How to start a fish tank siphon vacuum without using your mouth

As if cleaning your fish tank wasn't enough fun, the thought of starting the siphon of the gravel vacuum brings horrible thoughts of involuntary tastes of dirty fish water. Is there a way to prevent this from happening? Of course there is- don't use your mouth! Here's how:

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• A dirty fish tank (cleaning time!)
• Gravel Vacuum

1. Remove the lid from the fish tank if you have one. Gather everything you need, including a bucket to catch the dirty water. Ensure that the valve control (if you have one) on the vacuum is open. Place the hose end of the vacuum in the bucket and hold the vacuum end of the opening above the fish tank, open end facing upward. Get ready! You'll have to work quickly...

2. Holding the vacuum with the opening straight up in the air (it should be opposite of how it would be if you were actually vacuuming the tank; it should be upside-down), submerge it into the tank, allowing it to fill with water, while keeping it upright. Quickly lift the vacuum up, ensuring that it's above the level of the bucket, allowing the water to flow down through the hose and into the bucket. Before all of the water leaves the vacuum part (the wide part), submerge it in water again the same way, allowing it to fill, and lift again, quickly. You are trying to fill up the vacuum and hose with water fast enough that there are no air bubbles in between fills. This will create a natural siphon. Repeat as necessary.

3. Once the siphon has started, usually after 4 or 5 good fills, quickly submerge the vacuum again, and rotate it downward so that you can begin cleaning the tank. Voila! You are now vacuuming your fish tank!

4. This will take a bit of practice, and you'll have to be swift, but once you get the hang of it, you'll never put your mouth on the end of that hose again. Yuk! :)

Tips & Warnings

• Ensure that your hands are clean prior to submerging them into the fish tank
• Use caution when exposing your hands to potentially dangerous fish when starting the siphon.
• Don't attempt this on your gas tank in your car. :P

[dcole]

on 3/14/2009 Fascinating stuff! Good work! :)

[SchoolOfLife]

on 2/23/2009 I'm glad this was helpful. My spouse actually bet me that it wouldn't work, so I showed him, and then had to write an ehow article to thoroughly enforce my bragging rights. :)

[heatherh930]

on 2/21/2009 WOW THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!! I have been fighting with my vacuum for the last 20 mins. So I finally gave up and come to look for help on the net. I found this article and on the first try it worked!!! I might just clean the tank more often now that I have figured the trick to starting the vacuum:-)THANKS SO MUCH

[mfahrney]

on 1/17/2009 This really works...been there done this!! Great article to write about!!