How to clean a 5 gal tank?

Lol...funny you ask, because I went through the exact same thing a few months ago with my Pictotope. Turns out they DO sell itty bitty gravel vacs. I found it at petsmart. Let me know if you have trouble getting one, as I will be happy to send you mine seeing as how I don't use it anymore. (Broke down the Pictotope for now)
 
yep, they sure do. The difference though is the itty python doesn't get hooked up to the sink. It basically uses gravity as the syphen. You will need to have a bucket to catch the water being extracted at the ground level to get the best suction for the tool.
 
I bought a Mini Gravel Vac from Petsmart this past weekend for my 5 gallon and it works great. I think it was $4. I use a bucket with mine, although my tank is in the kitchen and the hose is so long it will probly reach the sink. It doesn't have much suction so you might want to remove about half of the gravel and wash by hand. It will have enough suction to get the bits floating around or not stuck on the surface though. I wouldn't get one much bigger because it might empty a small tank too quickly to get it clean.
 
I have a small vac thats about an inch diameter too, walmart for like 5 bucks. All you need is that and a bucket. I actually use the smaller one for my 20 gallon too, because its weaker, and sucks up less water so it gives me time to go throughout the tank sucking everything up. My more powerful one fills up the bucket in like a minute so I can not get to the whole tank for vacuuming before the buckets overflowing
 
Small tubing works for me.
 
i just use my python i dont like the weak suction lol but agreed i look down and wonder why my fish are all gasping for breath on the gravel bed.
 
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