Vacuum

[Bernard]

so I have a bare bottom tank and haven't really cleaned the bottom too well. My ehiem vacuum doesn't seem to want to work anymore. Fellow reefer mentioned using a pump to vacuum his once before but can't remember where I read it at.

I have a couple extra pumps laying around. Was thinking I could use like a 2" pcv with a filterpad inside it to suck the crud off the bottom but just seems like there should be an easier way or something better to use than pvc.
Anyone one made anything like this can give a better idea of pics so I can get a better idea?

 

[alyee5]

I considered making something like this


But I ended up just using a standard gravel vacuum on my sand bed placing the outlet into a filter sock in my sump. I just tune down my drain with a gate valve and keep everything going on my tank while I clean.

 

[Bernard]

Thanks for the video. That is along the lines of what I want. Tweeted it a little though. Instead of using a bottle I just bought one of the gravel vacs and am going to try everything else like shown.

 

[helen ann]

@I Take Cars you have a BB ... how you cleaning Sir?

 

[TheEngineer]

Another option would be to just run a siphon down to a filter sock in your sump. The detritus gets filtered out and the water just gets returned to the tank.

 

[Bernard]

I tried that but the siphon isn't strong enough to get everything out.

 

[TheEngineer]

I tried that but the siphon isn't strong enough to get everything out.

You can use a larger diameter tube. It is a slower process but it works pretty well IME.

 

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

Cool idea with the pump.

 

[h8edpurdie]

Another option would be to just run a siphon down to a filter sock in your sump. The detritus gets filtered out and the water just gets returned to the tank.

I've done this before and ended up changing a few things. My sump on my tank is located in my garage on the other side of the wall. We don't park in the garage so I don't get worried about exhaust from the car. It wasn't working out the way I was hoping for, so I took an extra, new and clean Brute trash can and hang a 5 micron filter sock https://goo.gl/GaedPr and siphon water into it. Then I use a small pump to pump the water back into the tank.

 

[Babygecko1233]

I use a turkey baster and manually do it by hand its fun and cool to see

 

[president89]

This thing works awesome on bare bottom tanks. It has a brush hooked up to the hose. It's small but it's good because it allows you to get into small spaces. The 10ft hose is key so it doesn't come out of your bucket.https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MTU8M6H/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1480388298&sr=8-1&keywords=762625456999