New To This Please Help

[Jacquie]

I see I feel a little silly as I was asuming that a gravel syphon would suck the sand up so there lay my confusion on how to go about it. Thanks for clearing that up.

Oh no, don't feel silly! It took me ages to get the hang of the syphon, ended up with a mouth full of tank water quite a few times .

The syphon isn't that powerful, if you do suck up some sand - it's no drama - you just put it back in the tank.

Just got back from the pet store (bought a quiter air pump) I diconected the tubes for the air stone and looped them under the lid one of them fell out and I am now trying to dry my carpet. Todays water change performed itself all over my living room carpet :O I remember the joy of carpeted floors and tanks now.

Oh you poor thing!

I discovered the hard way that when setting up a new external filter it's best to read the instructions before assembling and turning it on. I did the dance of the 10 towels sapping up the water that came gushing from the filter, dodging the puppy who thought this was a hoot and avoiding the amused glances of my axies. It all turned out good in the end though!

 

[little high]

oh yeah just did the swallow the tank water thing . Sounds like I'm not the only one having fun with tanks on carpet I've only really ever had tanks over hard floors so last nights experience was just one to be remebered. Still having some issues with the gallery I think I need to resize my pics before I can really show of my babies. Just was taking ages to upload them last night. resizing would be the fixer yeah?
And I'm really a little tortued watching my axies scramble for footing on the bare bottom they actually seem to be sticking to the stones and airstone along back of tank so they can move around when they walk on bare bottom it's like an instant treadmill, which stresses me to watch them almost franticly running in the one spot trying to move forward :-( I love watching them but Not so much atm. Anyone know a way to find my axie treadmill amusing until they get used to it or will they get usesd to it? There beautiful when there moving around doing there little dinosaur walk over the rocks

 

[Jacquie]

oh yeah just did the swallow the tank water thing .

The brilliant Ms Eva (Blueberlin) has solved this problem for us. I've copied her method and pasted it right here for you:

"Note: You do not have to suck on the tube to get the water flowing! Do it like this.
1.) Cover the open tube end with your thumb.
2) Fill the bell on the other end with water and then point it upwards.
3.) Holding the tube over a bucket, "burp" it by removing your thumb from the open end until the water pushes the air out.
4.) As soon as the water gets down to the end of the tube, cover the tube with your thumb again.
5.) If necessary, hold the bell higher up so that any water in the tube bubbles upward.
6.) The tube is now full of water. Fill the bell with water and then put in down into the tank. The water will now flow continuously.
It's really a simple process. I just can't ever explain anything quickly. "

Back to Jacq talking now.

Yeah, you will need to resize the pictures before uploading them.

 

[little high]

Cheers for that I actually just went and found the packet the syphon came in and right there on the back was the instructions just as bella had said. I could say I was female or something for an excuse but I guess I'll say I had a nat moment when I overlooked those instructions staring me in the face. Cheers for ms eva on saving many of you from the same silly fate as me.

And cheers for that jacq i'm resizing my images now

nat

 

[ellenant]

Wow, lots of helpful tips given in this threat!
I am also VERY new and thanks for this!