Making My Own 'python' System.

[Sokonomi]

HI all,

I was wondering what it takes to make a system that functions just like the famed Python system.
It's a great system, just grossly overpriced here in Europe (135 dollars for a 50ft set!).
So that's my reason for just trying to make one of my own concoction; Can't be that hard, right?

I've ordered an adapter clamp that supposedly will let me fit a garden hose to my kitchen faucet, but where should I go from there?
I understand that it needs to split off into two directions, one into the drain and the other to the tank,
and depending on whether the drain end is closed or not, it will either pull or push water from or to the aquarium end.
But is there something special about the splitter?
Does it have to be a T-splitter or will any of the many MANY Y-splitters do the trick as well?

Anyone here have any experience with this?

 

[Cichlidude]

Or just buy that one part...

 

[Sokonomi]

Or just buy that one part...

If you'll cough up the 31 dollar shipping for me, gladly.
Python products just aren't meant for europe it seems.

Besides, it wouldn't fit my faucet anyway (has no aerator that's easy to remove).

 

[Cichlidude]

If you'll cough up the 31 dollar shipping for me, gladly.
Python products just aren't meant for europe it seems.

Besides, it wouldn't fit my faucet anyway (has no aerator that's easy to remove).

Oh, sorry. You never mentioned any of that in your original post.

 

[Sokonomi]

Oh, sorry. You never mentioned any of that in your original post.

Sorry, but I think I kinda.. did?

It's a great system, just grossly overpriced here in Europe (135 dollars for a 50ft set!).

Granted, I didn't specifically mention separate parts, but python in general is kinda nutty on the price here.
I think its because it all has to be imported from the US or something.

 

[Fanatic]

Sorry, but I think I kinda.. did?

I am also failing to see the part where you mention that the aerator on your faucet couldn't be removed.

 

[Sokonomi]

I am also failing to see the part where you mention that the aerator on your faucet couldn't be removed.

Well I did say I bought a gardenhose adapter clamp, so there was already a clue.

The point is, python is out. Can we please move on now?

 

[kallililly1973]

does the aerator come off your faucet? if so then just get an oversized hose and use a radiator clamp but that would only help for refilling.

 

[NavyChief20]

Get a sink to hose thread adapter ($1.50), 3 garden hoses say 15' a wye valve with inline ball valves ($3.25). Boom instant rig.

 

[Sokonomi]

Garden hose stuff seems to be pretty overpriced everywhere, so I went with something a little simpler; Brass couplings and fuel line clamps.

For the price of a single gardenhose quickfitting I managed to procure all of these on aliexpress.

[ Screenshot of nondescript shoppingcart removed because 'copyright'... really mods? ]

2 x Brass barb Inline ballvalve 1,38 usd (x2)
1 x Brass barb Tee connector 0,94 usd
1 x Brass barb Straight Joiner 1,08 usd
1 x Lot of 10 Jubilee hoseclamps 1,62 usd

Along with the 50ft gardenhose and faucet clip I already bought,
my whole set will come up to about 27 dollars in total.
The brass straight piece is for fitting my current vacuum set to it.
Not too shabby Id say.

 

[Islandvic]

Excellent DIY water change system!

If I can make 1 suggestion that may help with draining.....

I attach my fill hose to the kitchen faucet to fill our 55 gallon and 75g, similar to what you're ready doing.

To drain though, I drop in a water pump with the drain hose going outside to water our plants.

Or just run the drain hose back to the sink or a shower drain.

I don't have to run the faucet water while draining, as the Python (or DIY Python) system has to, plus it's faster with a pump.

When the tank is drained, I pull out the pump and drain hose, and start to fill it back up.

50%-70% water changes are easy.

I'm sure a cheap generic Chinese aquarium/pond pump can be found on the Euro Amazon, LFS or Aliexpress for €10-15.

 

[Sokonomi]

You can't really gravelvac with a pump though?

 

[Islandvic]

I dont, but technically you could....

I first run a gravel siphon vac over the surface of my sand and the water collects to a 5-gallon bucket. I'll dump that and repeat again if I need to.

Then I will proceed to drain the tank with a pump. I use 1/2" ID vinyl hose to drain the tanks, and a drinking water safe RV garden hose to refill the tanks from the faucet.

But there is a way to integrate a pump in with your gravel vac.

Joey from "King of DIY" YouTube channel has a YouTube video on making a DIY water polisher out of a pump, a 20oz water bottle and filter floss. Borrowing from that concept, the pump can run the gravel vac.

Insert some filter floss into the gravel vac and connect the hose into the input barb of the pump.

Then connect your discharge hose to the pump.

You can vac the gravel now with the pump while it drains the tank. The filter floss will catch what is sucked up from the substrate and can be disposed of after you're done.

