I bought a relatively inexpensive siphon that's for aquariums, the
Ultra Gravel Vac. Unfortunately, I must be doing something wrong
because it barely siphons. The picture displays putting the siphon at
an angle and apparently the siphon's tube must be lower than the
aquarium--the latter which wasn't really met. I put both together in
a test trial after trying it in the water garden, and it only barely
worked one time. I didn't want to mess around with it more in the
water garden today after making the two fish jittery when they seemed
to have recovered. I did heed the advice of a sales rep to be careful
to not suck one of the guys in. However, the fish stayed clear of the
siphon.

I'm thinking that maybe I don't have the right tool for the job. If I
do, though, I'll just try tommorrow. When I was thinking of a siphon,
I was thinking of just what I have, with the exception of there being
a compressor to help pump water through.

Daniel Phillips

[+]bandito[-]spam = [-]toppler.[+]zworg.com
Be warned, may mistakingly bounce back as spam.

What are you siphoning from and to? How big is this siphon?

I have a small gravel vac for my aquarium that has a small one-way valve in
it. As with all siphons, the discharge must be lower than the intake. Then,
moving the big gravel pickup part back and forth under the water in a sort
of jerking motion, you begin to get water to flow past the little valve. Or,
if you're so inclined, you can use the old suction method at the drain end.

If you are talking about something larger that is intended to pull larger
quantities of water, say a 1 inch hose, a trick I was just shown might help.
Take a smaller hose and shove it up into the air space formed at the top of
the arc of the siphon. Suck out the air using the smaller hose and the
siphon will start on its own.

If you are talking about something even larger still where that method is
not practical, you need a sort of vacuum breaker system which essentially
taps you in at the top of the arc by letting water pour in to replace the
air.

Remydog


"Daniel Phillips" wrote in message
...
I bought a relatively inexpensive siphon that's for aquariums, the
Ultra Gravel Vac. Unfortunately, I must be doing something wrong
because it barely siphons. The picture displays putting the siphon at
an angle and apparently the siphon's tube must be lower than the
aquarium--the latter which wasn't really met. I put both together in
a test trial after trying it in the water garden, and it only barely
worked one time. I didn't want to mess around with it more in the
water garden today after making the two fish jittery when they seemed
to have recovered. I did heed the advice of a sales rep to be careful
to not suck one of the guys in. However, the fish stayed clear of the
siphon.

I'm thinking that maybe I don't have the right tool for the job. If I
do, though, I'll just try tommorrow. When I was thinking of a siphon,
I was thinking of just what I have, with the exception of there being
a compressor to help pump water through.

Daniel Phillips

[+]bandito[-]spam = [-]toppler.[+]zworg.com
Be warned, may mistakingly bounce back as spam.

On Tue, 27 Apr 2004 23:56:24 GMT, "Remydog"
wrote:

What are you siphoning from and to? How big is this siphon?

I have a small gravel vac for my aquarium that has a small one-way valve in
it. As with all siphons, the discharge must be lower than the intake. Then,
moving the big gravel pickup part back and forth under the water in a sort
of jerking motion, you begin to get water to flow past the little valve. Or,
if you're so inclined, you can use the old suction method at the drain end.

If you are talking about something larger that is intended to pull larger
quantities of water, say a 1 inch hose, a trick I was just shown might help.
Take a smaller hose and shove it up into the air space formed at the top of
the arc of the siphon. Suck out the air using the smaller hose and the
siphon will start on its own.

If you are talking about something even larger still where that method is
not practical, you need a sort of vacuum breaker system which essentially
taps you in at the top of the arc by letting water pour in to replace the
air.

Remydog

Half barrel garden, without gravel. It's slightly raised above ground
with a patio block, but even then is pretty much level with the
ground. I was trying to siphon to a cleaning bucket. According to
the package, it's a 1"x 6" (2.54 cm x 15.24 cm) siphon.

The half barrel, lined, is 16" (40.64 cm) deep, 26" (66.04 cm) across
on the top, and 19" (48.26 cm) across at the bottom.

Daniel Phillips

[+]bandito[-]spam = [-]toppler.[+]zworg.com
Be warned, may mistakingly bounce back as spam.

