Aqueon Aquarium Fish Tank Water Changer With 25 Foot Hose

UPDATED May 2015- STILL GOING STRONG- This unit is still working as well as it did to begin with. I expected it to break well before now!--------------------------------------UPDATED JAN 2014- I have used this for a year now and it is still working great- I have done water changes up to four times a week with this unit and all is working. It is not made to last for YEARS but it sure has held up well for me so far! For deep cleaning I use hand siphon pumps once a month or so, or if a tank gets infected with anything.=================================================================I was not sure what to expect when I read the conflicting reviews of this water changer. I was afraid it would never work, so I put off buying it. When I hurt my back badly from lifting water, I had to do something, so I finally caved and purchased it. WHY didn't I do this SOONER?I have used this unit daily for several weeks. I had a tank that demanded daily water changes due to sudden spikes after it had been balanced for a while. Here are my observations:1. Measure the distance from your sink to the farthest point on the farthest tank before you buy. I should have purchased the 50ft hose instead of the 25 which is just a hair too short. The extra hose will not affect the vacuum pressure that much if you have way too much.2. If your sink is rather new, it will most likely fit. Older fixtures might need an adapter3. The plastic screw in part which hooks up the sink to the hose is plastic. If you go slowly and carefully screw it in, it should work. If you are in a hurry, you could easily cause the threads to smash and make it unusable.4. If you allow plenty of hose, the suction and water will still work if you have decent water pressure. MAke sure not to let the hose bend at the vacuum end or it will weaken the hose.5. The suction is almost perfect- a bit weaker than using a hand pump, but it does allow the fish time to escape if necessary and will take up food and waste if you are patient. If you really need to get some stuff out fast, use a hand pump for that. It isn't that big of a problem for me.6. When you are done vacuuming, coil the hose up around your arm as you approach the sink and it will empty out perfectly. Then when you turn on the water with the vacuum switch off, then you can simply walk back into the tank area and start over. When you are done there, walk over to the sink, reverse back to vacuum, and coil the hose again and it will empty as you coil it and then tie it and put away.7. When changing from vacuum to water depositing, hold the tube up out of the water, or you will eject a sudden loud burst of air and freak out the fish and stir the tank way up.8. If you need brass fittings, I found one on ebay and I think you can get them at Aqueon itself too. It is worth the extra money to have it as a backup.9. I don't view it as wasting water to run the vacuum- it allows the warmer water to come up all while providing suction. Then when I am ready to deposit water, it is about the right temp and I don't have to wait.10. This is one of the best things I ever invested in. If you take the time to work out a rhythm it works beautifully.11. You can also use a 2nd hose at the bottom of the unit at the sink to drain out the water into plants in the summer, or gardens close to the house. You just unscrew the bottom and can put another hose on there too if you decide to try it. You will need another adapter to do this, however. That way you are not wasting water in summer time, which if you have a well or live in an area with limited water some years can be a concern.I can not recommend this highly enough. It could be made a little bit better or sturdier, but Aqueon has been good on other products to replace things if they break too early, so I would not hesitate to contact them. They just need a receipt as proof of purchase.

I recently purchased this product to clean the gravel and make the water changes easier in my goldfish tank. Goldfish are dirty fish, so frequent partial water changes and gravel cleaning are necessary. There really aren't any instructions included with the water changer, thus it may take a few tries to really get the hang of using it. I'm going to try to give detailed instructions on how I use it, since a few people seem to have trouble with it.When attaching the water changer to your faucet, be aware that you first have to unscrew the faucet aerator (the little screen thing). Once you remove that, the faucet attachment screws in in its place. It's easier to screw the top piece of the faucet attachment in first and then screw the rest of the water changer on. If the faucet attachment doesn't fit, take off the top piece and try it again. You may need to get an inexpensive adapter from a hardware store. Unscrewing it can be a bit hard for me; I use one of those rubber jar openers to get a good grip.Some people have complained about low suction, and this is true if you have low water pressure like I do. The water changer uses the suction created by your faucet to start the siphon. I've noticed that if I keep the excess hose elevated by looping it over my shoulder, the suction significantly improves as it doesn't have to go 4 feet uphill to reach my sink. I don't know if it makes a difference, but since my tank is fairly close to my sink, I also cut off a few feet of tubing to have less to deal with.To "prime" the suction, stand with the vacuum end in the sink and turn on your water. Open the valve at the vacuum end and close the valve at the faucet. Once the hose fills up, close the valve at the vacuum and open the valve at the faucet. Since the hose will now start off full of water, you should get enough of a vacuum to start siphoning. You may want to put an old bowl or something you don't mind getting fish poo in under the faucet to reduce splashing. Also, turn off your tank filter so you don't damage it when the water level gets low. If you wash your filter media when you do a water change instead of throwing it away, be sure to save some tank water in a bucket first (I scoop out maybe 1/4 of a bucket beforehand for this).Take the water changer to your tank and open the valve after you've submerged the end of the vacuum. You should see the water being sucked up the tube. I stick the vacuum tube into the gravel and give it a tiny jiggle, you'll see bits of old food and poo start flowing up the tube while the gravel churns a bit at the bottom. Some of the commenters on here say you don't need to keep the faucet running while you vacuum, but I haven't tried it yet. I've read you should only clean part of the gravel with each water change - I aim for about 1/2 of the gravel with each 50% water change. Keep an eye on your water level, I promise you'll get so focused on the vacuuming that you'll take out way more water than you intended.When you've finished with your cleaning, close the valve at the vacuum and take it back to your sink. Put the vacuum in the sink, open the valve, and lift the tube to let all the dirty tank water out of the hose. I then turn down the water flow and adjust the temp to match the temp of my tank. While I'm doing this, I add my water conditioner to the tank. I add it all at once before I refill, though some people prefer to add it little by little throughout the filling. Either way would be fine, I think, but definitely don't wait until afterward to add it. Water conditioners work on contact and you don't want your fish exposed to all that poisonous chlorine/chloramine while you're refilling...After that I stick the vacuum back in the tank (my water pressure is too low to start siphoning again without priming). I go back to the sink and close the valve at the faucet so that the fresh water starts flowing into the tank. I keep the water flow pretty low as I refill so a flood of tap water doesn't hit the tank at once. After the tank is full, turn off the water at the sink. If you close both valves at the same time for too long and your water is running too fast, you'll have a mess. Take the vacuum back to the sink. I then run hot water through the hose and into the sink to make sure all the nasty bits are out, drain it well, unscrew it and put it up for next time.All in all, I love this water changer. It took a messy, wet 45 minute job and turned it into a dry, EASY 15 minute one. After you've done it once or twice, you'll get so good you don't spill a drop. If you are having trouble using it, look for info online before you send it back...Most of the complaints I've read on here could have been solved with an internet search. I promise you'll love it too once you figure it out.

Love this siphon. It works great for my 29 gallon tank. I’ve been using it for over a year and it still works like new. Highly recommend.

Ok if you’re in close proximity to a sink.

I absolutely love this item. Makes cleaning my bigger tanks so much faster instead of running back and forth a million times