Ok so for a long time now I have been trying to find a good gravel vac - either DIY or store bought for getting all the fine mulm out of the top layer of substrate and in between plants in my tank and have been unsuccessful.
Basically I need something with low gentle flow that just gets the fine particles but whatever I have tried just ends up causing issues. It should be gentle enough not to pick up or disturb the substrate too much or uproot carpeting plants.
So I have tried :
1] My regular hose which I use for water changes but obviously its too powerful
2] One branded gravel vac with a flow adjustment valve. This would either break siphon if set to a slow enough speed or get clogged with uprooted plants and gravel if the speed was increased. Kind of a shitty designed one so again not too surprised.
3] DIY using various sized drink bottles with 8-10-12mm pipes. Ok but not the greatest
4] Most recently I tried a battery operated gravel vac - the common Chinese design one and not similar to the Eheim one. This held the most promise but still failed. The pump itself and the flow was gentle enough but when a pipe is connected to the outlet, siphon effect increases the flow rate and it clogs. The other option is to connect a mesh bag to the outlet and recycle and filter the water in the tank itself. This also failed because the mesh bag provided wasnt fine enough to trap mulm and just released it into the water column. Jerry rigging some cloth bags made them clog up in seconds and pop off.
Im sure most of us who have planted tanks have this problem and was wondering what everyone uses and recommends for this purpose. Looking for either DIY or store bought options and if a particular design is good.
Thanks in advance !!
Basically I need something with low gentle flow that just gets the fine particles but whatever I have tried just ends up causing issues. It should be gentle enough not to pick up or disturb the substrate too much or uproot carpeting plants.
So I have tried :
1] My regular hose which I use for water changes but obviously its too powerful
2] One branded gravel vac with a flow adjustment valve. This would either break siphon if set to a slow enough speed or get clogged with uprooted plants and gravel if the speed was increased. Kind of a shitty designed one so again not too surprised.
3] DIY using various sized drink bottles with 8-10-12mm pipes. Ok but not the greatest
4] Most recently I tried a battery operated gravel vac - the common Chinese design one and not similar to the Eheim one. This held the most promise but still failed. The pump itself and the flow was gentle enough but when a pipe is connected to the outlet, siphon effect increases the flow rate and it clogs. The other option is to connect a mesh bag to the outlet and recycle and filter the water in the tank itself. This also failed because the mesh bag provided wasnt fine enough to trap mulm and just released it into the water column. Jerry rigging some cloth bags made them clog up in seconds and pop off.
Im sure most of us who have planted tanks have this problem and was wondering what everyone uses and recommends for this purpose. Looking for either DIY or store bought options and if a particular design is good.
Thanks in advance !!