Is this gravity powered or a venturi powered syphon? ~ jan


On Tue, 27 Apr 2004 18:52:35 GMT, Daniel Phillips wrote:

I bought a relatively inexpensive siphon that's for aquariums, the
Ultra Gravel Vac. Unfortunately, I must be doing something wrong
because it barely siphons. The picture displays putting the siphon at
an angle and apparently the siphon's tube must be lower than the
aquarium--the latter which wasn't really met. I put both together in
a test trial after trying it in the water garden, and it only barely
worked one time. I didn't want to mess around with it more in the
water garden today after making the two fish jittery when they seemed
to have recovered. I did heed the advice of a sales rep to be careful
to not suck one of the guys in. However, the fish stayed clear of the
siphon.

I'm thinking that maybe I don't have the right tool for the job. If I
do, though, I'll just try tommorrow. When I was thinking of a siphon,
I was thinking of just what I have, with the exception of there being
a compressor to help pump water through.

Daniel Phillips

[+]bandito[-]spam = [-]toppler.[+]zworg.com
Be warned, may mistakingly bounce back as spam.

~ jan (Do you know where your water quality is?)

Easiest way I found to start a siphon comes from my waterbed days: with a
water hose, run water INTO the "to be drained" item, until the air bubbles
stop. Then disconnect the end at the water spout and drop the hose. It will
drain immediately!

Lee


"Remydog" wrote in message
news:IqCjc.54765$_L6.4336050@attbi_s53...
What are you siphoning from and to? How big is this siphon?

I have a small gravel vac for my aquarium that has a small one-way valve
in
it. As with all siphons, the discharge must be lower than the intake.
Then,
moving the big gravel pickup part back and forth under the water in a sort
of jerking motion, you begin to get water to flow past the little valve.
Or,
if you're so inclined, you can use the old suction method at the drain
end.

If you are talking about something larger that is intended to pull larger
quantities of water, say a 1 inch hose, a trick I was just shown might
help.
Take a smaller hose and shove it up into the air space formed at the top
of
the arc of the siphon. Suck out the air using the smaller hose and the
siphon will start on its own.

If you are talking about something even larger still where that method is
not practical, you need a sort of vacuum breaker system which essentially
taps you in at the top of the arc by letting water pour in to replace the
air.

Remydog


"Daniel Phillips" wrote in message
...
I bought a relatively inexpensive siphon that's for aquariums, the
Ultra Gravel Vac. Unfortunately, I must be doing something wrong
because it barely siphons. The picture displays putting the siphon at
an angle and apparently the siphon's tube must be lower than the
aquarium--the latter which wasn't really met. I put both together in
a test trial after trying it in the water garden, and it only barely
worked one time. I didn't want to mess around with it more in the
water garden today after making the two fish jittery when they seemed
to have recovered. I did heed the advice of a sales rep to be careful
to not suck one of the guys in. However, the fish stayed clear of the
siphon.

I'm thinking that maybe I don't have the right tool for the job. If I
do, though, I'll just try tommorrow. When I was thinking of a siphon,
I was thinking of just what I have, with the exception of there being
a compressor to help pump water through.

Daniel Phillips

[+]bandito[-]spam = [-]toppler.[+]zworg.com
Be warned, may mistakingly bounce back as spam.

"Lee B." wrote in message
...
Easiest way I found to start a siphon comes from my waterbed days: with a
water hose, run water INTO the "to be drained" item, until the air bubbles
stop. Then disconnect the end at the water spout and drop the hose. It
will
drain immediately!
snip

There are also devices sold in waterbed stores and pet stores that screw on
to a spigot. You rotate the device in one direction and it directs water to
down the hose, rotate it the other and the flow of the spigot is used to
start and force a siphon. Works very well.

--
BV.
www.iheartmypond.com

On Wed, 28 Apr 2004 05:12:44 GMT, ~ jan JJsPond.us
wrote:

Is this gravity powered or a venturi powered syphon? ~ jan


On Tue, 27 Apr 2004 18:52:35 GMT, Daniel Phillips wrote:

I bought a relatively inexpensive siphon that's for aquariums, the
Ultra Gravel Vac. Unfortunately, I must be doing something wrong
because it barely siphons. The picture displays putting the siphon at
an angle and apparently the siphon's tube must be lower than the
aquarium--the latter which wasn't really met. I put both together in
a test trial after trying it in the water garden, and it only barely
worked one time. I didn't want to mess around with it more in the
water garden today after making the two fish jittery when they seemed
to have recovered. I did heed the advice of a sales rep to be careful
to not suck one of the guys in. However, the fish stayed clear of the
siphon.

