Using a siphon? ?

Question

i got a siphon with a 23 gallon aquarium. im planning on cleaning my other tank (10 gallon) can you tell me how to do this? im not familar with siphons. and also will it suck up baby guppies? my guppy gave birth, and i dont want to lose them. is there anyway avoiding this. i'll probably take them out, but is there a way to do it without removing them? thanks in advance!

Answer 1

I put my vacuum into the water and then hold it up.  The water starts to run down the tube.  When I start to hear the suction sound I put it back into the water and it starts to pull out the water.  You may need to try this several times.  Their is a video on youtube.com a lady is showing how she does it.  Everybody does this differently.  You have to find what works for you.  Once it starts to work then you place it in the gravel and it pulls it into the tube and takes out the trash and poo. You pick it up and turn it sideways and it will release the gravel.  Since you have fry.  I read on a website today that you can place a piece of material over the end and wrap a rubber band around the end and barely skim the surface.  I also read that you can get a piece off airline tubing like on a air stone to clean the tank without harming the fry because it is so small.  Just some suggestions that I saw today.  I noticed that I have some fry last night.  I actually used a net to clean my gravel and discovered that I have fry.  So I was trying to figured out what to do next time.  Good luck.  

Answer 2

Yes, a siphon will suck up the babies.  You can buy a net made for the purpose of saving the babies from being eaten.  I forget what it's called, but the pet store will know.  It floats in the corner and keeps the babies inside away from ravenous parents and roving siphons.

The siphon is easy.  Get a bucket.  (Make sure it's clean in case any babies do get sucked in and you want to save them.)  Protect the floor because you will splash.

1) Put your thumb over the end of the siphon hose.  

2) Put the other end of the hose under the water and scoop up as much water as you can.  The idea is to fill up the whole hose with water and not have any air left.

3) Now hold the draining end over the bucket and slowly take your thumb off until water starts to drain into the bucket.  Do 2 and 3 until there is only water in the hose.

4) Now the siphon will work.  Keep the tank end under water.  Put the draining end in the bucket.  When you take your thumb off, the water will start flowing.  Use the tank end to vacuum up the ickiness underneath the gravel.  The more disgusting it is, the better you're cleaning it out!

5) When you're done, lift the tank end out of the water and let the rest of the hose drain into the bucket.

Don't siphon out more than a third of the water if you've got fish in there.  Replace it with water that has been treated with water purifier before you put it in.  Make sure it's the same temperature as the tank water.

The tank water will be dirty for awhile until the gunk floating around has settled again.  Don't try to keep going until it's clean - you'd have to change out the whole tank.  The bucket water should be nice and brown and horrible.  If you want to make sure you didn't suck up any fish, wait for the junk in the bucket to settle and then look around for anyone who looks homeless.  Rescue the homeless ones and then dump the whole mess down the toilet.

BTW, if the babies were just born I would recommend letting the parents snack for awhile.  Guppies are extremely prolific and you can easily end up with scores of the little buggers, all of whom seem to be female and pregnant.  Been there done that.

Good luck!

Answer 3

Stick the business end of the siphon in a fish net, so the siphon can't suck up fry.  Alternately, siphon into a bucket and net them out when you're done.