 9" above the surface. Its now about 3". LOTS more light in the tank. I've gotta figure this lighting thing out. Next on my list.
 
When im pissed i used a garden hose, takes more out then i like sometimes. Usually i just use the tubing at the lfs, i bought about 20 ft of it, cut the lenghts for each of my tanks and put the rest away for replacements.

Just dont use your mouth to start the siphon. You can get really sick from the bacteria in your tank.
 
Hey, I have personal experience using ones like this
Aqueon Water Changer, Aquarium Gravel Cleaning | PetSolutions
And it sucks the red slime right up.

But it kept coming back no matter what..So I just bought the red slime remover and I haven't seen the stuff since..

But yea, a siphon like that sucks the slime up, along with the water, and pushes the sand back.

You hook the other end up to a faucet, I hook mine up to the one outside my house, turn it on, good to go.
 
Yeah, I used the red slime remover. It worked for a while. Not sure why it's coming back. Really don't care. I just want this crap out of my tank!
 
Nonfamous said:
Yeah, I used the red slime remover. It worked for a while. Not sure why it's coming back. Really don't care. I just want this crap out of my tank!
Click to expand...

The red slime remover (ChemiClean) is an antibiotic specific to cyanobacteria (red slime). Like any antibiotic that is used repeatedly, the bacteria eventually develops a resistance to it. If you use ChemiClean multiple times, the red slime gets stronger and stronger because it has developed antibiotic resistance. That is why ChemiClean may be effective once or twice, but after that, it doesn't seem to have an effect on the cyanobacteria anymore.
 
Yep. It wash last ditch effort a few months back. Tried a blackout, reduced feedings, sump clean out and everything inbetween. Finally hit it with the chemicals now it's coming back. Who knows!
 
Im using a simple, cheap siphon. Im having it for 2 years now and its doing very well :P I wante to buy a siphon that you connect with air pump for better results but.. im pretty satisfied with the one ve got now.. I say better dont spend much money on this vacuum thing.. Just look for quality of plastic and good (removable) strainer so that the gravel stays in its place.
 
You should get a sand sifting goby mine is a workhorse I never have anything on my sand EVER. And some really good flow so that it cannot settle but is sucked up by your skimmer, if you dont have a skimmer get one!
 
I use and have used RODI from day one. 40 ppm in, 2 ppm RO and 0 ppm DI.

Having more flow is a myth. I had a 750 gph Koralia blowing directly at the sand and still had it. It was directly in front of the area and blowing so hard that it blew the sand around. I have roughly 35x turnover in my tank right now and its been as high as 60x with the same results.

I run a skimmer 24/7/365 and its still there.

Nass snails to stir up the sand as well as my Dragonette. Still there.

Thats why I'm sucking it out. It will not go away and I don't know why. The only idea I have is that something is leaching out of some of my rock.
 
I bought LR from various on line sources. I did this in order to have a varity of hitch hikers. Fiji, Vanuatu and Pacific shelf. Didn't work, but they are good looking rocks. I also got a bunch of dry rock from a LFS. Sand is a mix a pink and white Fiji.
 

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