Why should I get a python water changer?
- Thread starter The Masked Shadow
- Start date
I use Python hoses for emptying tanks and drinking water caliber hoses for refilling. I have all the Python faucet adapters because i used to do weekend fish events and needed to get sink water. i also bring my portable RO/DI unit to the events and it is garden hose connection compatible.
I use buckets for rinsing media. I also use them for doing water changes on tanks of 30 gals or less. Bigger tanks its all pumped both ways.
I do use vacuums but, there is no need to get the Python brand over any other in this respect.
Older garden hoses have fewer chemicals in them than thise today. They usualy have something to prevent fungus from acccumulating inside hoses. The nive part about using hoses and pumps as a bucket of water with chlorine can be used to clean the hoses. Hook up the pump and put the other end in the bucket as well and let it run for 30 minutes or so.
And here is the thing that makes it unusual for me to work as i do. I have great well water and it needs no pre-treating of any kind. I sometimes will fill directly from the faucet into a tank to top it up. I only use dechlor when away from home or after bleach dipping plants.
I use buckets for rinsing media. I also use them for doing water changes on tanks of 30 gals or less. Bigger tanks its all pumped both ways.
I do use vacuums but, there is no need to get the Python brand over any other in this respect.
Older garden hoses have fewer chemicals in them than thise today. They usualy have something to prevent fungus from acccumulating inside hoses. The nive part about using hoses and pumps as a bucket of water with chlorine can be used to clean the hoses. Hook up the pump and put the other end in the bucket as well and let it run for 30 minutes or so.
And here is the thing that makes it unusual for me to work as i do. I have great well water and it needs no pre-treating of any kind. I sometimes will fill directly from the faucet into a tank to top it up. I only use dechlor when away from home or after bleach dipping plants.
Python employs Venturi principle to start siphon at ease and once started, you ought to relocate the discharge end to a low place to drain the tank. But for a 50 ft hose, it will take 5+ minutes to start siphon and water is lost during the start up time. It’s easy to suck a 5 ft hose to start siphon, not so with a 50 ft hose unless you have a whale mouth. Besides, what’s the point of having a python to start siphon at ease.
Yeah typo on my part. It's a 25 foot python. That one doesn't require much suction force.
Siphoning could easily be started by raising filling the gravel tube and raising it out of the water and then putting it quickly back into the water at the correct 45 degree angle. Even with a 50 foot hose connected to a 25 foot python, starting the siphon process is relatively quick. Trying to start a siphon on a 10 foot hose without a gravel tube and in the same manner is difficult.
Vinyl tubes from Home Depot or Lowes, just sucks. With my SD hard water, the tubes stiffen up pretty badly over time (less than a year). My python from 1998 is still as flexible as when I first bought it. You could use potable hoses, but looking at the cost of those, and it pretty much comes up close to the cost of the same length python .
I use the Python brand because like
Rocksor
I like the flexibility of their hose. But for me Ive had to make some modifications to work for my needs.
Like everyone has said this thing is a huge waste of water... but at times needed
You may need it if you have low tanks like I do. This is where I use it on the bottom three tanks that are only like 10" off the ground
The upper tanks sit high enough that I can gravel vac and just use gravity feed and it works fine to suck up the fish waste. When I just want to drain and fill I made a drain with a screen that is cut to the exact level I want the water to stop at. This was fun filling the pvc with hot sand and making the bend.
Then for fill up I made a hook with a valve. This was an early version my newer one I bent the pvc into a U shape like my drain one.
A problem I face is that when I built my fishroom utility sink I choose a high flow faucet that puts way too much pressure on the plastic python fittings, it blows the fitting off the hose completely. So Ive had to use metal ones, I have to heat the tubing first but these do not come off with the high water pressure. just be careful with these metal fittings and not hitting the tanks.
So I kind of sort of use a Python, lol. Heavily modified for my needs! So I say buy a basic Python kit but modify it for you needs.
Rocksor
I like the flexibility of their hose. But for me Ive had to make some modifications to work for my needs.Like everyone has said this thing is a huge waste of water... but at times needed
You may need it if you have low tanks like I do. This is where I use it on the bottom three tanks that are only like 10" off the ground
The upper tanks sit high enough that I can gravel vac and just use gravity feed and it works fine to suck up the fish waste. When I just want to drain and fill I made a drain with a screen that is cut to the exact level I want the water to stop at. This was fun filling the pvc with hot sand and making the bend.
Then for fill up I made a hook with a valve. This was an early version my newer one I bent the pvc into a U shape like my drain one.
A problem I face is that when I built my fishroom utility sink I choose a high flow faucet that puts way too much pressure on the plastic python fittings, it blows the fitting off the hose completely. So Ive had to use metal ones, I have to heat the tubing first but these do not come off with the high water pressure. just be careful with these metal fittings and not hitting the tanks.
So I kind of sort of use a Python, lol. Heavily modified for my needs! So I say buy a basic Python kit but modify it for you needs.
View attachment 1477807
This Piece from the python set is much better then the aqueon version. i use this "pump" with my aqueon hose just like
DMD123
mine is heavily moded as well but i misspoke when i stated i used the aqueon setup. i just have the hose from that setup.
This Piece from the python set is much better then the aqueon version. i use this "pump" with my aqueon hose just like
DMD123
mine is heavily moded as well but i misspoke when i stated i used the aqueon setup. i just have the hose from that setup.
When the Python came out many years ago I resisted it for a long time because I thought that the faucet needed to run continuously to provide the suction needed to empty the tank. When I actually saw one and realized how easily another hose could be run to another, lower drain once the siphon was started, I felt like an idiot and bought one on the spot. Best money I ever spent on hobby-related equipment. It won't work in my situation now but for anyone on city water and sanitary sewers, it is priceless.
Why get one? Because it's fast and easy and mess-free, and that means that you will be less likely to skip water changes or stretch out the time between them, and that means healthier tanks and healthier fish. It also minimizes parental complaints regarding water on the floor...probably more important than you realize until you have a major flood.
Young people today seem to need technological assistance in every aspect of their lives. You don't seem able to survive without electronic everything, power this, smart that, etc. As a perfect example, you yourself bought that weirdly mysterious sterilizer gizmo without really knowing how it works or what it does ...for you to accept the idea of changing water using buckets is beyond ridiculous.
Why get one? Because it's fast and easy and mess-free, and that means that you will be less likely to skip water changes or stretch out the time between them, and that means healthier tanks and healthier fish. It also minimizes parental complaints regarding water on the floor...probably more important than you realize until you have a major flood.
Young people today seem to need technological assistance in every aspect of their lives. You don't seem able to survive without electronic everything, power this, smart that, etc. As a perfect example, you yourself bought that weirdly mysterious sterilizer gizmo without really knowing how it works or what it does ...for you to accept the idea of changing water using buckets is beyond ridiculous.
I ended up getting one that was 25ft initially, but would always have stuff growing midway in the tube because I couldn’t get all the water out, then I ended up buying some of their 10ft add on hoses and with quick connectors I have no more issues getting all the water out. Works great highly recommended.
For me the 25 foot is fine for filling but too short to run outside for draining. The 50 foot was too long. I actually bought a 75 foot and cut it and made a 35 foot for outdoor draining and a 25 for filling the leftover piece was used to replace the tubing on some gravel tubes. Again modified for my needs.
I’m an idiot!
I have one low tank like this that I can never get the suction momentum going on and always have to drain outside but with winter coming I don’t want to have a bunch of ice build up outside.
duh, use the faucet to get it going like it was intended for.
I never use the faucet to get my tanks to drain, I’ve always used gravity or my “whale mouth” to suck the other end haha
