The Puffer Forum

Hey what is a safe way to siphon water out of my tank without the risk of taking any fish along with my water. Sorry for such a dumb question but im a fishkeeping newb.

if you keep the siphon very close to the gravel, and plundge it into the gravel and allow it to scoop up the crap within the rocks, you should not catch any fish. you can sorta help them swim to the other side of the tank and just move slow. if there is a problem pull the tube out of the bucket and let the air into the tubing, the fish should release and swim off.

I have not ever had an issue with that yet but i do keep an eye out when i am siphoning just incase.

Never leave it unattended

plunge it into the gravel and allow it to scoop up the crap within the rocks

Works well w/a Python siphoning system, otherwise, you'll suck up gravel.

Never leave it unattended

Absolutely!

how often should I vaccume out the gravel, I havent gotten a gravel vaccume yet.

Also how should I go about vaccuming the gravel when my puffers nibble everything that goes into the tank (its my hand im worried about) do you think hand nibbling will be an issue?

no puffers generally fear the hand of god, and if they dont, you chasing them away for a few inches does the trick.

gravel vac every water change, basically how you do a water change (one way anyway) and that is 1 time per week or so.

If you gravel vac into a white bucket, you'll see the crud on the bottom of the bucket. Should be much less crud in the next bucket. If you can get your bucket of new mixed, same temperature brackish water up above the level of your tank (I use a 12" deep windowsill), just reverse your vac - use it to siphon your new water into your tank.

very good info, thanks guys.