# DIY "Python"



## Gomer (Feb 2, 2004)

Here is a little DIY project since the bucket method is a time consuming hassle, and the real Python is a bit pricey (locally).

All of the parts are readily obtainable at your local hardware store. The pictures should speak for them self on assembly. The only part not visible is the PVC cement on holding the fittings to the pipe. the Nylon barbed fitting for the hose threads on with teflon tape into the PVC fitting.


Here is a step by step of how I use it (just incase something isn't obvious)
1) choose a sink such that you have a place to gravity feed the drain water to.
2) screw the faucet adapter onto your sink (have to remove the threaded part that is already on your sink)
3) slip the hose over the adapter (it should fit snuggly, so choose an appropirate size adapter for the diameter hose that you wanted to use)
4) turn on the sink and then turn it back off when all the air is out of the line (bubbles will stop on the PVC end)
5) fold over the hose as if you are stopping water flow with a garden hose
6) pull off the hose from the adapter and drain (the tank will drain to the level of the highest hole in the PVC
7) re-attach the hose after and re-fill the tank 

Nice and simple...and cheap...and effective


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## Sir_BlackhOle (Jan 25, 2004)

Thanks Gomer! That will come in handy im sure!


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## buddha_red (Jan 18, 2005)

waterbed fill kit with a garden hose is also an alternative.

great work though.


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## Troy Hendrickson (Jun 20, 2004)

You might check out a Super Walmart, I just bought a 25' Python with the metal faucet adapter for $25.00, I use a potable water certified garden hose for an extension when I need it.


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## skids (Mar 23, 2004)

*no garden hoses made of vinyl!*

Be very careful when making your own phyton out of garden hose. A speaker at this months SVAS mtg shared how he killed $2000 worth of his cichlids by using a garden hose for water changes that was made out of vinyl. These are not intended for use with drinking water and they leach PVCs into the water and will poison your fish. He said many hoses have a silicone inner liner that is intended to prevent this but it cracks over time and you get same problem.Using warm water only increases leaching rate.

Part of the reason the phyton is expensive is the hose used. It is FDA specification Silcone tubing certified for drinking water. They sell it at Home Depot. Avoid drinking water "compatible" and any vinyl garden hose (bright green ones) If you like garden hoses buy the rubber ones, they are more expensive and kink but are what the breeder now uses for his fish.


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## Gomer (Feb 2, 2004)

I juse use vinyl hose that is intented for food and beverage.


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## TWood (Dec 9, 2004)

Hogwash.

The water isn't IN the hose long enough for it to affect the water. Any deaths attributed to the hose was probably caused by something else UNLESS they let the water sit in a very long hose, in the sun, for a very long time, and then put that water in the tank. 

Not buying this FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt)

TW


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## Gomer (Feb 2, 2004)

TWood said:


> Hogwash.
> 
> The water isn't IN the hose long enough for it to affect the water. Any deaths attributed to the hose was probably caused by something else UNLESS they let the water sit in a very long hose, in the sun, for a very long time, and then put that water in the tank.
> 
> ...


 Actually this is hogwash 

The first time you use a hose, you will forever have water in it. After you use your python, you will end up having water left in the hose when you coil it up. These small pools of water will just sit there and allow exchance untill you use it again. Without knowing the exchange rates, you don't know what time scale this becomes relevant. I'm not saying that there are things in hoses that will kill off the fish, but if there are, there certainly is the capacity to transfer it into the tank.


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## TWood (Dec 9, 2004)

Gomer said:


> Actually this is hogwash
> 
> The first time you use a hose, you will forever have water in it. After you use your python, you will end up having water left in the hose when you coil it up. These small pools of water will just sit there and allow exchance untill you use it again. Without knowing the exchange rates, you don't know what time scale this becomes relevant. I'm not saying that there are things in hoses that will kill off the fish, but if there are, there certainly is the capacity to transfer it into the tank.