 

[Sokonomi]

I can very easily run a garden hose from my tank to the toilet to have it dump out there, the only problem is getting the syphon started.
Normally you'd do the scoop method with a bell vac, but I only use a half inch acrylic tube to kinda hover over my fine sand.
The vacuuming hose i've got now has a squeezyball thing on it to get it going, but its too cheapo to even bother fitting to a gardenhose.
And I don't think I'm comfortable with suckstarting a hose that occasionally is hanging in the crapper.
Also, my kitchen sink is too high to just syphon it out through there.

So I kinda need to find a squeezy pump that can be plumbed onto a gardenhose or something (and doesn't cost a fortune).
Either that, or just live with however much water it takes to python pump 10 gallons out of the tank.
Yeah yeah, small tank.. But that 100 gallon is already itching.

 

[Islandvic]

I wouldn't try to drain to a toilet. To many things can go wrong with that scenario.

Can it be drained to a shower or bath drain instead?

The squeeze deal is the primer bulb.

You can find a cheap barb fitting that screws into one side of the garden hose with a barb end on the other side from a hardware store or from online. They come in both plastic to brass.

Use that to connect the siphon gravel vac to the garden hose.

That is what I first used to drain my 75g, until I bought the water pump.

When I refill my tanks, a 25ft garden hose reaches my 75 gallon from the sink, but I have to attach a short run of vinyl hose using the same barb fitting to reach my 55g.

 

[NavyChief20]

Gimme a few minutes and I will take some pics . This will fix all your problems.

 

[jjohnwm]

I don't use a Python since I haven't sufficient water pressure to operate one, and certainly can't profligately throw away my well water in any case...so I probably have no business butting in here...but...

...surely there is more to the construction of the Python fitting than merely a Tee-junction? I mean, there must be a venturI or something similar to allow the water pressure from the tap to draw water up from the tank, yes? A simple Tee-fitting wouldn't do that.

 

[NavyChief20]

I don't use a Python since I haven't sufficient water pressure to operate one, and certainly can't profligately throw away my well water in any case...so I probably have no business butting in here...but...

...surely there is more to the construction of the Python fitting than merely a Tee-junction? I mean, there must be a venture or something similar to allow the water pressure from the tap to draw water up from the tank, yes? A simple Tee-fitting wouldn't do that.

The python is just a bell drain valve and a hose. My version uses an eductor principle but you don't have to leave water running for it to work.

 

[Sokonomi]

I wouldn't try to drain to a toilet. To many things can go wrong with that scenario.

I'm curious, what problems you think might occur?
Only thing I'm slightly worried about is sand getting into my house plumbing,
but I'm sure I can device something that catches it.

The squeeze deal is the primer bulb.

From what I understand, these work a little different than the ones we have on our gravelvac kits?
They have springloaded ball bearings in them that locks it down when you don't squeeze.
I did find , but again, not sure if they would work the same. Do they?

When I refill my tanks, a 25ft garden hose reaches my 75 gallon from the sink, but I have to attach a short run of vinyl hose using the same barb fitting to reach my 55g.

I've got a hose reel with 50ft on it, and its got a nice little quickfitting nozzle on the side.
I plan on constructing a regular vacuum tool from normal transparent aquarium hose,
with a quickfitting on the end so I can just click it on the reels connector to use.
When I'm going to refill, ill have another one that's just a hook with a spraybar that I can hang in the tank.

I might even attempt something with a floatvalve so it closes itself automatically when the tank is full,
but that's some advanced shenanigans ill worry about later.

The python is just a bell drain valve and a hose. My version uses an eductor principle but you don't have to leave water running for it to work.

I thought just using a Tee split would facilitate the eductor principle, but I guess it doesn't?
Id like to see your solution none the less.

 

[NavyChief20]

I'm curious, what problems you think might occur?
Only thing I'm slightly worried about is sand getting into my house plumbing,
but I'm sure I can device something that catches it.


From what I understand, these work a little different than the ones we have on our gravelvac kits?
They have springloaded ball bearings in them that locks it down when you don't squeeze.
I did find , but again, not sure if they would work the same. Do they?


I've got a hose reel with 50ft on it, and its got a nice little quickfitting nozzle on the side.
I plan on constructing a regular vacuum tool from normal transparent aquarium hose,
with a quickfitting on the end so I can just click it on the reels connector to use.
When I'm going to refill, ill have another one that's just a hook with a spraybar that I can hang in the tank.

I might even attempt something with a floatvalve so it closes itself automatically when the tank is full,
but that's some advanced shenanigans ill worry about later.


I thought just using a Tee split would facilitate the eductor principle, but I guess it doesn't?
Id like to see your solution none the less.

Ill get pics after work. I know I said yesterday but my gf wanted to do bbq n beer and who am I to say no.

 

[Cichlidude]

Ill get pics after work. I know I said yesterday but my gf wanted to do bbq n beer and who am I to say no.

