how does it not vacuum up the 'baby fish' on the bottom of the tank. I have many baby guppies and swordtails and don't want to lose them to the vacuum
1242248
When I had baby fry cichlids, i took a fish net removed the netting from it and tied it over the opening, you have to be really careful, but it worked hope this helps.
1427475
I have a 95 gallon tank and it does the jo. It cleans any debris that gets buried under the gravel. I Have both large and small gravel in my tank and have no problems at all. Just make sure to dismantle it after use and clean away the larger pieces of debris that collects. Otherwise your vacuum will begin to smell. I'm not sure if this vacuum is meant for my tank but it does the job that I need and it does it well. I hope this helps you.
2200910
The vacuum suction keeps it in contact with the pool bottom and sides. The issue to be aware of, which I have mentioned previously is that the pin system that holds the vacuum onto the pole is inadequate. That is easily addressed by running a stainless steel bolt with a wing nut through one of the holes to keep the vacuum attached. You will get extremely frustrated fishing the vacuum from the bottom the pool if you do not do this. Outside of that is works fine.
2270029
I used it on one of tanks that had no substrate and it worked.I used to vacuum up pleco poop and other remains. So I don't see why it wouldn't work in your tank.
1968542
The suction is light to moderately strong. Bigger fish are ok, but I had a neon tetra get trapped in the mechanism. Then again, the fish might have died then got stuck, as I had 4 others that have had no problems with the suction.
137684
I have sand and it worked fine. Any type of vacuum requires finesse to clean sand. I have a battery operated and a larger version of this and I use them same way. You just hover over, or swish back and forth to get at the yuck. If you get some sand sucked up, just empty your bucket, scoop out the sand, rinse it, and replace it in your aquarium. Gravel is harder to work with because you have to get under it and that means having to suck it up into the tube which clogs it.
1097933
I thing the answer is no. It uses the water pressure from the garden hose attached to is to force leaves and debris upward to be captured in the net bag attached to the center ring. Algae, dirt and the like would most likely be smaller than the mess in the net. It would get it off the bottom but since it does not do a "vacuum" function this stuff would just settle back to the bottom.
50641
If you have lots of animal fur or especially dirty floors, I would suggest pre-sweeping. I run Roomba first. It's more difficult to clean up wet fur out of the rollers and tanks than to just do a quick pick up first. Plus it is hard to see inside the tank to see if fur is stuck to the inside of it.
1636267
I use a pool service and the solar fish is always in the pool and we have not had any problem. I don't know if the auto vac would be able to glide over the fish and suck it in; remember the fish is lying flat at the bottom of the pool.
25478
All debris is contained beneath the filter and in the gravel. A gravel vac will clean the bottom but under the filter is a different story. You can push a narrow hose thru the uptake fitting to vacuum out some of the debris. A lot will remain inaccessible because the plastic is pushed down providing "support" legs. It's the area between the legs that is near impossible to access. The only way to completely clean is to empty the aquarium. I have the filter you have inquired about. It's a good product however I have a concern about the build up as I have observed gas bubbles rising from the gravel. I now just run my Fluval C3 HOB filter and it does a fine job. This is my aquarium set up and in no way reflects on the efficiency of under gravel filters as a whole. In my case when I tear down in the future for cleaning I won't replace it. My Fluval C3 is a bit more than I need for a 29 gal. but will be perfect for the 40 gal. I will be purchasing from Petcos' dollar a gallon sale. Hope this helps.
697597
It sucks up a little bit of sand but unless you bury the end in the sand then the suction isn't strong enough to pull it out of the tank. I actually really like how it cleans out waste from the sand and allows the sand to fall back into the tank. My best results are when I hook the vacuum up to a garden hose turned on all the way, by the time I'm done it looks like I have new white sand again in the bottom of my tank.
1356721
I bought two and put in the bottom of a 55 gallon tank. Since installing the filters there has been quite a build-up of ??? on the top of the gravel. It is white and stringy (?) and very hard to clean out because of the tank depth! I have had MUCH better luck keeping the tank clean by installing two flow through filters and extending one of the intakes as close to the bottom as possible. If I had it to do over again I would NOT have gotten the under gravel systems.
1636268
I use a pool service and the solar fish is always in the pool and we have not had any problem. I don't know if the auto vac would be able to glide over the fish and vacuum it; remember the fish is lying flat at the bottom of the pool.
1262051
Hello. I take a dish rag, pour alcohol on it, place it inside the unit. I then use a long wooden kitchen spoon to move the rag around to clean the build up. For the harder to reach areas, I have a long thin brush that was originally purchased in a 3 brush set to clean my fish tank. Those work great. I also use q-tips dipped in alcohol to clean the inside of the detachable parts. Hope this helps
1954953
Most of the time the fish will get out of the way, as for instance a bottom drain they tend to stay away from. I think that if they did indeed get sucked up they probably wouldn't survive.
1495919
You have to make sure the pump is completely pushed down and suction to the bottom of the tank it can't be touching any of the walls or sides of the tank
2270031
I think it should be okay, I don't have any bare bottom tanks myself though. The suction is pretty good if the batteries are not running out. Since you are not worried about sucking up gravel you can just not attach the fluted piece if it is not able to pick up debris. The bottom extension part is 2 pieces but if I were to not use the fluted piece I would just vacuum up all my gravel.