Starting a Siphon

Siphoning Your Aquarium Water and Cleaning Your Aquarium Gravel

To operate a gravel vacuum, you will need to get a siphon started in the siphon tube.

First, place a bucket on a low stool or on the floor in front of the fish tank. You will use this bucket to catch the water you are draining out of the fish tank through the siphon.

If the siphon you are starting is attached to a gravel vacuum, place the wide end of the gravel vacuum in the aquarium, and rest its open end on or slightly into the aquarium gravel. If this siphon is not attached to a gravel vacuum, you will want to keep the end of the siphon in the aquarium several inches away from the gravel. Point the other end of the tube toward the bucket.

To get your siphon started, you will need to get water into the siphon tube.

Starting a Siphon by Immersion

Another option to get a siphon started is to lower the entire siphon into the aquarium slowly, making sure that you get all of the air out of the tube. Then you can plug the one end of the tube with your finger or thumb and lift that end out of the tank (being careful that the other end does not come out of the water) and lower it toward the bucket before releasing your finger. When you release your finger, the water should start to flow into the bucket.

Suck-Starting an Aquarium Siphon

Probably the easiest way to do this is to gently suck on the lower (bucket) end of the siphon tube while holding it above the bucket, but lower than the water level in the aquarium. As soon as the water gets past the edge of the fish tank and begins to flow down the tube, remove your mouth from the siphon and allow the water to flow into the bucket. However, some people think that this method is a disgusting way to get a siphon started (though the water in your aquarium should be no more harmful to you than it is to your fish). In these cases, there are other ways to get your siphon started.

  Starting a Siphon with a Priming Ball

Some other gravel vacuums have a valve in them that will allow water to flow one way, but not the other. The manufacturers of these recommend that you shake the gravel vacuum rapidly up and down in the aquarium to push water past that valve and into the tube. In this manner you can get the siphon started by just getting water pushed over the lip of the fish tank when it can start to flow downward into the bucket. I find that using this method always makes the aquarium unnecessary messy and often creates a mess. I also find that this is the most difficult method to use to get a siphon started.

Nothing is more important in aquarium keeping than water quality management. There are many excellent products available out there to assist in water quality management, but in my opinion, there is still no replacement for water changes, good filtration, and good feeding habits.

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