DIY Wide Diameter Tubing For Faster Siphoning

J

joe00

Ghost Shrimp
MFK Member
Sep 19, 2005
111
0
46
44
Rockford, IL
I have an aquarium that's close to four feet deep that sits on the floor (not elevated at all). I vacuum the gravel by siphoning by gravity into a floor drain with a standard 5/8" ID Python hose that I have a 36" extension end tube for. While this does work, it is rather slow and I would like to try to speed things up (12,000 gallon tank) by using larger diameter tubing and cover more surface area in the gravel bed by using a larger end piece.

Has anyone built a 1" or bigger siphon tube? If so, how big and what type of tubing/end piece/adapters/etc. have you used? I have old protein skimmers of various sizes that I could hack that I was thinking I might be able to use the clear acrylic cylinder for the end piece somehow? Maybe even a 2 Liter Soda bottle with the ends modified? Most larger diameter tubing that I've seen doesn't seem like it has the flexibility I would hope for. Any ideas on that (I would need 50 feet of tubing).

Looking forward to hearing from anyone who has done this or has any ideas on what might work well. Thanks
 
P

pigoo

Gambusia
MFK Member
Mar 25, 2013
322
0
16
United States
joe00 said:
...I would like to try to speed things up (12,000 gallon tank) by using larger diameter tubing and cover more surface area in the gravel bed by using a larger end piece.
Click to expand...
Do you mean something like this (with a longer hose of course)?:

 
J

joe00

Ghost Shrimp
MFK Member
Sep 19, 2005
111
0
46
44
Rockford, IL
pigoo said:
Do you mean something like this (with a longer hose of course)?:

Click to expand...
Yeah. Something along these lines. Is that a 2 Liter? Hard to gauge the size from the picture. What size tubing is that? Work well? I cut a plastic Soda bottle like that just to see how it felt and it seemed flimsier than I thought it might be.
 
Dan F

Dan F

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Dec 10, 2007
3,889
24
68
51
Oregon
I have a big piece (maybe 25') of 1.5" acrylic tubing that I use to drain my 300G snapping turtle tank, it will drain it down in less than ten minutes. I just use the hose, but you could definitely create a giant gravel vac if you had an acrylic cylinder. It is pretty stiff, ribbed pool-type tubing might be easier to handle.
 
J

joe00

Ghost Shrimp
MFK Member
Sep 19, 2005
111
0
46
44
Rockford, IL
Dan F said:
I have a big piece (maybe 25') of 1.5" acrylic tubing that I use to drain my 300G snapping turtle tank, it will drain it down in less than ten minutes. I just use the hose, but you could definitely create a giant gravel vac if you had an acrylic cylinder. It is pretty stiff, ribbed pool-type tubing might be easier to handle.
Click to expand...

Thanks! Wondering if there's any type of calculation for having the right end piece cylinder size to match up with the size drain tubing to use. I suppose I'll have to cut the the clear acrylic end piece I'd like to use and play with tubing sizes to get the suction just right from there.
 
K

kurare

Candiru
MFK Member
Aug 7, 2010
111
1
48
Toronto
Such a large tank! I would totally drive the water out with such a tall tank. Hook up a medium powerhead, one end to blow water into tube into drain (if you want to do water change as well) or blow it into a sock filter (water doesnt go anywhere, but less messy). The other end that draws in water of the powerhead, modify it to a siphon gravel cleaner you have. DRIVE that water, and since its gravel it should fall relatively quickly if you tilt it sideways as you jab and poke the substrate. Hope you do it and post pictures =D
 
C

Crazylegs

Feeder Fish
Sep 29, 2011
3
0
0
League City, Texas
I have multiple 75g growout tanks that I drain weekly. I built a "U" shaped overflow out of 1.5" pvc. I put a ball valve on the outside, glued in a barb fitting, and connected to 25' of the cheap shop vac hose. To start the siphon I drilled and tapped an airline port at the top of the "U". So to operate it; hang it on the tank, close the ball valve, suck air out of airline port, open ball valve. I don't vaccum substrate, I stir it up real good so that all the nasties are in suspension. Drains my tanks in under two minutes each. I'll try to post some pics. I don't see why it couldn't be built in larger diameters for your needs. Combine it with a float valve refill and the tank almost changes itself.
 
Rayne

Rayne

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Sep 9, 2010
450
16
33
Crazylegs said:
I have multiple 75g growout tanks that I drain weekly. I built a "U" shaped overflow out of 1.5" pvc. I put a ball valve on the outside, glued in a barb fitting, and connected to 25' of the cheap shop vac hose. To start the siphon I drilled and tapped an airline port at the top of the "U". So to operate it; hang it on the tank, close the ball valve, suck air out of airline port, open ball valve. I don't vaccum substrate, I stir it up real good so that all the nasties are in suspension. Drains my tanks in under two minutes each. I'll try to post some pics. I don't see why it couldn't be built in larger diameters for your needs. Combine it with a float valve refill and the tank almost changes itself.
Click to expand...
Would love to see some pictures of that. I need to make one because taking 30mins to drain my 75G tank with my aqueon hose is not working for me haha
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
zoomed.com
hikariusa.com
aqaimports.com
Store
Top Bottom