I absolutely suck at starting the siphon for my water changes. Every week it’s a struggle to get the water to flow. What techniques do you use to get the siphon started? I've tried bunching the hose towards the top of the aquarium and pulling the hose up and down under water, but this has been very hit and miss for me. Any full proof ways you use?
It's easier than most people think...Assuming you're using a gravel cleaner with 1 hose and 1 "cup" attachment thing:
Method #:
1. Submerge entire hose into the aquarium making sure all the air inside is removed. Plug the hose end with your thumb while it's submerged...Take the plugged end of the hose towards the bucket and remove thumb. Water will siphon into the bucket...Always keep the cup part submerged
2. Suck on the hose till the entire hose is filled...Never had to do this before...You might end up with a mouthful of tank water
3 (Easiest to do with smaller gravel cleaners). Plug one end of the hose with your thumb. Scoop water into the "cup" part of the gravel cleaner and tilt it upwards. Use your thumb control the water as it fills up the hose...When the hose fills up and water reaches your thumb, plug the hose again to stop it....submerge the "cup" part keeping the cup tilted upwards to remove the air pockets as it goes into the water...When there is no more air in the hose or cup remove your thumb and the siphon will start.
4. Buy a little pump attachment for the hose. I personally don't own one so I don't know how to use it.
I use method #3 all the time...Simple and easy....However if your cup attachment is longer than 1 foot long I'd use method #1...Basically if you see air in the hose the siphon will not start
I have the gravel hose, yes, but I also have a smaller siphon I use when the gravel is pretty clean. Should I just stop using the smaller siphon and stay with the gravel sucker? It's MUCH easier for the siphon to get going on my gravel cleaner.
Just get one with a pump on it like the above pic. Makes life a lot easier then you don't have to worry about submerging the whole thing, getting all the air out, etc. Especially handy if you have a small tank.
An ordinary gravel vac can be started by simply putting the vacuum piece in the water and moving it up and down...this will create a pressure inside the gravel vac causing water to rise up into the tube thus starting the siphon. Just keep shaking it up and down(near the surface) until the water starts to flow. You'll need to experiment with what speed and how far up and down to shake the device....but if done properly, the siphon will start in just a few seconds. This is the quickest way to do it if you'd rather not suck on the end of the hose.
The technique I found (after trying it out fifty times on my first attemps) is to fill up the wider end with water, raise it so that the water starts to flow down the tube, then quickly, put the wider end back partially into the water, with the open end slightly higher than the other end! This will re-fill the tube and the water will continue to flow. At this point, as long as you don't take the wider end out of water you can do whatever you want with it...
Works for me every time, and super simple to do...
You guys are "lucky" since you were not as stupid as I was when I placed my tanks one floor below where the tap is located... Python is not an option for me...
