Algae Mower (TM) for sump/sandbed detritus?

[AlanM]

I know we had a group buy in the past on the Algae Mower device which is kind of a powerhead on a handle with a filter sock to catch stuff.  We also had a raffle for one at the Feb meeting. 

 

Can anyone who has one of these things speak to how well they'd work to remove detritus from the sump or sandbed?  In my recent efforts at fish feeding with a turkey baster I decided to blast off my rocks for the first time.  I got a ton of stuff off the rocks, which all went into the sump and settled on the baffle walls and the floor of the sump.  I'd like to siphon a lot of that out, but don't want to lose that much water, so I thought something like this which would recirculate it would work well. 

 

I guess I could siphon with a sock in the bucket and dump the water back.  Is that what most people do? (Aside from paulb who has a big diatom filter)

[AlanM]

And other question is, does anyone know if any of our sponsors carry the thing?

[Origami]

Alan, do you have a sump on this system? If so, just siphon through a filter sock back into the sump.

[Quantum Aquaria]

Alan...  we ordered some in last week and this is now my favorite piece of equipment in the store... it is so easy to use and the picks up all the uneaten food and debris into the nylon bag and the water comes right back out to your tank.  Works really well.  makes cleaning the tank so easy, especially bare bottom tanks without the need to do unwanted water changes. 

 

http://www.quantumreefs.com/TOM-Mr-Cleaner-Siphon_p_47586.html

[AlanM]

Alan, do you have a sump on this system? If so, just siphon through a filter sock back into the sump.

 

I do have a sump, but it's in the basement.  I could rig something with a powerhead on a stick, some tubing and run the water down the emergency BeanAnimal drain into a sock in the sump, though.

[AlanM]

Alan...  we ordered some in last week and this is now my favorite piece of equipment in the store... it is so easy to use and the picks up all the uneaten food and debris into the nylon bag and the water comes right back out to your tank.  Works really well.  makes cleaning the tank so easy, especially bare bottom tanks without the need to do unwanted water changes. 

 

http://www.quantumreefs.com/TOM-Mr-Cleaner-Siphon_p_47586.html

 

That's a different thing, and it says it's a siphon.  does it operate in a different mode or something where you can take the bag off and put a hose on and use it as a siphon if you want?

[Origami]

I do have a sump, but it's in the basement.  I could rig something with a powerhead on a stick, some tubing and run the water down the emergency BeanAnimal drain into a sock in the sump, though.

I've tried the power head thing and while it works OK, you really want to make sure that, if there's sand that will be picked up, that it doesn't jam up the impeller.

 

Instead, consider this. Get a long enough length of clear flexible tubing that you can fed down the emergency drain so it goes lower than the tank, and start a siphon by putting the end of the free end of the tubing against a power head. (This will push the water into the tubing and start the siphon.) As long as the tubing is open and under water, you should have a good siphon going. Have a sock ready down in the sump to catch debris.

[Quantum Aquaria]

yep.. it does all of that... you can use the bag or take the attachment off and hook up vinyl tubing to siphon stuff out.  based on your initial question, this is perfect for you as it would allow you to siphon up uneaten food or debris without the need to loose any water.  You can also use to suck out water, i.e., water change with tube adapter...

[Origami]

Alan...  we ordered some in last week and this is now my favorite piece of equipment in the store... it is so easy to use and the picks up all the uneaten food and debris into the nylon bag and the water comes right back out to your tank.  Works really well.  makes cleaning the tank so easy, especially bare bottom tanks without the need to do unwanted water changes. 

 

http://www.quantumreefs.com/TOM-Mr-Cleaner-Siphon_p_47586.html

I had one of these for my freshwater tanks decades ago. Good for nanos that aren't very deep because the battery compartment (accessible from the back end) is not water tight as I recall. i.e. not fully submersible. Steve can confirm.

[Quantum Aquaria]

I had one of these for my freshwater tanks decades ago. Good for nanos that aren't very deep because the battery compartment (accessible from the back end) is not water tight as I recall. i.e. not fully submersible.

you are correct Tom.  Vince found this out and basically trashed the first unit... so we got some more in :-)

 

The siphon tube can be extended to accommodate 24 inch tanks, and a bit more i believe. 

[Quantum Aquaria]

by the way, last night, i used it to siphon all the sand, and debris and empty hermit shells (small ones) and it worked very well without any issues to the impeller... the bag does fill up fast though if you have a lot of stuff, but it is very easy to remove and empty

 

comparing this to the Eheim version, which is about 5 times more expensive, this works very well and traps fine debris as well... the eheim one just ends up clouding your tank be releasing everything through the bag

[AlanM]

The AlgaeMower apparently has pretty anemic suction when used with a battery, but it sounds like this one works a bit better  You used it to siphon up sand and shells?  wow.  For $15 seems easy enough to get and try.

[Quantum Aquaria]

i'll see if i can get a video of it in action tonight... but here's a random one on youtube from someone that used them... that's the video that led me to get them in and test them out.  It has officially earned the QR seal of approval

 

only question is longevity... so we'll see about that

 

 

[Enkay]

These things are not very durable. I had one and didnt last too long.

 

I have another version of this which is bigger but I rarely use it becuase it doesnt do a good job at all. I would spend my money on a squegee ($1 at the dollar store) to clean the glass and a python for cleaning gravel.

[zygote2k]

gravity is free.

[Rosco's Reefs]

I have two sitting on my "need to work on" table for some time.  I was fairly disappointed in these units from what sounded like a fantastic idea.  I have an email from the distributor on some things I could try but just haven't gotten to it.  If someone in MD wants to take look, they are welcome.