JackieN

WOW..I just tried out my Eheim battery operated "sludge extractor". It's awesome. Easy to clean...pulls up all the crap off the bottom. It's #3531, 69.95 USD. I ordered mine thru PetsMart. I love it..no more tubes, siphons. It's fully submersible, has two extensions, so you don't have to use both if you don't need the length. Runs on 4 AA batteries. Did I mention..I LOVE IT!!!
Just thought I'd share with all of you.
Jackie

skippi

So here is a question for you. Does that suck out any water?? or just clean the bottom as in removing the gunk. Do you still need a syphon to change that tank water. I went to petsmart site and it didn't say anything about that.

Heidi

JackieN

Heidi..no it doesn't suck out water..I plan on doing that manually. I want to use it to keep ahead of the junk that accumlates at the bottom. I will use my siphon or just dunk it out of the tanks when I do water changes. It's great for just keeping ahead of stuff on the bottom..and yet it doesn't remove too much of the bacteria the tank needs. I drop alot of algae tabs for my oto and cory's into the tank..and if it all doesn't get eaten up..it gets nasty, besides keeping ahead of the poops.
Jackie

ecnaj143

Sounds cool. I have a 75gal filter on a 20gal tank. I RARELY have to do a water change. The bottom looks good with my bottom feeds i have.

Butterfly

encnaj143 even with good filtration you still have to do regular weekly water changes.
Carol

chickadee

I have 2 of the EHEIM sludge removers and I also love them! They do a good job and do not put all the stuff back into the water the way the first battery operated thing that I had did. It was just strained by a sock looking thing and this is much more sophisticated. It is also super easy to clean. I will never be without it again.

Why do I have 2? If I have to use one in a hospital tank I have one set aside for it only.

Rose

AlfaBetta

I really never had a need for a gravel vacuum. On my tank and my sister's tank we have some ghost shrimp that actually clean up fish waste. They themself don't produce much waste at all which the bacteria on the gravel takes care of with no problems. Our nitrate levels are always within safe range with weekly for me and bi-weekly for my sister water changes.

kerryve

Do you think that theres anywhere in South Africa that I can get a hold of one
I have such a problem with my oscars, they poop a lot and the pleco cant handle it, i do big waterchanges every sunday, i take 55g out, but by the time i do that the gravel is covered in poop.

boff

Ive just seen my Christmas presant ,how cool are they cheers JackieN .

JackieN

You can always do a google search for them..and have it shipped..I did..from Petsmart.
Good Luck.. Jackie

JackieN

Well..I'm glad I could play Santa, in a way. I hope you like it as much as I do! Merry Christmas!
Jackie

Isabella

Even if I had this "Sludge Extractor" device, I'd still perform regular water changes (or whatever the intervals between which you need to perform them). This is because the device does not remove nitrate from the water. While it may remove the visible wastes, there is always organic matter decomposed in your water from the very wastes, and you cannot see it. Just because there are no wastes on the bottom, doesn't mean the water has no nitrate. I am not saying this device is bad. It's actually great if it's used with regular water changes. For example, you can suck out the wastes every 2-3 days (or more often, if you like), while performing the water change on the 7th day, at the end of the week. Sucking out the wastes this way will not eliminate nitrate (and other chemicals) completely, but it may help reduce it somewhat. Maybe I should try this device too

chickadee

I use this instead of a syphon as it does a real deep cleaning. I do not use it for a wand cleaning as seems to be what is being described here. One of the attachments is meant for a whisk type of cleaning but the extension is made to extend down into the gravel up to a good 1 1/2" or so and that is all the gravel I have so I get to the bottom of things except right up next to my plants and I figure they do a little getting rid of the fish waste for fertilizer. It does a great job of tank vacuuming and I would never do a vacuum with it without doing a hefty water change at the same time.

If the impression or the practice of using this is not to be doing water changes then it should not be used to do this. It cannot replace a water change, but should be used to do a thorough vacuuming.

Rose