# [Wet Thumb Forum]-DIY python / WC



## ekim (Jan 31, 2004)

Parts needed,

water-bed drain / fill kit, $4.00 CAD
Some type of hose, mine was $0.49 CAD per foot
female hose connection, $0.99 CAD

Thats about all you need, 
I have made some funny adapters for mine with misc. pieces I have had sitting around over the years!!

water-bed drain / fill kit









hose









female hose connection









adapter for old gravel vac 









I hang this over over the tank so I can sit back and smoke!!!


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## ekim (Jan 31, 2004)

Parts needed,

water-bed drain / fill kit, $4.00 CAD
Some type of hose, mine was $0.49 CAD per foot
female hose connection, $0.99 CAD

Thats about all you need, 
I have made some funny adapters for mine with misc. pieces I have had sitting around over the years!!

water-bed drain / fill kit









hose









female hose connection









adapter for old gravel vac 









I hang this over over the tank so I can sit back and smoke!!!


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## Stevenl (Mar 31, 2004)

Thanks ekim~~ I am going to make one myself...hoho..the price of pyhton is too expensive...









though now I cannot work out by running around with my water bucket...


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## ekim (Jan 31, 2004)

Yeah, the price here is about $79.00


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## JamesHoftiezer (Feb 2, 2003)

Definately a nice adaption, but then mine was only $22.

I cheat and drop mine out the window and use the garden hose








I only use it for the vacuum part as I already have a water changer.

*James Hoftiezer

Tank Journal - Aquascape ( Latest / Archive )
Tank Journal - Parts and Construction ( Latest / Archive )*


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## ekim (Jan 31, 2004)

James this was only $15CAD or $10US!!

$79 is the price for a real "python" !!


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## JamesHoftiezer (Feb 2, 2003)

I understand that, but when I say $22 I'm talking about the real "python" on sale at DrsFosterSmith

If I had to pay $79 anything for it I would have skipped it

*James Hoftiezer

Tank Journal - Aquascape ( Latest / Archive )
Tank Journal - Parts and Construction ( Latest / Archive )*


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## MikeH (Apr 6, 2003)

wish you had posted this before I bought my Python....good idea.


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## Stevenl (Mar 31, 2004)

Hey Ekim I just filled up my empty tank with ur diy setup in 10 minutes!! Wonder how much calarioes I would have burned if I was still using the bucket...!!









Thanks again for the idea and I am going to plant the tank now!


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## jdw3 (Apr 18, 2003)

Also, if you go to wal-mart or home depot, for $5 you can get a sump pump that attaches to any drill. It has an axle that goes in the drill, and two connections for garden hoses, in and out. Just put a length of hose from your tank to the pump, and a length from the pump to wherever and let the drill rip..
Very fast, and you can control the speed. Also does not waste water like a python does. For water changes, I just put the right adapter on my tank so I can screw a hose in, and just fill the tank right from the tap. This is just fine for small water changes, in fact I've done it this way, adding dechlor as I went to change 50% of the water in a 10 gal three times in a row, with no ill effects.


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## Rex Grigg (Jan 22, 2004)

I don't use my Python anymore to drain the tank. Well I do, but just as a regular siphon hose. I just run it outside give one good suck on the end and here comes the water.

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## Rex Grigg (Jan 22, 2004)

One doesn't even need the water bed fill kit. I quit using it a long time ago. I just use the Python as a siphon and then just use a metal faucet adapter to connect the hose to the faucet and fill the tanks.

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## Roger Miller (Jun 19, 2004)

Here's my version of the same thing.








25 feet of 5/8 inch clear vinyl hose, two hose ends, a faucet adapter from the lfs, a jet pump that a neighbor found at a garage sale and gave to me and a PVC assembly with a female hose connector. THe PVC assembly hangs securely on the side of the tank

I agree with Rex, the jet pump thing isn't necessary. It's easy enough to drain out a windiow or into a shower. All you need is a female hose end and the faucet adapter. In some sinks the hose might kink when you bend it to connect to the faucet. The only advantage I find tn the jet pump is that it turns the water 90 degrees, lets the hose connect horizontally and avoids any problem with kinky hoses. Don't want no kinky hoses.

My LFS wanted more than $70 for the Lee's 25-foot version of a Python. THe parts cost less than $20 and are better materials.

Roger Miller


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## Rex Grigg (Jan 22, 2004)

I like your PVC piece there. Might have to build me a couple for my different tanks. What size holes did you drill?

And that is a crazy price for a Python. Wal-Mart has them for $30 as I recall.

