A Cheap DIY "Python" - A Must-Have for Large Tanks

Thank you.

There are so many little gadgets that you could add to it, should you want to. One of my friends that I was just talking to has the same setup, more or less, but he added a u-shaped metal/pvc addition to the end of the hose that goes in the tank. Then, it hooks right onto the edge of the tank. If you added a straight piece onto that curved part, and cut it to the proper length, you could make it so that it automatically drains to 25%, 30% or 50%, or any other amount. Once the water reached the end of the straight tube, it would stop the syphon.

Please forgive my 10 second drawing...

syphon.JPG


I don't think with my crappy pictures and the jibberish in the thread that it should be a sticky, but I would like to take this thread on a positive route.
 
That would be more if you had a planted tank. In a heavily planted tank, you do not clean the bottom...I should have specified. Though, I guess some people only gravel vac every so often. As it is, I don't gravel vac, so i just use it to remove the water, allowing the hose to rest half way into the tank for my 50% changes.
 
Leopardess, I just did what you said and just changed water in my 55 gallon and 30 gallon tank. It works great and I can siphon water to my tub. On the way home from Homd Depot I went to Petsmart and priced the Python. I saved $50. Thanks for sharing with us they DIY python.
 
Hey, I'm glad it works for you:) It sure can be a back saver!! I love not having to lug 5g buckets back and forth across the house, sloshing water around all the way.

Thank you, aquarius:)
 
I didn't think about the pre cut lenghts being used on a planted tank. That does make sense. Reason for my asking is that I have large fish which after a week make qiute a mess so therefore I vac my gravl weekly. But I beleive I'm going to switch to sand from the repleys I received from another post. Maybe I will have to just skim the surface instead of getting down into the gravel to remove the debris. And I hope my apology was accepted for my rudeness.
 
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Hey Leopardess,

I did it, with a few revisions. I had a spare adapter laying around (saved $5) and a spare garden hose adapter (saved...?). So i went out and bought a $7, 7.6m garden hose.

I attached the sink adapter to the faucet,
attached the garden hose adapter to the sink adapter,
and then attached the hose to the garden hose adapter.

I haven't changed water with it yet, but it cost me a total of $7 for the garden hose. I was rinsing the garden hose out and the water seems to flow fine. I'll test it next week.
 
It's okay bayoupr. Maybe I took it a little too personally. I've had an awful bout of flu the past 4 days and I'm getting snippety because I can't sleep...sigh. :o

I was just thinking I'd mention this to anyone reading this: Don't try gravel vacing with the hose! It is physically sturdy enough, but there is a reason why gravel vacs have larger bases. You'll suck the gravel right outta your tank that way! If you're one of the ones who need to gravel vac at each time (I personally don't have any substrate showing in my tanks, so no need LOL), you could attach a gravel vac tube right to it, or you could some how rig it with a larger piece of pvc (al you need is for the tube to be larger in diameter than the hose so that the pressure isn't the same). Then there are the people who only gravel vac sparingly or every other time, in which case it wouldn't matter much I guess..
 
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