dredd0606 Posted February 10, 2009 Report Share Posted February 10, 2009 Hey guys, I'm thinking of evolving my DIY 'Python' water changer/gravel vacuum. Currently I have a venturi pump (waterbed fill/drain kit) hooked up to a 50' garden hose. Then through the miracle of my local plumbing store, I have converted that to a 5/8" flexible plastic hose with a gravel vacuum. As my sink is lower than the water level in my tank, I use the venturi pump to start the siphon action (I would NEVER waste so much water as to leave the sink on for the entire drain). What I am thinking of doing is shortening the plastic tubing on the gravel vac and hooking it up directly to the intake on a submerged powerhead. The the outlet would be connected to the hose somehow, which would still connect to the venturi pump as a good way to fill and hold the hose in place during a drain. Am I nuts? Have any of you done this before? I think the largest expense of this entire setup is going to be the powerhead...I was thinking of using a 400GPH powerhead (25% drain on the 55G in about 3mins). This would also give me some decent suction for gravel vacuuming. What do you guys think? Possible, impossible, ideas? I am planing on leaving the powerhead in the tank during the entire drain BTW. - Dredd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CORVETTE Posted February 10, 2009 Report Share Posted February 10, 2009 I can see what your going for more suction than just siphoning and less water waste. I would recommend a bigger pump in fact maybe a small pond pump. And remember the impeller will wear out faster and clog up more due to all the waste being pumped through it. just how i feel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drydock Posted February 10, 2009 Report Share Posted February 10, 2009 Ya, I agree with Corvette. Go for the pond pump. I used to have a small pond pump that I could attach to a garden hose. I think it was called 'Little Giant' or something like that. It wasn't very big, but it did the trick. I didn't hook up the gravel cleaning attachment to it, I would do that manually and then use the pump to clean out the rest of my tank. To fill the tank, I would have a 5 gallon bucket in the laundry sink filling under the tap and I would put the pump in there. I even accidentally sucked a neon up through it once and it came out the other end just fine. not that I recommend it - your experience may vary. I have a python and I don't like it. The pond pump I described above was WAY faster and didn't waste the water to run it. I've tried running the python without the water and it just takes too long the way our house is set up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvision Posted February 11, 2009 Report Share Posted February 11, 2009 I run a small pond pump attached to a garden hose, then down the floor-drain in my basement or in the tub on the main floor. To fill, I have a laundry faucet in the laundry room, which has a garden-hose attachment on it - I just attach the garden hose, and fill. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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