I'm thinking that maybe I don't have the right tool for the job. If I
do, though, I'll just try tommorrow. When I was thinking of a siphon,
I was thinking of just what I have, with the exception of there being
a compressor to help pump water through.

Daniel Phillips

[+]bandito[-]spam = [-]toppler.[+]zworg.com
Be warned, may mistakingly bounce back as spam.

~ jan (Do you know where your water quality is?)
Not sure what a venturi siphon would look like, so I'm guessing
gravity-powered. There's a simple chamber at the front connected to a
hose, and the hose is meant to empty in a bucket.

Daniel Phillips

[+]bandito[-]spam = [-]toppler.[+]zworg.com
Be warned, may mistakingly bounce back as spam.

Something you might want to try, also cheap, is a drill powered syphon.
I bought one at Lowes for under $10. It's just a little device that
hooks up to the drill and has connections for a hose on both sides. I
stole the connector hoses (relatively short) that run from my hose reels
to the spigot for use on either side. It worked great.

The pump was in the sump pump area at Lowes. I didn't even know about
them until I described what I wanted to do and what I optimally wanted
to spend and the guy told me had the perfect thing for me and grabbed
the box off the shelf. He was right.

Susan
shsimko[@]duke[.]edu

On Wed, 28 Apr 2004 12:22:33 -0400, "Susan H. Simko"
wrote:

Something you might want to try, also cheap, is a drill powered syphon.
I bought one at Lowes for under $10. It's just a little device that
hooks up to the drill and has connections for a hose on both sides. I
stole the connector hoses (relatively short) that run from my hose reels
to the spigot for use on either side. It worked great.

The pump was in the sump pump area at Lowes. I didn't even know about
them until I described what I wanted to do and what I optimally wanted
to spend and the guy told me had the perfect thing for me and grabbed
the box off the shelf. He was right.

Susan
shsimko[@]duke[.]edu

Sounds like a good plan! But...hooks up to the drill? It needs a
standard power drill, right? Does it have to be a specific type of
drill?

Daniel Phillips

[+]bandito[-]spam = [-]toppler.[+]zworg.com
Be warned, may mistakingly bounce back as spam.

Didn't see the whole thread, but the easiest way to start a siphon is to lower
one end of the hose into what you want to siphon, fill the hose with water from
the faucet, turn off the faucet, and disconnect the hose at the faucet. Once
the hose is disconnected, the water will start siphoning, as long as the faucet
is lower than what you're trying to siphon. And even if it's not, as long as
some part of the ground on which the hose is resting is lower than the source,
once the open end is lowered to that level, the siphoning will start. This is
much easier than trying to use a pump, which is unnecessary, anyway.

"Daniel Phillips" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 28 Apr 2004 12:22:33 -0400, "Susan H. Simko"
wrote:

Something you might want to try, also cheap, is a drill powered syphon.
I bought one at Lowes for under $10. It's just a little device that
hooks up to the drill and has connections for a hose on both sides. I
stole the connector hoses (relatively short) that run from my hose reels
to the spigot for use on either side. It worked great.

The pump was in the sump pump area at Lowes. I didn't even know about
them until I described what I wanted to do and what I optimally wanted
to spend and the guy told me had the perfect thing for me and grabbed
the box off the shelf. He was right.

Susan
shsimko[@]duke[.]edu

Sounds like a good plan! But...hooks up to the drill? It needs a
standard power drill, right? Does it have to be a specific type of
drill?

Daniel Phillips

[+]bandito[-]spam = [-]toppler.[+]zworg.com
Be warned, may mistakingly bounce back as spam.

Daniel Phillips wrote:

Sounds like a good plan! But...hooks up to the drill? It needs a
standard power drill, right? Does it have to be a specific type of
drill?

Sorry to take so long to respond but I was out of town and did *not*
take a computer. Any drill will work. Just like drill bits work.

Susan
shsimko[@]duke[.]edu

IMO. Get rid of the bigger chamber and use just the hose (if that's
possible). I use just 1/2" diameter clear hose part on my 35 gallon patio
pond. Course I start it by sucking on the hose till I almost swallow water
and then I drop it in the bucket or cap it with my thumb, then drop that
end into the bucket.

You do realize that the siphon will stop when the level in the bucket is at
the same level as the pond, right? ~ jan


(Do you know where your water quality is?)