TOM Aquarium Maintenance Mr. Cleaner Battery Operated Gravel Siphon

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

Better than paying for the Eheim., April 17, 2010

Lady Shmoe (Western North Carolina, United States of America) –

I originally had my heart set on the Eheim Quick Vac Pro, which was over $60. I saw this priced at less than a third of the cost and decided to give it a shot. I had to search online for instructions on how to assemble but was surprised that it went together just how I thought – that I should have kept tinkering with it and I would have had it.

This was tested out on a 20 gallon long bare-bottom tank with tons of detritus that my siphon never seemed to remove. At first, the thing takes a little help to get suction. I had to tilt it over into the water right up to the “Water Line” indication. Once I had the water level to where it had suction, I began to move the gravel washer head around. It seemed to pick up better when the detritus was already afloat – not laying on the bottom of the tank.

I was not too terribly impressed with the suction UNTIL I removed the gravel washer head. It is totally unnecessary and decreases the efficiency of this vacuum. I had to stop to rinse the net out twice, and to fiddle with the impeller to remove dead snail shells. (puffer tank) To avoid pulling things into the impeller I placed a brine shrimp net over the intake pipe. This also helped me “steer” the intake pipe around the tank because the vacuum is a little oddly balanced.

Be aware that this does not put the water back into the tank internally. Water is pulled up through the pipe, towards the impeller, and into the waste collection net, then back into the tank on the OUTSIDE of the pipe it just went up. You will have to pay attention so that you don’t move the vacuum too close to the edge of your tank thus holding the collection net over the edge of your tank and siphoning sediment free water onto your floor.

****mine came with an algae scraper head, which I have yet to use
****mine came with a hose adapter, for use in siphoning water, which I have not used

In summary – for $16 this product did great (without the gravel washer head)

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Lady Shmoe August 17, 2011 At 11:49 pm

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

Better than paying for the Eheim., April 17, 2010

By

Lady Shmoe (Western North Carolina, United States of America) –

I originally had my heart set on the Eheim Quick Vac Pro, which was over $60. I saw this priced at less than a third of the cost and decided to give it a shot. I had to search online for instructions on how to assemble but was surprised that it went together just how I thought – that I should have kept tinkering with it and I would have had it.

This was tested out on a 20 gallon long bare-bottom tank with tons of detritus that my siphon never seemed to remove. At first, the thing takes a little help to get suction. I had to tilt it over into the water right up to the “Water Line” indication. Once I had the water level to where it had suction, I began to move the gravel washer head around. It seemed to pick up better when the detritus was already afloat – not laying on the bottom of the tank.

I was not too terribly impressed with the suction UNTIL I removed the gravel washer head. It is totally unnecessary and decreases the efficiency of this vacuum. I had to stop to rinse the net out twice, and to fiddle with the impeller to remove dead snail shells. (puffer tank) To avoid pulling things into the impeller I placed a brine shrimp net over the intake pipe. This also helped me “steer” the intake pipe around the tank because the vacuum is a little oddly balanced.

Be aware that this does not put the water back into the tank internally. Water is pulled up through the pipe, towards the impeller, and into the waste collection net, then back into the tank on the OUTSIDE of the pipe it just went up. You will have to pay attention so that you don’t move the vacuum too close to the edge of your tank thus holding the collection net over the edge of your tank and siphoning sediment free water onto your floor.

****mine came with an algae scraper head, which I have yet to use
****mine came with a hose adapter, for use in siphoning water, which I have not used

In summary – for $16 this product did great (without the gravel washer head)

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Was this review helpful to you?

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