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The Best Aquarium Gravel Cleaners

Kate Barrington
by Kate Barrington
Published:  June 3rd, 2020

You may not think much about it, but the gravel at the bottom of your tank needs certain care. Here are our picks for the best aquarium gravel cleaners.

Even the cleanest-looking aquarium could be hiding a dirty secret. As your aquarium fish eat food and produce waste, some of it gets picked up by your filtration system but the rest sinks to the bottom of the tank. There, it dissolves into your substrate where it might stay until the next time you clean your tank. Removing that dissolved waste is the key to keeping your tank chemistry in the clear.

In this article, we’ll talk about the importance of keeping your tank water clean and how to use an aquarium gravel cleaner to do it. You’ll also see our top picks for the best gravel vacuums for tanks.

Best Aquarium Gravel Cleaners

Keeping your aquarium clean is essential for the health and wellness of your aquarium fish. A reliable aquarium filter will remove solid and dissolved waste from the water column, but debris will still accumulate in the substrate. A gravel cleaner is the best way to remove it. Using a gravel cleaner during routine water changes helps you remove accumulated debris as well as dissolved toxins.

Here are our top picks for the best aquarium gravel cleaners:

Python Pro-Clean Gravel Washer

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The Python Pro-Clean gravel washer is available in several lengths, making it easy to choose the one that’s right for your tank. This aquarium gravel cleaner is made with flexible, high-quality tubing with a wide tube for easy debris removal.

Luigi’s Aquarium Siphon Gravel Cleaner

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This gravel cleaner features a hand pump to get water flowing easily and it has the power to clear 30L in as little as 5 minutes. The system comes with a long, durable hose with a filter on the end of the tube to protect plants and aquarium fish.

TeraPump Aquarium Cleaner

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Available in three sizes, this aquarium gravel cleaner features a hand pump to create the siphon effect quickly and easily. A suction cup attachment keeps the tube secured inside the aquarium and a filter keeps large gravel from blocking the pump.

NICREW Automatic Gravel Cleaner

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Give your tank the ultimate clean with this automatic gravel cleaner. High-powered suction removes debris and stubborn sludge with ease, decreasing the buildup of harmful toxins in your tank. It is electric as well to take all the work out of it.

SSRiver Aquarium Gravel Cleaner

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This gravel cleaner features an air-press button to start suction and a flow adjuster to control it. The length of the tube is adjustable for aquariums of many sizes and it is very easy to install and operate.

Aqueon Medium Siphon Vacuum Cleaner

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Choose the right aquarium gravel cleaner for your tank with this model that comes in four different sizes. It features a long, durable hose and a self-priming pump as well as a clip to attach the drain hose to prevent spilling.

Eheim Quick Vac Pro Automatic Gravel Cleaner

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If you need to do a little spot-cleaning in your tank, this aquarium gravel cleaner is the perfect option. It doesn’t require any buckets or hoses – simply insert it into the tank and press a button to vacuum the gravel.

StarRoad Fish Tank Gravel Cleaner Kit

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Control the speed of your water changes with this adjustable flow gravel cleaner. It comes with a number of handy accessories to make your task easier and it has a gravel filter on the end to prevent blockages.

LL Products Gravel Vacuum

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Designed for larger aquariums, this gravel cleaner features an 8-foot hose and a large tube. It comes with a hand pump to start the flow of water and a filter attachment to prevent blockages from happening.

Aqueon Aquarium Water Changer

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Make routine water changes quick and easy with this Aqueon water changer. It comes in 25-foot or 50-foot lengths to eliminate the use of heavy buckets and it comes with an auto siphon with a built-in on/off valve.

Tips for Using an Aquarium Gravel Cleaner

An aquarium gravel cleaner is also known as a gravel vacuum or an aquarium siphon. It’s simply a siphon attached to a hose that enables you to suck water from the tank and empty it directly into a sink or bucket. The siphon creates a vacuum effect that sucks in water, but the pressure isn’t enough to lift substrate. The result is that dirty water is effortlessly remove from your tank and, by using the end of the siphon, you can control where it is collected from.