And we all know how important beer is...

 

[NavyChief20]

And we all know how important beer is...

Its critical for sustained operations

 

[NavyChief20]

I'm curious, what problems you think might occur?
Only thing I'm slightly worried about is sand getting into my house plumbing,
but I'm sure I can device something that catches it.


From what I understand, these work a little different than the ones we have on our gravelvac kits?
They have springloaded ball bearings in them that locks it down when you don't squeeze.
I did find , but again, not sure if they would work the same. Do they?


I've got a hose reel with 50ft on it, and its got a nice little quickfitting nozzle on the side.
I plan on constructing a regular vacuum tool from normal transparent aquarium hose,
with a quickfitting on the end so I can just click it on the reels connector to use.
When I'm going to refill, ill have another one that's just a hook with a spraybar that I can hang in the tank.

I might even attempt something with a floatvalve so it closes itself automatically when the tank is full,
but that's some advanced shenanigans ill worry about later.


I thought just using a Tee split would facilitate the eductor principle, but I guess it doesn't?
Id like to see your solution none the less.

Ok so first things first. The ball bearing thing you are talking about is a ball check valve. It shuts the inlet to preven back flow while drawing a suction. You can pick them up at a box pet store and pay alot, or...... build my rig and call it a day.

Read my previous post for instructions. If yall are really interested I will do a write up like all my chemistry plan write ups. Ill be posting a lot of chemistry data and info soon as well as a lot of fluid dynamics and heat transfer writeups for you.

Here is some pics of the standard rig. The advance rig is drying right now but the math works so ill let yall know.

 

[Sokonomi]

So it IS just a T junction that provides the suction?
How is that different from what I am planning to make?
Is there something funky going on inside that Tee that we can't see?

Only thing that confuses me a little is that Y-splitter near the tank side of things.
Whats going on there?

I bought one of these gardena adapters :

To save me the fuss of having to unscrew the aerator everytime.
From there ill run a quickfitting with about 3 inches of gardenhose, to the brass Tee-splitter.
Then the bottom barb goes to a drain tube with ballvalve, the side barb goes to a gardenhose reel.
The reel has another quickfitting, so ill make two attachments, one with acrylic tube to vacuum,
and another one that's just an eheim hook with a spraybar glued on for refilling.

Not sure how to stop sand from going down the sink though..
I was thinking of doing something with a drinkbottle and some filter flos or something,
but that might block the water too much to sustain an eductor flow.

And check valves are only a part of what you need to bilge water and start a syphon I think.
You need the bulb part as well, but the fuel primer might not allow flow to continue because the valves are spring loaded.

 

[NavyChief20]

So it IS just a T junction that provides the suction?
How is that different from what I am planning to make?
Is there something funky going on inside that Tee that we can't see?

Only thing that confuses me a little is that Y-splitter near the tank side of things.
Whats going on there?

I bought one of these gardena adapters :

To save me the fuss of having to unscrew the aerator everytime.
From there ill run a quickfitting with about 3 inches of gardenhose, to the brass Tee-splitter.
Then the bottom barb goes to a drain tube with ballvalve, the side barb goes to a gardenhose reel.
The reel has another quickfitting, so ill make two attachments, one with acrylic tube to vacuum,
and another one that's just an eheim hook with a spraybar glued on for refilling.

Not sure how to stop sand from going down the sink though..
I was thinking of doing something with a drinkbottle and some filter flos or something,
but that might block the water too much to sustain an eductor flow.

And check valves are only a part of what you need to bilge water and start a syphon I think.
You need the bulb part as well, but the fuel primer might not allow flow to continue because the valves are spring loaded.

The y is where the magic happens. The tee is just so the hose will mount horizontally vice vertical and potentially bend it.

 

[Sokonomi]

I'm not sure how you apply your setup then.
You connect it to a faucet and turn it on, then stick the bell in the tank and it starts pulling?
Whats the seemingly random offshoot hose for?

 

[NavyChief20]

I'm not sure how you apply your setup then.
You connect it to a faucet and turn it on, then stick the bell in the tank and it starts pulling?
Whats the seemingly random offshoot hose for?

So the grey hose goes to the toilet, that's the discharge line.

Clear hose to tank.
Green hose to sink.
All valves open except tank hose, this fills the discharge line.
Open the tank hose valve and shut the discharge hose valve to fill the tank line.
Once filled open the discharge line valve and shut off the water.

This starts the suction process and you don't have your sink water running at all.

 

[jjohnwm]

Ingenious! Worlds ahead of leaving the water running to draw the waste water back into the sink.

I'm having one of those "why didn't I think of that?" moments...

