acidpope

I was going through my Dr Foster & Smith catalog when I noticed a vac called the Aquarium Power Gravel Vacuum. Does anyone have any experience with this device, and a rough cost to maintain? It looks great and I like the idea of keeping the same water in the tank. Price is a tad high but I figure if it doesn't cost a lot to maintain (carbon/filter) then over the years it'll pay for itself with the money I'd be spending on tap water conditioners. Also does anyone use Liquid Gravel Vac? I'm wondering how this works.

lew2000

I have had the power vac (got it through ancientmarinerinc) about 2 years ago. I b bought it with the extra tower and the drain fitting. It actually works very well. I only use every 4mos. in each tank. What i like about it is that you can set the amount of suction, it collects all of the mulm and stirs the gravel very well, and the water return is clear/no particulates, like you said you retrun the same water. The only option that i would want is a crevice tool (like on a regular vaccum). Though i did end up making my own. As for cost, since i don't use carbon-no cost, the filters are re-usable so in roughly 24 uses i have used two sets of filters. However, since i do 20% water changes in my tank - it has no effect on that. People who use AC in thier tanks already may be removing some DOC's (dissolved organic compounds), but imo, you still build up doc's over time and they need to be removed with water changes. As to Liquid Gravel Vac - looked into it and others that use bacteria to remove sludge, alot of differing views on effectiveness in web forums.