Here are some simple tips for using an aquarium gravel cleaner:

  1. Prepare your gravel vacuum by unrolling the hose, making sure there aren’t any kinks or twists.
  2. Place the hose end of the siphon inside your bucket or sink and submerge the tube inside the tank so it fills with water – hold the tube diagonally with the opening pointing upward.
  3. Raise the end of the tub out of the water above the aquarium rim until the water starts flowing into the sink or bucket.
  4. When the water has drained halfway out the tube, quickly plunge it back into the water at the same diagonal to star the siphon effect.
  5. Once the water starts flowing freely into the bucket, direct the end of the tube into the substrate at the bottom of your tank.
  6. Move the tube around to collect debris from the substrate, keeping an eye on the bucket and emptying it as needed.

Having a quality aquarium gravel cleaner is one thing, but it won’t do you any good if you don’t use it consistently. You should be performing weekly water changes to maintain high water quality in your tank, using the gravel vacuum to remove debris from the substrate. If you’re looking for a good model to use, consider one of the options we’ve recommended above.

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Kate Barrington
Kate Barrington

Kate Barrington is the loving owner of two cats (Bagel and Munchkin) and a noisy herd of guinea pigs. Having grown up with golden retrievers, Kate has a great deal of experience with dogs but labels herself a lover of all pets. Having received a Bachelor's degree in English, Kate has combined her love for pets and her passion for writing to create her own freelance writing business, specializing in the pet niche.

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Have you ever wondered how your pet  sees the world around them? We all know that the eyes of dogs, cats, and all other animals are not the same as ours, and they often see the world in a very different way. While all we could do is imagine and theorize up until now, thanks to a new breakthrough in technology we will be able to take a peek through the eyes of animals!Scientists have  invented a special camera that uses a unique combination of state-of-the-art hardware and software, in order to create videos and images that show us exactly how certain animals see. For example, with this latest tech, you will be able to see the vivid world of colors that are seen through the eyes of birds and bees. One of the recent demonstrations revealed how a UV-sensitive vision of a bird renders an orange sulfur butterfly - the result is more than striking, as it doesn’t look like anything related to human vision.

“One-of-a-Kind” Cat With Two Noses Searches for Her Forever Home

As rescue cat parents and rescue advocates, we know firsthand that every cat has a unique story to tell. But some cats truly stand out and make their mark on the world. Nanny McPhee, a rescue cat who recently came into the care of the Cats Protection Warrington Adoption Centre. It’s not the way this sweet girl came into the shelter or her life before that has everyone talking… It’s a VERY unique physical feature – her nose, or “noses,” in her case! The sweet kitty lived in a loving home for the first four years of her life. Unfortunately, her previous owner had to make the difficult decision to contact a rescue due to health and financial reasons. When Nanny McPhee first arrived at the rescue, volunteers and rescue workers noticed a few things about the tuxedo kitty. First, she was a very gentle lady with a love for attention.“She has proven to be a gentle lady who adores a fuss and a cuddle, and we are hopeful her new-found fame will mean she will have no shortage of potential adopters,” shared shelter manager Lindsay Kerr. “She really does deserve a home where she can settle down and become the center of a loving family.” Second, they noticed she had a surprisingly large nose. It was this unique feature that led to her being named after the popular children’s character. But that signature sniffer was hiding an even bigger secret. A check-up with a local veterinarian revealed that the cat had not one but TWO noses, creating the appearance of one large snout. When asked about the discovery, senior field veterinary officer Fiona Brockbank explained that it was the first time they had seen this but that the cat’s unique appearance resulted from a congenital malformation. Other more common examples of this include cleft palates or cleft lips. These conditions can be inherited or caused by an incident during development in utero.

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