 

[Sokonomi]

Oh I see. While it's pretty smart, it's unfortunately not very suitable for my situation.
My kitchen faucet is on the opposite side of the house from my bathroom,
and my bathroom has no faucets that could facilitate any kind of hose (**** designer crud..).
So id have to run +100ft of hose.

I'll just have to roll my hose out to the toilet or my shower,
and find a way to bilge start the syphoning action somehow.
And to refill the tank ill just have to move that end of the hose to the kitchen.
All that, or just let the water run for however long it takes to drain 10 gallons from my tank.

 

[Cichlidude]

Since you have such a small tank, why not just do this.

Try here on how to build a Micro Gravel Vacuum/Water Polisher for small tanks that recirculates the water back into your tank.

Diy Micro Gravel Vacuum/water Polisher

The pump used comes in a new 5V USB interface so no wiring is needed at all. You can build this in about 10 minutes.

You can modify it so the output goes into a 5 gallon bucket (or a really long output tube to drain) while you vacuum your gravel. Then to add water, fill up your 5 gallon bucket and pump it back in.

 

[Sokonomi]

Pretty neat that it runs on USB, and its hilariously cheap as well; 10 minutes and about 15 bucks I think?
But I'm not sure if that helps with removing nitrates from the water,
and I need that to happen to 'reset' my water for EI plant fertilization.
(And if you want to knitpick about waste, it requires a bunch of filter floss every time.)
You made me want to set up a small tank at my workplace now though..

I have several places where I could ditch my wastewater,
I could even utilize my old AC runoff plumbing to send it right outside to my garden.
The only issue i've got to make it work is I don't know how to jumpstart the syphoning.
I guess I need a squeeze bulb that doesn't inhibit flow when you let go,
but all the 'fuel primer bulbs' I come across will lock the flow when you stop squeezing.
Anyone have an idea where I could source one that works as a syphon starter?

EDIT : I wonder if I can just butcher a generic syphon set for the squeezy thing and just fit it onto a gardenhose.
Unfortunately none of them ever mention hose diameter, so I don't know which ones would fit. :')

 

[NavyChief20]

Pretty neat that it runs on USB, and its hilariously cheap as well; 10 minutes and about 15 bucks I think?
But I'm not sure if that helps with removing nitrates from the water,
and I need that to happen to 'reset' my water for EI plant fertilization.
(And if you want to knitpick about waste, it requires a bunch of filter floss every time.)
You made me want to set up a small tank at my workplace now though..

I have several places where I could ditch my wastewater,
I could even utilize my old AC runoff plumbing to send it right outside to my garden.
The only issue i've got to make it work is I don't know how to jumpstart the syphoning.
I guess I need a squeeze bulb that doesn't inhibit flow when you let go,
but all the 'fuel primer bulbs' I come across will lock the flow when you stop squeezing.
Anyone have an idea where I could source one that works as a syphon starter?

EDIT : I wonder if I can just butcher a generic syphon set for the squeezy thing and just fit it onto a gardenhose.
Unfortunately none of them ever mention hose diameter, so I don't know which ones would fit. :')

Yes you can do that. Use a flared nylon fittI ng and do a step down from garden hose (1/2" NPT usually) to 3/8" NPT or whatever it is for the bulb.

 

[Sokonomi]

I'm scouring ebay and aliexpress for cheap syphon sets,
some even include a nice ball valve for very little money.
But none of them specify tube size, unfortunately..
If it happens to be one with an 8mm hose ill be standing here all day.

 

[Cichlidude]

But I'm not sure if that helps with removing nitrates from the water,

(And if you want to knitpick about waste, it requires a bunch of filter floss every time.)

The only issue i've got to make it work is I don't know how to jumpstart the syphoning.

Well it removes the water so it removes your nitrates, simple.
A lot of floss? Maybe a pinch so one bag of fine floss will last about 5 years.
It's self starting. If you don't want to vacuum the gravel don't use any floss. Just use it to empty the water.
Just hold up the end until the tube is filled with water and plug in the pump. Simple.
Best thing is it coils up and fits in your hand.

 

[Sokonomi]

In your DIY it clearly cycles back into the tank, so how does it remove water?
And your DIY also shows you using up what seems like a bucket of floss in 15 minutes, so what's that about then?

As to me not knowing how to start a syphon, that's without having some pump in the line.
Normally id use a syphonning bulb, but I can't find one that's the right size for a gardenhose.

 

[Cichlidude]

Did you read the post???

You can modify it so the output goes into a 5 gallon bucket (or a really long output tube to drain) while you vacuum your gravel. Then to add water, fill up your 5 gallon bucket and pump it back in.

Yeah, the so called 'bucket' is a cottage cheese container.

 

[Sokonomi]

So your solution to doing this without buckets is "to just use buckets".
I think you are missing the point here.

 

[Cichlidude]

So your solution to doing this without buckets is "to just use buckets".
I think you are missing the point here.

Never mind, good luck.