MORE hogwash! :drinkers: :smile: :smile:

Any water left in the hose after the last water change is the first water to leave the hose during the current water change. That water can collect all the imaginary stuff you want to give it, but it's going away from the tank anyway. (Unless you have a way to fill the tank higher than it can hold before actually doing the water change.) :smile:

TW

Edit: And my don't we having some spanking clean hogs now!


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## Gomer (Feb 2, 2004)

TWood said:


> MORE hogwash! :drinkers: :smile: :smile:
> 
> Any water left in the hose after the last water change is the first water to leave the hose during the current water change. That water can collect all the imaginary stuff you want to give it, but it's going away from the tank anyway. (Unless you have a way to fill the tank higher than it can hold before actually doing the water change.) :smile:
> 
> ...


 Partial hogwash LOL

That depends on how you start the syphon to your python. If you want to suck on one end to start the syphon, then you are absolutely correct. Now, if you start the syphon by backfilling, then water from the hose gets to the tank before you take the "junk" away.

...now...if we assume a new hose and fast kinetics, then on the time scale of refilling, you can dump garbage into your tank on the re-fill stage.

OR....we just use food/beverage grade hosing and this whole hoopla is null and void


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## TWood (Dec 9, 2004)

Or, we use -my- DIY Python:

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/showthread.php?t=5233

and send me a check each time it doesn't kill your fish!

LOL, all in jest.

TW


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## Gomer (Feb 2, 2004)

Doesn't matter what python you use...you can always use proper hosing.


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## skids (Mar 23, 2004)

I wasn't suggesting that every non drinking water certified hose will spell doom and misery every time. The speaker is a local hobbyist who has been a longtime contribtor to the BAP. He is now putting his money where his hobby is and has started a business as a supplier and breeder of rare cichlids. He has around 2000gal of tanks all on one water system with one central set of hoses , tubes and air. He was using it with his sump pump to w/c all 50 or so tanks at once in line which then causes the spill to drain them all. The guy is a systems engineer by trade , I think after his years of exp and money and time invested he figured out what caused it. He is at mainlycichlids dot com if you want to ask Jim the whole story.

The issue is that from certain types of PVC tubing you get measurable amounts of vinyl choride leaching. This is a very well established materials science fact. For the average user this may seem pretty trivial. But when you have a large system that is interconnected, the surface areas of tubing can be quite large. As you run warm RO/DI through (which if you don't know is a mild solvent) you may, in some circumstances exceed maximum allowable carryover (MAC) levels of contaminants. When the filtration system and resins are all shared, some non-charged but other wise toxic chemicals may not be filtered out by the carbon and resins in filter system. Without sufficient dilution by new water from the w/c they can build up over time. What's more, much like MTBE in gas, the VC's permanetly accumulate in the tissues over time until LD50 is acheived. That's the amount at which 50% of your fish die at a certain accumulated concentration. Amounts that seem really trivial in a 25ft hose changing 2-3 10 gal tanks, start to add up when you have hundreds of feet of hose exposed to thousands of gallons of water over months to years all getting run trough the same filtration system.

If issues like MAC were trivial in large fluid systems , the FDA and EPA wouldn't need to regulate tubing for pharmaceutical, drinking water, food and beverage use at all. 

All I'm saying is that rather than one up each other by finding the cheapest round tube at Home depot, go ahead and invest the extra 25c a foot for the stuff designed for the application. 

Do I have a strong opinion based on my years of breeding fish, personal experience and wisdom? No. 

Willing to spend $10 bucks extra for peace of mind? yes.


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## Darrell Ward (Feb 26, 2005)

Just get a pond pump. It'll drain water from your tank faster than you can say "water change"! LOL!


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## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

Not only will a pump drain the tank fast, it will fill it up fast too!

Doesn't anyone drain the water out of their Pythons/Hoses before storing them?


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## TWood (Dec 9, 2004)

MatPat said:


> Doesn't anyone drain the water out of their Pythons/Hoses before storing them?


Why? That water is the first to drain out during a water change.

TW


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## Sir_BlackhOle (Jan 25, 2004)

I always drain out the water in the hose before storing my python. There is always a little left in it though as well, but I try to get most of it.


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