I am thinking of buying for my five gallon tank. Just want the excess poo and food cleaned from the gravel. Would this be right for me? Cautions?
2069591
I bought one of these not too long ago and it kinda works fine to clean a small tank. It's battery operated so not extremely powerful but it did pick up the food and waste. There is a video on YouTube that shows you how to rig this so that it has a bit more suction and that helped.
2069592
I have a 5.5 gal. and it works. You do have to prime it first. Just tip it to the side until it starts and then you can keep it at any angle. Be careful not to go over the line or the battery compartment will get water. Also, be careful of nosey fish. Mine always have to see what I'm doing. If they get sucked up, they will go into the impeller. I rigged up a screen so I didn't suck up the smaller fish.
2069593
I just got mine and use it in my 10 gallon tank. "Customizing" it is NOT necessary. Just bury the edges into the gravel until there is just a slim opening left, and this thing cleans the gravel fairly nicely.. Honestly the most important thing to remember is to twist the collection sock around when at the edges of the tank or the water gets pumped over the sides and onto your floor or table etc.
974479
Add slowly and let water clear. I pulled my fish and had them in buckets. Cleaned all my existing gravel and used it as a base layer followed by eco complete. It took nearly 3 hours to drain, clean, and replant. I did not wait for my water to clear completely before reintroducing My fishy friends but they lived. My aquarium looks amazing. This is good stuff.
1050494
before answering how much water is in the tank and how dirty are the animals living in the tank. I'l using the XP-M for one rather large and dirty red eared slider - and it does great job. Its a little overkill for a breeders tank (holding about 30 gals of water). I went overkill so I would have to clean as often.
1399518
In this tank, I do about a half-tank change once a month for my betta and it works fine. I have a snail in there that helps keep up with the algae and a moss ball to clean the water, too. There's not an actual filter in this one, just an air stone that I haven't needed to change.
626279
Hi Karol. I have a 75 gallon aquarium and a fluval 405 filter (you can see them on google or maybe ebay or amazon. I bought these tablets one time to try them. I like a different product a WHOLE lot better. After fighting my cloudy tank many times I use my tank's hose lines to clean the gravel just before I clean the whole filter box. Then I use a cleaner I get at Wal Mart. Jungle brand Clear Water. It works great. I love it and you can see results sometimes in a couple of hours. Try it you'll love it. Burr
1303307
The tidy tank sludge stuff should take care of most of it. http://smile.amazon.com/B00FQMGR1S
1618201
Casey is correct....this is way to small. It will be okay temporarily, but you will have to get a bigger tank and a better filtration system. It's cheaper/better to just start out with a bigger tank. Even the 15g-20g suggestion will be too small at some point. Here's a link to a really good care sheet: http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Care/housing.htmAt one point I had 7 turtles and they are great animals, but they do require a lot of work that pet stores don't tell you.
1888689
Everybody that I have talked to and everything that I have read says yes you need the gravel base. It has something to do with the regeneration process. One water softener expert told me that I could use fish tank gravel also, but I didn't trust the dyes in that gravel.
1356721
I bought two and put in the bottom of a 55 gallon tank. Since installing the filters there has been quite a build-up of ??? on the top of the gravel. It is white and stringy (?) and very hard to clean out because of the tank depth! I have had MUCH better luck keeping the tank clean by installing two flow through filters and extending one of the intakes as close to the bottom as possible. If I had it to do over again I would NOT have gotten the under gravel systems.
1037767
We have had the tank just over a month and haven't had to clean it. There is a film of calcium build up on the outside because there is a little water that splashes out. Even tho we condition the water before adding. We have really hard water. We just have to add water every few days. Compared to our old tetra tank? Love it!
478973
That certainly is an idea along with something I would consider using my own imagination.However if you trim it to shape. You would be removing the side wall from were you cut. This could affect the filtration through the gravel to the side only that's missing. If you can replace the sides think it would have kick but gravel filtration. Smaller surface area. Stronger flow. Keeps the crap from building up in the gravel. Cleaner tank
979316
It works great. I have 2 dogs and so far it has worked wonderfully. If it seems to not be working well, there is a small foam filter between the tank and regular filter. Just clean it out and it will work fine again. Hope this helps. Happy Thanksgiving.
1427478
it will work for any gallons of tank but the bigger the tank the longer it take to suck the water out. It clean the poop and left over food that fall into the gravel
846322
I use to have Tanks from 5 gallons to 55 gallons mostly fish but one of the larger tanks I had a red eared turtle. If I still had those tanks, yes I think this would be Ideal to clean them also.
768682
No, not at all. Even though you have a good filter it's still important to vacuum your gravel and do your minor water changes each week; along with monitoring your nitrates. Your new filter will also need to be cleaned once a month. Note: hopefully heavily stock doesn't mean over stocked!
25478
All debris is contained beneath the filter and in the gravel. A gravel vac will clean the bottom but under the filter is a different story. You can push a narrow hose thru the uptake fitting to vacuum out some of the debris. A lot will remain inaccessible because the plastic is pushed down providing "support" legs. It's the area between the legs that is near impossible to access. The only way to completely clean is to empty the aquarium. I have the filter you have inquired about. It's a good product however I have a concern about the build up as I have observed gas bubbles rising from the gravel. I now just run my Fluval C3 HOB filter and it does a fine job. This is my aquarium set up and in no way reflects on the efficiency of under gravel filters as a whole. In my case when I tear down in the future for cleaning I won't replace it. My Fluval C3 is a bit more than I need for a 29 gal. but will be perfect for the 40 gal. I will be purchasing from Petcos' dollar a gallon sale. Hope this helps.
396981
Some people do, but I didn't for my aquarium. You don't have to, and some people prefer to keep it dirty. Just a heads up, your tank will be very cloudy for a few days, but this is perfectly normal and it will settle on its own. Just keep your filter running.