Awhile back I was asked to post pics of our home-made sipon. That was about 4 months ago - I'm slow sometimes!!

Things you will need for this project:
2 garden hoses (never been used)
This is very important!! You don't want any chemicals or dirt/bugs in used hoses to get into your tanks.
An extra long sipon that you purchase at the LFS
Some plastic tubing wide enough to fit over your faucet
Two adjustable clamps.

First the one to empty and siphon the tank:

Slice one metal end off of one of the garden hoses.


Insert the thin end of the store bought siphon hose into the garden hose and use a clamp to attach it.


Leaving the big end of the siphon hose attached to the thin hose.


My tank is close to my front door, so I run the uncut end of the hose out into the garden. I take the siphon end and do my business inside the tank. Use gravity to get the flow going - it is really easy. The water and waste go right into the garden - no cleanup and it fertilizes my garden too !


Now the one to fill the tank:

Cut off BOTH metal ends of the hose and slid the plastic tubing over one end. The plastic tubing may need to fit on the outside of the hose depending on the width needed to cover the faucet. Again, use a clamp to attach it.


Then the other end of the plastic tubing is slid over the faucet. Mine had to be split a little because I measured wrong. The other end of the hose (without the plastic tubing) is put directly into the fish tank. Remember I cut off the metal end piece already - this way I don't have to worry about it banging against the tank.


Becareful when turning on the water. There should be someone at each end of the hose, at least the first time you do it. At the faucet, you need to watch the pressure to make sure it doesn't blow the plastic tubing off. At the tank, you need to make sure the hose doesn't pop out of the tank. Both of the warnings come from experience... Meaning, I have been there, done that, cleaned up the water spills!

Using these 2 hoses, I can change the water in my 120 gallon tank, with rock cleaning, from beginning to end in less than 30 minutes. And that includes clean up of hoses etc. Hope this helps someone - good bye buckets!

Brooksie

Can one of the moderators please move this to the right "DIY" category?? So sorry !!!

Very Creative Hun!! And all moved!

I do pretty much the same thing, I removed the clear hose and fitted the garden hose straight to the vac. I also bought a tap connection to make the tap/hose safer. there should be a connection for each different type of tap.
cgi.ebay.co.uk/BRAND-NEW-TAP-CONNECTOR-W...;hash=item58814f637c

good job, B.
i use kinda the same device, only do i use a soda bottle with the bottom cut out, instead of the big hose gravel vac piece.

Plus like Marcus suggested i have a "garden hose click-on system" by Gardena, attached to the hose i use for the refilling, to make a secure fit to my tap.
This system also has a valve inside of it, to make sure the water doesn't get syphoned back, after i turn off the tap and forget about the hose, after it's been de-attached.

In addition a have a couple of suction cups to keep the soda bottle/syphon-hose in place while i suck on the end of the hose, that leads into the garden.
I use those same suction cups to keep the hose, that's attached to the tap in place during waterchanges.

I do pretty much the same but I use Hozelock connectors (well, the Focus DIY ripoffs that do exactly the same thing but are half the price )

ei brooksie help pls how does this thing realy work. where does the water exit once you turn on the water faucet? do it just return to tank ?

good info brooksie. thanks for sharing.

I do a very similar thing also. my gravel vac happens to fit perfectly inside of my tubing that takes water from my tank out to the back yard.

i know this is an old post but when you all do this do you just guess at the amount of water you took out and put the approiate amount of water conditioner directly into the tank after refilling it???

with prime i use 5ml... so that covers the whole 55gal
just to be sure and its a nitrate remover to =]

I have a couple questions on this subject 1 if your running tap water directly to your tank even if you do add the conditioner your fish will still be swimming in the chemical filled water for a while. Does this hurt them to be in there till the conditioner takes hold of the chemicals and 2 what about temp change I'v been tought that temp change can stress out even kill your fish. I'm just curious cause if its ok to do this i'm going to buy the setup but i'v always used multi 5gallon culligan jugs that I fill and let sit to evaporate all the chemicals out and to bring to room temp

nhager wrote:


First, the only chemical I use in my tank is Prime. Once I get the water flowing into the tank, I add the Prime very near where the water is pouring in so that it mixes. My fish are usually at the other side of the tank anyways. But there is more water than chemicals and it mixes pretty fast.

Second, I feel the water coming out of the hose and adjust it to meet the tank temp. After a couple of times I have learned about where the faucet needs to be set to match the tank temp.

I've been doing this for over a year with both of my tanks and have never had a problem with it bothering my fish.

Hope this helps... good luck!