Should I Siphon During a Fishy Cycle?
- Thread starter Jess7
- Start date
Yes. That will get up any left over food and waste that may be starting to rot and giving off ammonia. Go as deep down in the gravel as you like.
Weekly, unless you are trying to lower ammonia and nitrite levels, then you can do it as often as every day if needed.
I definatly will be doing that tonight! Has anyone ever used one of these? The girl on the store told me you have to lift it up a down to move the stuff out from under the gravel and then suck in on one side of the tubing and it'll drain out into a bucket. Is this correct? Sorry for all the questions. Just want to do it right. Plus shall I assume I remove my betta before I do this?
http://www.petsmart.com/global/prod...>cnt_id=10134198673267337&bmUID=1109789540735
http://www.petsmart.com/global/prod...>cnt_id=10134198673267337&bmUID=1109789540735
Jess7 said:
That gravel vac appears to be self-starting. The up and down movement is how you get that type of siphon started.
I have a simple Hagen gravel vac, with a siphon starter bulb:
http://www.bigalsonline.com/catalog/product.xml?product_id=19361&category_id=2001&pcid1=3347
Don't ever use your mouth to get the siphoning going (I'm assuming that's what was meant by "...and then suck in on one side of the tubing...")...don't want to be aspirating tank water! One other method I've heard to get siphoning started is to coil the length of the tubing in the water to fill it first.
And don't remove your fish from the tank when cleaning.
mishi8
It doesn't say anything on the directions about putting your mouth on it, and to me it seems kinda gross to do that!