People with 50/50 setup

[jaguilar15]

Okay, well i have a 50 gallon with two dwarfs living in it, and i am concerned with the substrate getting into the water and not reaching the filter. Does anyone have any efficient/easy way of cleaning out the substrate that is just staying in the water?

[jjmorton13]

My set up is about 2/3 land, 1/3 water. I don't run a filter since I just do water changes as needed. I have used a small fish net (the kind pet stores use to get fish out of tanks) to help filter our substrate. Shop-vac works great too when the substrate settles to the bottom, but obviously you take a lot of water with that also. If you don't have a shop-vac, a siphoning gravel-vac may also work (also needs to be settled on the bottom).

[jaguilar15]

My set up is about 2/3 land, 1/3 water. I don't run a filter since I just do water changes as needed. I have used a small fish net (the kind pet stores use to get fish out of tanks) to help filter our substrate. Shop-vac works great too when the substrate settles to the bottom, but obviously you take a lot of water with that also. If you don't have a shop-vac, a siphoning gravel-vac may also work (also needs to be settled on the bottom).

my water isn't deep enough for siphoning. I attempted that and failed haha.

[Leefrogs]

Turkey baister? I change my water like that.

[jjmorton13]

my water isn't deep enough for siphoning. I attempted that and failed haha.

How deep is your water? Mine isn't any more than 5 inches. If the water isn't deep enough to get the siphon started by shaking it back and forth, you may have to use your mouth. Once the water gets going, you can let go before it reaches the end of the tube (and your mouth).

[bshmerlie]

How deep is your water? Mine isn't any more than 5 inches. If the water isn't deep enough to get the siphon started by shaking it back and forth, you may have to use your mouth. Once the water gets going, you can let go before it reaches the end of the tube (and your mouth).

The smaller the tube the easier it is to get the siphon going.

[jaguilar15]

Thanks for the feedback! i have a really big tube because my dad uses it to siphon his fishes water. Hopefully i can find a smaller one