Sometimes cleaning your fish tank requires aquarium cleaning tools. Gravel vacuums and algae scrappers help clean every inch of your aquarium in a safe manner, keeping your fish out of harm’s way before, during, and after cleaning. Now your little fish can swim freely without worry of harmful toxins, all with the help of fish tank cleaning kits.Aqueon Siphon Vacuum with Priming Bulb Aquarium Gravel Cleaner, 10-inch FREE 1-2 Day Shipping over $49 With the Aqueon Siphon Vacuum with Priming Bulb Aquarium Gravel Cleaner, performing quick water changes is super easy. This useful siphon efficiently separates debris from gravel for convenient cleaning. A simple pump of the priming bulb quickly primes the hose to start water flow. Just the right amount of suction is applied to lift and agitate the gravel. Debris is effectively separated, pulled away with the flowing water and disposed of while the gravel falls back down to the aquarium floor. Changing the water and removing debris from gravel is part of necessary maintenance for a healthy and balanced aquarium.

Convenient priming bulb to start water flow Includes 6’ flexible hose, hose clip, intake tube and priming bulb pump Helps maintain a natural balance in the aquarium environment Efficiently cleans debris from gravel Large 10” for aquariums 15-55 gallons See all items by Aqueon on Mar 31, 2017 Works best on larger tanks such as 30+ gal. Will work on 10 gal . To be truthful I ended up pulling the priming build off and just use the old suck and dump method. I still would by this item again if I ever needed another. on Mar 28, 2017 The concept of delivering the products I use is fantastic. I've only been using for a few months. But I do love the brands that are offered and delivery time is great. I would recommend to a friend, and I do on Feb 10, 2017 I have had this for sometime now and did not give it a review, but I have now used it various times and have to say that it is a time saver when cleaning out my fish tank and sucks up the bottom feces's very well.

I am very happy with it. on Mar 22, 2017 It would be great for 30 gallon tanks and up. Did not work at all for my 20 gallon tank. I'm still using my old one that I was going to replace. on Jan 10, 2017 The siphon was not as effective as I thought it would be. The tank I used it on is a 20 gallon tank; would work better for a bigger tank. on Jan 1, 2017 I have arthritis and this pump U squeeze two or three times and the water comes out. on Aug 30, 2016 Worked just like it should! I ordered the 10 inch which ended up being a bit larger than what we needed (10gl tank) but it worked wonderfully- just a little bulkier than was necessary for what we needed. The priming bulb sure beats accidentally ending up with a mouth of tank water! The hose clip that keeps the tube in the bucket is handy as well! on Nov 17, 2016 W have 110ga tank and this makes cleaning a lot easier. on Aug 15, 2016 No more manual syphoning!!! Don't know why I didn't buy this sooner!

It was larger than I thought it would be, but great for a 20+ gallon tank!It’s always a great feeling, when you find a box from Amazon on your doorstep when you get home–even if it is just a gravel vacuum. The auto-siphon bulb on my Aqueon auto-siphon aquarium gravel vacuum cleaner stopped working. fish tank second hand saleI had this thing for years. fish tank accessories for saleNo concerns about quality, I would be comfortable buying that brand again. fish tank for sale in grimsbyBut I did want to see what was out there in terms of possible replacements for my old and no longer operational piece of aquarium maintenance equipment. lee mar aquarium and pet supplies

Water changes are not my favorite thing to do–so if there is something out there to make my aquarium maintenance and water changes a little more pleasant, I’m all for it. I don’t actually have gravel in my aquarium or quarantine tank, I have a deep sand bed in my display tank and a bare bottom in my QT, so I feel a little strange calling it a gravel vacuum, but I believe that to be the most popular term for this piece of equipment, so I’m going to stick with it.fish tank filters cost The first model I checked out was the Python No Spill Clean and Fill Aquarium Maintenance Systemfish tank filters quiet I was intrigued by the premise of the no-spill system. It looks so cool, and and like such a good idea. No more need to lug buckets across the room. Inevitably, I end up spilling some of the water from at least one of the buckets, as I lug it across the floor.

Could this gravel vacuum and water change siphon be the answer to my problems? Well, at this point, I won’t know, because I didn’t go with it. I think this product is probably the ultimate water change product for anyone with a freshwater aquarium. I absolutely love the idea of no longer having to lug the buckets of wastewater around, but since I’d still have to make buckets of saltwater (and lug those around), I didn’t actually think it would be as helpful as I wanted it to be. Not to mention, I couldn’t figure out how to calculate how much water went down the drain (to be sure I drained the right amount of money). The $65 price tag was enough to keep me on the sideline for this product. But I have to admit, I’m very curious about it. On the opposite end of the spectrum from the Python system, there were a handful of very low tech and inexpensive gravel vacuum siphons: Those models are similar to the siphons I used when I first started in the hobby, all those years ago…but I’ve moved on…

