Gravel vacuums

[Drenon88]

I bought this enomol gravel vacuum from Amazon a couple of months ago and I'm not very happy with it. I was trying to save a bit of money by going with this non-Python brand but it just doesn't have much suction. It takes a long time to get a siphon going, much water is being wasted trying to start the venturi effect.

I also had to purchase a new kitchen faucet with a removable aerator in order to use any of these venturi style siphons too!

I don't know if the lack of suction is do to a poor design, my home water pressure, hose length or something else I haven't considered.

I'm on the fence about buying/trying the Python system in hopes that it somehow works better and can properly vacuum the gravel.

Any thoughts?

 

 

Edited December 14, 2021 by Drenon88
Added image

[lefty o]

the low suction pressure is dictated by the low volume of water from whatever faucet you have it hooked up to. its just a basic eductor, you put 1 gallon of water from the faucet thru the eductor part hooked to the sink, and it will suck out 1 gallon from the t side of it. most faucets are made to use very little water, if you look inside them they tend to have 1/8" lines from the hot and cold into the faucet itself. that means they cant move very much water volume.

[Minanora]

What lefty said. I did a lot of research on that style but decided to not go that way since my water profile out of the tap would likely kill my shrimp.

I use a cheaper manual python and 5 gallon bucket(s) for water removal and a 2.5 gallon bucket to refill. I use an r.o. mixture so a fancy python doesn't work well for me. Lucky for me I hardly do water changes on anything except my fry growout tank. Plants o' plenty and deep substrate have been highly beneficial.

 

I would get a longer hose to go outside for water removal but it's also not ideal for me with fry and a toddler that loves to play in water.

Edited December 14, 2021 by Minanora

[Drenon88]

On 12/14/2021 at 11:16 AM, lefty o said:

the low suction pressure is dictated by the low volume of water from whatever faucet you have it hooked up to. its just a basic eductor, you put 1 gallon of water from the faucet thru the eductor part hooked to the sink, and it will suck out 1 gallon from the t side of it. most faucets are made to use very little water, if you look inside them they tend to have 1/8" lines from the hot and cold into the faucet itself. that means they cant move very much water volume.

Makes sense. In the spring, I'll connect it to my outside spigot and see how things improve.

I bought this for my relatively new 55 gallon and was trying to get away from 5-gallon buckets!

[Wingman12r]

The length of hose also makes a difference.

When I had the tank ~20' from the faucet I had no issues, now that I moved the tank into the other room I bought a longer hose to reach about 50' and now I get about 1/2 the suction. 

If you don't need the full length of hose you may find shortening it will improve your situation.

 

[Drenon88]

On 12/14/2021 at 11:48 AM, Wingman12r said:

The length of hose also makes a difference.

When I had the tank ~20' from the faucet I had no issues, now that I moved the tank into the other room I bought a longer hose to reach about 50' and now I get about 1/2 the suction. 

If you don't need the full length of hose you may find shortening it will improve your situation.

 

Consider it done - I'll let you know if it improves anything. Thanks!

[Wingman12r]

Also another thing to consider is the wasted water just draining

[Drenon88]

On 12/14/2021 at 11:51 AM, Wingman12r said:

Also another thing to consider is the wasted water just draining

I have considered this and I don't like it. I should have done better research before buying as I thought that running the faucet was only necessary to start the siphon and then could be turned off afterward.

Now that I'm thinking about it. I'll just salvage the parts in the enomol kit and start a siphon the old fashioned way.

Thanks everyone that chimed in!