WATER SAVER FROM PYTHON

Several companies, including Python, make kits that greatly simplify draining and refilling an aquarium. Python is now offering a syphon starter for their system. It's just a squeeze bulb, but it eliminates the need for the faucet pump when draining water. People who live in places with water use restrictions should find the syphon starter handy. It's available from at least one of the on-line stores and will probably be in pet shops soon.

Cool, thanks for the info John. I am going to get one. I always feel guilty using excess water while draining my tanks.

Any idea how much such a thing cost?

I saw it on Drs Foster and Smith for 6-7 dollars. I don't know about other places though.

If you've never used one of those maintenance systems, especially if you have several aquariums, you don't know what you're missing. They're usually cheaper when you order on line, but retail outlets like Petsmart also have them. I always let the aquarium water run onto the lawn, trees, bushes, etc., so it doesn't waste water.

The cost for the complete system is about $25.00, but you may also need hose extensions and a few spare parts. What used to take me most of the day now takes a little over an hour.

Many thanks for the great info.

I have to add a Kudos for the Python!

I love mine! As of right now... Most of my tanks are high enough that I can drain them into the sink, without having to use the water to siphon. You'd be suprised... Try to start the siphon and put it in the bottom of the sink... You might be suprised how low the bottom of the sink is...

I drain the tanks that are close enough to the outside door, into the lawn.

I was going to get an extension, so that I could drain them all outside... but I'm hoping to start the fish room soon, and it seems like it'll be a waste of money... With a dran in the floor...

man oh man is the python great i have it for a year or two and is still holding up good. I use it to drain and re fill all my tanks and everything is quick easy and mess free thanks for the heads up on the new adapter

If you start the syphon with an outdoor hose, the syphon will continue after you turn off the water tap. I once did an unintentional 50 percent water change that way. It kind of upsets me that with all those fancy new gadgets some newbies will never experience the thrill of accidentally ingesting aquarium bottom water cootie cocktails from starting a syphon the old way.

When I was younger we had that way. I dont use the python. I have just a regular syphon except it has a one way valve. So you just pump it up in down in the water and it starts its own. Or if you wish you can suck on it as well. Sometimes I do.

Be careful with those bottom water cooties. They'll make your hair fall out and give you terminal MTS.

Shew!

Bottom Water cooties I'd say cause a lot worse things than baldness and MTS!!! They cause unending gagging and bleching and retching...

EWWWWW... I shudder at the thought... My last experience was rough...

In the earlier days of aquarium keeping, the ingestion of aquarium bottom water cootie cocktails was a rite of passage, and a real aquarium nut never upcharlesed from it. Of course, those cooties also fester in your system and eventually bring on the ravages of old age.

I don't care who said what... Even the remembrance of the last encounter... Whew, it made my mouth water, like I might just heave...

I didn't when it happened, but believe me... I thought about it!!!

hey can anyone explain to me exactly what a siphon is. like can i just take a tube put one end in my tank and suck on the other end one time to bring the water up, then put it in my sink and the water will magically continue coming out?? sorry i just never knew the exact definition of it

Water will seek its own level. If an aquarium had a bottom drain, water would run out easily. If you fill a tube with water, leave one end in the aquarium and put the other end lower than the top of the aquarium water line, the water will run out just like it would if there were a drain. The reason is that atmospheric pressure (about 14.5 pounds per square inch) always pushes down on the water surface. The syphon hose, when it's full of water, furnishes a path for the atmospheric pressure to push the water out. When you drink through a straw, atmospheric pressure pushes the liquid up the straw in which you have created a partial vacuum. There is some limit to how high the liquid will fill a vacuum; it has to do with the pressure and the weight of the liquid, but I forgot the formula.

And one more thing. The Python and similar systems have a pump which connects to a source of pressurised water, a faucet for example. As the water runs through the pump, it creates a partial vacuum on the intake line, which then works like a straw letting atmospheric pressure push the water through the intake line. If you use a garden hose to power the pump, the syphon will continue, even without water pressure, so long as the output end is below the level of the water in the aquarium. The pump attachment has a valve that turns the pump into a water source. I usually drain my aquariums into the yard, because it's good for the grass and citrus trees. To refill the aquariums, I hook the Python to an indoor faucet so I can adjust water temperature.

thank you now i actually understand what a true siphon is

Ok, Mister NASA!!! I haven't read anything with the words atmospheric pressure since I was in college!

In laymans terms... You can put the hose into the tank, and as long as the outlet is lower than the tank level when you suck to start the syphon, it'll run out.

The farther the drop, the faster the water will drain.

If you need to drain uphill you need a Python!

Go John!!!

Your right that did sound like High school AP Physics class all over again. But it was more or less an accurate description.

It's sort of interesting that when you suck something through straw, atmospheric pressure, not suction, actually pushes the liquid up.

Several decades ago, I sat through physics, chemistry and math classes and discovered that an engineering career was not in my future. However that didn't keep me from reading enough to get an insecure feeling about things. Blame it on all those unintentionally ingested aquarium bottom water cootie cocktails.

That's beyond me John...

I just can't wrap my brain around it... But it is late in the week, and it's been a week!

Whew!

Tomorrow is partial water change day, so I'll try to avoid wrapping 75 feet of hose around my ankles, let alone wrapping any minds around it.

I've got to get an extension for my hose... It'd be so much easier to just go out the door with it...