I don’t want to start the siphon out the old fashioned way… So I moved on. If you’re on a budget, and you don’t mind the shenanigans it takes to get the siphon started, they work fine,b, but I was looking for something a bit more cool. Not too cheap, not too expensive, the autosiphon gravel washers were just what I was looking for. The two most popular models were: There was no major difference between the two products, in terms of features, price and product reviews, so found that I kept searching…and searching…until I found this: Free hawk Fish Tank Autosiphon The model I bought was labeled as Freehawk Fish Tank Auto-siphon in one description and just as a squeezing aquarium auto-siphon in another. It works like the other gravel vacuum cleaners with a priming bulb. Part of the way down the tube, there is a bulb, with a one-way check valve, that you squeeze to start the flow of water. So this siphon met my minimum requirements. The price was very reasonable, but what immediately caught my attention about the Freehawk Fish tank auto-siphon were two features that I hadn’t seen on the other models.

From the look in the picture, the clip seemed like it was probably pointless…but I was intrigued by the flow rate control valve. The price was about the same as the other models, so I made an obvious choice and went with the model with more product features. As much as I was looking forward to opening up my new gravel vacuum siphon, I admit that the unboxing was a bit disappointing (or is the write word strange?). Underneath the air pockets was a silver, unlabeled pouch. It looked like this. I flipped it over (not shown below) and the words “Made In China” were stuck on, but otherwise it looked the same. The plastic was that auto-glued stuff, so I had to rip the pouch open. that was labeled the Freehawk Autosiphon Aquarium Cleaner was actually a Yu Mei Instant Siphon Gravel Cleaner, apparently model YM-20 I knew I hadn’t purchased a brand name gravel vacuum I was familiar with, but I didn’t actually think I was buying a product with (I’m assuming) Chinese labeling.

I flipped it over, and things got even more amazing. This product had the most amazing picture I have every seen to demonstrate the proper (or I suppose to highlight clearly improper) siphon starting technique. I’m very excited again about this purchase–and the fact that I can now do water changes in cufflinks and a tie, without the hassles of having to start the siphon by mouth. Although I’m still not sure about the air movement under my armpit in the right-hand picture. This product is worth the price, for the collector’s artwork on the back alone. Ok, enough shenanigans, time to open it up. There are no instructions, so if you are deathly afraid of putting things together without guidance, you will not like this device…but it is super straightforward. Let’s start with the plastic gizmo (ironically, not displayed in their artwork above). It is made from a hard but not brittle plastic. It doesn’t feel like it will break easily.  Originally, I thought this was supposed to fit on the aquarium–but after installing it there, I realized it is probably designed to fit on the bucket to keep the hose in place and prevent it from slipping out–which has happened to me a few times before.

The vice fit well on the bucket. I was able to tighten it so that it didn’t wiggle much and it was designed to fit snugly just on the plastic rim at the top of the bucket. Next, I had to figure out what to do with these two pieces Compared with my old Aqueon siphon, this part of the siphon seems more sophisticated. The blue tube is made of a solid plastic that will not bend. I suspect it will break at some point, which will ruin the siphon, but for now, I’m intrigued, there will be no bend in the tube at this point and it will be easy to move around the tank. The wide section at the bottom, the business end of the siphon, is slightly different from the other models I’ve used too. From an aesthetics perspective, the plastic appears a little mottled…in other words…it isn’t perfectly clear, it’s blurry clear…ok…seems like a downgrade from the other models but that isn’t important at all. Next, notice the coarse plastic filter. That will keep fish and large clogging debris from getting sucked up into the line.

It almost looks like a mini colander for making noodles. It seems like it could be designed to fit snugly in place, but it is a bit offset in my siphon, again creating a positive impression in terms of design and a negative impression in terms of assembly/materials. My old Aqueon didn’t have any sort of screen, so all in all, I’m considering this an upgrade at this point. We will see how it works in practice. There is a screw cap that keeps the blue plastic tube connected with the bottom piece, which is actually a very cool thing. As my Aqueon model got older, the area where the tube connected here loosened and would periodically fall off mid-water change. To start the flow of water, I had to open the valve on the end–and with two squeezes of the bulb, the flow started, no problems. Next, I wanted to try out the valve on the end. This is clearly the best part about this autosiphon product. A simple half-turn and the water flow stops. This is extremely helpful when switching buckets.

No more need to bend and pinch the tube to constrict the flow, dripping all over the place when switching buckets–or worse, putting up with the hassle of stopping and restarting the siphon, just shut the valve, move the hose to the next bucket and then reopen the valve. I left the valve closed for a few minutes, to see how well the valve would hold and it stayed closed. There were a few very small drips, but for all intents and purposes, the flow was stopped and the tube can be safely moved around without making a mess. There is one drawback to leaving the tube full of water but with the valve closed for a few minutes. Pressure in the line caused the water to back up and ‘bead out’ at the ball. I did have a small wet spot on the carpet under this part of the siphon. So I quickly learned that the valve is to be used for short term closing to switch between buckets. While I feel like the marketing description and images could have shown the packaging better (to avoid the surprise at all the Chinese descriptions), I’m impressed and excited about my new autosiphon.