Amnagrla

So, I've always been a sucker. lol I suck on the end of my gravel vac to get it going... when it came to me.... Turkey Baster! I went out and bought one. My plan was to take the ball off the end and put it on my vac.. then pump it a few times to get it going.... however, I didn't even have to take it off. I just stuck the turkey baster into the tube of the vac and started pumping... and voila! It worked!! No more sucking!!

Rbacchiega

lol another way is to submerge the whole syphon (even the draining end) then cap the one end, place it in a bucket lower (like you would normally) and let it go....it creates a natural syphon

fungusonmytoe

good idea with the turkey baster! i hate getting a mouthful of aquarium water, yuk!

jsalemi

The folks who make the Python also sell a device that's similar to the turkey baster idea -- you put it on the hose, pump a few times, and it starts the flow.

COBettaCouple

well Amanda, I guess you can say that you don't suck. good idea, really!

reef freak

Finally, a way to keep from sucking in water! It's bad with a FW I'm sure, but I have SW and it is SOOO discusting. You get the taste of salt in your mouth untill you rinse it. All that fish poo too....Uhhhgg (I've got 2 big fish and 4 little ones, lots and lots of poo)

Thanks for the idea! Saved me from water change aftertaste! lol

Cody

i hate it to..it makes me want to puke

Isabella

LOL ... why would you ever need to suck the water to start it draining from your tank? You just submerge the siphon tube in the tank about 2 times and it gets the water going very quickly, by itself ... Though the idea with the turkey baster is a good alternative for those who like to suck, lol ...

Chief_waterchanger

Dino and I both do the normal suck on the end of the tube syphoning, but we've mastered it. (I only swallowed fish water twice in the last year and a half.)

Great idea you've had!

Swallowing fish poo is nasty, but we laugh at each other when one of us are too tired and end up goofing and swallowing water, so its awesome fun sometimes.

I know I suck, lol.

FYI: The FDA's (food and drug administration's) website shows acceptable levels of pounds of bugs per ton for canned veggies.. fish poo ain't so bad anymore, eh? Dino says he thinks it is 8 pounds per ton...

Isabella

"Only" 2 times !? LOL! Yuck!

Really? Hmm ...

Yeah, you really do suck ... lots of water!

Cody

well they make it sounds so easy..Move it rapidly at a 45 degree angle about 15 times and it should start..haha...i didnt even know so many people sucked to..i just thought i was werid

Isabella

Well, with silicone tubing/hose alone, you'll need to suck. But I don't see why you need to suck when you have a siphon tube attached to the silicone hose. It's just so much quicker to simply turn the tube upside down and then back up, and the water starts flowing by itself. Not to mention you're not risking swallowing your tank water this way.

COBettaCouple

mmmm.. protein!

o0Faraz0o

I don't want to say it but ur a bad.. bad sucker with only a few weeks of sucking experience im happy to say i never tasted aquarium water!!!

Amnagrla

lol well well well... I have tried ALL the ways to get my syphon started... the moving it up and down thing.. all of it. I HAVE also mastered sucking without getting ANY water near me... however, I just had a eureka moment about this and it works!

darkwolf29a

I use several methods: suck, move it up and down, or the fill method.

If you fill a tube with water and lower it to the bucket...it creates it's own suction...no sucking needed. It's just...sometimes I forget to do it.

capekate

LOL....
well I know we have had this conversation before and I tried to explain my method of using the vacuum. I find that the easiest way for me is this:

I put the plastic vacuum tube into the water at a horizontal position til the tube fills with water, then lift the tube up so that you keep all the water in the tube. With your finger on the end of the rubber tube the water will drain all the way down the rubber tube. Once that is full, while keeping your finger on the end of the rubber tube, slowly put the vacuum back into the water still at a horizontal position to keep as much of the water in the vacuum as possible.
Then once the vacuum end is back into the water, release your finger from the end of the rubber tube inside your bucket and viola! you have water pressure. I have never had to suck the end of the hose to get water flowing!

~ kate

MudHog

I have the faucet siphon pump, but don't use it anymore. The only time I use it is to re-fill the tank after cleaning. I don't like the fact that I'm using water to siphon water. My hose is 25' long, I stretch it out into the yard and suck on the end. Get in the house and start cleaning.

voiceless_kat

Geez, and I thought it was all part of the game...without it, where is the fun, where is the challenge??

Val

Amnagrla

haha, true that.

I also started using it for my testing...