Langy

hey guys,
last night at 1:30 i had an accident. my fish tank siphoned about 1/3 of the water out in the air hose onto the carpet . dad discovered it and quickly stopped it siphoning more.

earlier that day i had taken the two air valves in the tank out (they run to seperate air stones) so basically it was just the pipe running into the tank with a t-piece and a valve on each side and then the air stones. i had taken them out because the valves were leaking air bubbles and ruining the look of the tank.

now back where the air pump is (which is in a cabinet under the fish tank) i have a pipe from the air pump to a t-piece, and on one side i have an air valve (so i can adjust the air bubbles from outside the tank, this is also where the water came out from) and the other side goes to the main pipe running into the tank. the main pipe sits about 3-4cm higher than the water level aswell.

so my question is what can i do to stop it siphoning out?? any advice please. any ideas welcome.

my second question is how do i clean my filter. i have a black sponge type filter on top of a thinner white one. i think its a bio filter?? because i checked that this morning and the water is starting to sit on top of the black one and isn't draining through quick enough. i had a look at the white one and it is looking rather green and rotten. i peeled a bit of it up and it almost tore off. what do i do about this?

thanks guys, i know i wrote alot, but im a fish noob and want to do it right.
cheers

Nick G

Water won't siphon through a tube if the end of the tube outside the tank is higher than the end inside the tank, maybe you could raise the tube up? As for the filter, do a 25%waterchange and keep the water you remove. Then take the filter apart and rinse the filter media in the removed water and put it back together again. This will retain the benificial bacteria that lives in filter media, whilst getting rid of most of the dirt and waste trapped there.

Langy

hmmm yer i understand that the end needs to be higher but that just aint going to work. because my air pump is in a box in the cabinet below. it would be an eye sore to put the air pump on top of the tank. so thanks for that suggestion, but it ain't gonna work for me.

my dad came up with an idea, not sure if it will work, but he suggested putting an air valve at the peak of the hose (where it comes from the tank and then runs down the back of the tank to the pump) apparently it will let the air into the hose and stop the water from running down the back and starting the siphon effect? what do you reckon?

Filter!
ok i did a water change yesterday, then the tank did one itself by siphoning out. i might not take a lot of water out to clean the filter. gotta love my dad who filled it up last night after it had emptied with straight tap water. i put some anti chlorine/chloramine drops in. thanks for your help

Nick G

Yeah an air valve should work. A tube will only siphon if it's airtight.

Langy

woo! breakthrough. thanks. i shall now start putting this valve in. and i think i'll wash that filter. thanks for everything!!

Dozey

You can purchase a check valve for a few dollars. It allows air to flow in one direction but prevents water from back siphoning.

http://www.bigalsonline.ca/StoreCata...Type=0&offset=

aabaltz

hey, maybe you are interested in buying some new type of bubble wall thing or something, i just bought a 8" bubble wand for my tank, and it came with check valve for free, otherwise they are like 2 bucks at the pet store i go to

CWO4GUNNER

The only problem with most aquarium check valves is that they are cheaply made a place a significant restriction load on the pump so that you will notice less are coming through the stone. I threw my check valve out and also have looped my air hoses ends exiting the tank with scotch tape so they remain standing 1.5 inches higher then the water line. I tested them many times and not only does water not siphon back out the tank but I have allot more air and less ware and tear on the pump. At least it works for me IMO.

Dozey

Hmm... most check valves are little more then two flimsy peaces of rubber that easily allows air to pass through but collapse on themselves when air isn’t present preventing the back siphoning of water. I sure haven’t had any problems with my check valves.

Also note worthy… both of my air pump’s warranties are void if not used with a check valve.

As a personal note, I’d rather replace a 15 dollar air pump then water vac 35 gallons of water from my living room floor. But that’s just me.