Siphoning question

[kevin21]

This may or may not be a dumb/easy/simple thing but I am curious.

I have a 28g nano that continuously has detritus issues due to dead spots that are tough to get to no matter how I place the power heads. I also am battling cotton candy algae at the current moment.

The main question is, have any of you ever siphoned things out of your tank, without going through the whole water change process. I imagine possibly hooking up a filter sock to the other end of the siphon, run the water into a jug or bucket, and then put that water back into the tank. I feel like something like that would be extremely efficient in tackling these detritus/algae issues. In such a small tank, I wouldn't need to do water changes every couple days and would still be able to suck up some of the junk. I'm imagining beating this cotton candy algae faster by doing something like this.

Anyone ever do something like this?

 

[Sonyardo]

You can siphon or pump water through a filter sock. It's not a new idea

 

[kevin21]

That's what I was thinking. Would the water I am returning to the tank be too nasty? Cloudy?

 

[Kevin Guthrie]

When I tried it the sock jammed with mulm. Siphon it into a bucket without the sock and let the junk settle to the bottom for a couple of hours, then pour the clear top water to another bucket and siphon it slowly (temp diff) back to the sump.

 

[Keelo]

Yup I do this all the time I siphon straight to the sump much better this way


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[billdogg]

I have been at war with bubble algae for awhile now. On water change day I tie a filter sock to the end of a piece of vinyl tubing, toss that end into the sump and go to it. My wife even helps locate the evil menace! When that part is done I continue with the rest of a normal water change.

 

[kevin21]

Thanks guys, guess I should have mentioned I do not have a sump for the nano. I'm sure I could still do it?

 

[ericarenee]

I Have a magnum 350 canister filter.. I Wrap a polishing filter with 100 micron filter media and connect the input to canister to a small vacuum cleaner wand .

you could diy something similar with a water tight container two bulkheads vinyl hose and a pump of some type... A LFS has one they made in a igloo cooler

 

[kevin21]

Interesting. Thanks for the suggestion. Seems a lot more difficult than you would think it could be.

 

[kevin21]

Billdogg, I was thinking more towards what you do. I do not have a sump however. Couldnt I just turn my pumps off, attach the filter sock to the hose, and let that water run into a bucket. Then have a pump returning that water back to the tank? The only concern I had was adding cloudy or murky water back. But I am not sure how well the filter sock will do. Mostly of what will be picked up is cotton candy algae and some detritus...

 

[billdogg]

Sure, there will be some very fine particles that escape the filter sock that will be returned to the tank. That's why I do the dirty work first, then do a big water change. The rest will settle back out soon enough.

If it's really bad, I hook up a Vortex XL diatom filter to polish the water. I don't like to use it for major removal because it clogs up too quickly.