Wasn't sure f I should put this here or in the plant forums, and it might be a common thing for you more experienced guys but thought I would share anyways after I discovered how useful it is...
I have a 20XH planted tank I have read a few post asking how to gravel vac around plants. I had similar issues made even worse by the fact that to get a gravel vac deep enough for my tank (24") it had a 2" diameter tube. between plants, fert tabs, and an overall small footprint, cleaning consisted of sucking up heaps of gravel from open areas and staying away from plants for fear of vaccing up the gravel & ferts from around their roots. The solution? -> I had a small vac I used on betta tanks that had to be replaced due to the hose being chewed up (by dog, not fish). Long story short, I ended up picking up a length of 1" rigid airline from Big Al's and found that you can pull the top(valve?) off the small vac ( the one I had was marina brand) and it fits exactly onto the 1" tube . replace the tubing with a longer piece...and now I have a vac that I can someone delicately vac around the base of the plants without it sucking up a ton of gravel and emptying the tank because of the smaller tube as well as the hose on the smaller vac being smaller as well. Don't know if it helps anyone with a dilema ..but thought I would share it anyways..
I have a 20XH planted tank I have read a few post asking how to gravel vac around plants. I had similar issues made even worse by the fact that to get a gravel vac deep enough for my tank (24") it had a 2" diameter tube. between plants, fert tabs, and an overall small footprint, cleaning consisted of sucking up heaps of gravel from open areas and staying away from plants for fear of vaccing up the gravel & ferts from around their roots. The solution? -> I had a small vac I used on betta tanks that had to be replaced due to the hose being chewed up (by dog, not fish). Long story short, I ended up picking up a length of 1" rigid airline from Big Al's and found that you can pull the top(valve?) off the small vac ( the one I had was marina brand) and it fits exactly onto the 1" tube . replace the tubing with a longer piece...and now I have a vac that I can someone delicately vac around the base of the plants without it sucking up a ton of gravel and emptying the tank because of the smaller tube as well as the hose on the smaller vac being smaller as well. Don't know if it helps anyone with a dilema ..but thought I would share it anyways..