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## Roger Miller (Jun 19, 2004)

My LFS likes to price hardware with crazy markups and then complain that freshwater aquarium keepers won't spend money on expensive items.

The holes are 1/8" and they're spaced 1/2" along the length of the pipe. There are 8 rows of holes. It's 3/4" schedule 40 PVC. Lighter pipe would work just as well.

I've needed to drill holes like that several different times and never really found a good way to get the spacing right or even. Would anyone like to share their method?

What I did this time was out of reach for most people. My father recently decided that he was too old to use some of his power tools safely, so I inherited his drill press. I clamped the pipe into the drill press vice and drilled straight through the pipe, creating holes on both sides. Then I rotated 90 degrees and did it again. Then I rotated 45 degrees and did it again. The rotations were all done by site, but I measured along the length to get the spacing right.


Roger Miller


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## walpurgis999 (Feb 6, 2003)

Another cheap option is using a garden hose with a gravel vac. If you find a garden hose that is drinking water safe, you should be fine--I dont use a drinking water safe rated hose and I dont have any problems. No kinks, no air suction problems, and the garden hose is rigid and takes more bumps.

Im an English teacher in school, not in this forum. Hence, I spell, you spell, we all spell bad.


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## Jon Mulzer (Mar 9, 2003)

Hmmm, Roger has given me a good idea. Next time I am at Lowe's or wherever I will pick up some PVC and other stuff and make something like what he has, except it will be for siphoning. Make it up to the correct link so that I can start the siphon and once 50% is gone the siphon will break and stop flowing.

As for whoever mentioned that they like the venturi pump because it turns the hose the correct way ("don't want any kinky hoses") all it would take is a small piece of PVC and a 90 degree elbow to get things lined out. Too bad my closest sink to my aquarium is quite a distance. Or else I would make up something to fill it also. Take a piece of PVC, a faucet adapter, a "T", a ball valve and a hose barb. Put the valve opposite the faucet adapter on the "T" so that you could run water straight through till it is the right temperature, then you could close it and run it out your hose to your aquarium.

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15XH, 36W PC, RFUGF, DIY CO2

Crypts lutea, cilita and wendtii "bronze, "sunset" hygro, pennywort, wisteria and a banana plant









Soon to add XP-1 and ditch the RFUGF for Onyx Sand<----ordered.


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## Rex Grigg (Jan 22, 2004)

I'm building one right now and I plan on using mine for both the siphon and the fill.

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## eruji (Feb 1, 2003)

I originally built a pvc siphon too.

basicly i could change the length of the tube to do 50% -75% water changes, it would automatically break siphon. it looked like roger millers, but it had a ball valve so i could stop it if needed at the tank.

then i upgraded the filter system to use a magpump and just built a tee off of the plumbing. so basicly the pump is running, i run outside grab a garden hose, screw it into my plumbing, open a ball valve and then close the ball valve thats inline with the tank plumbing and the pump is now pumping tank water out the hose, no siphon starting is neccesary. the tank empites exactly 50%, i can hear the air getting into the pump. shut the pump off and clean the intake sponge and go outside and turn on the garden hose and water fills the tank through the intake. as soon as i reach the right water level i shut off the ball valve. outside turn off the hose and reel it up. water changes are fast and no mess and no stiring up the tank either.


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## Phil Edwards (Jan 22, 2004)

We use something like that at the store and it does a great job of breaking up the in-flow. No more pits in the substrate and floating plants.


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## Jack11 (Mar 30, 2004)

Eruji,
How do you cause exactly 50% of the water to be drained and then the siphon to be broken? Where is the intake and the return relative to the water level in the tank? Also, is this a closed system or an overflow of some kind? Sounds pretty great and hassle-free! 
Jack

Ah Hah! You're supposed to put the plants IN the water...


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## eruji (Feb 1, 2003)

Probly best to just show a photo of it. ill take a picture tonight.
basicly my filtration consists of a pump and CO2 chamber. its all plumbed by pvc and flexible tubing.

its a sealed system, intake comes down into the tank at about half way, so that when im doing the water change it will break siphon. I do have a sponge in the intake, which is the only mechanical filteration. Its actually the sponge that came with the mag pump. the intake is then attatched to the pump, after the pump i have a T that can divert the water to either the return in the tank(which is a spray bar high on the back wall) or to a hose connector that i use for water changes.

ill post a photo tonight.


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## Jack11 (Mar 30, 2004)

Hey eruji,
What happened to the picture?

Ah Hah! You're supposed to put the plants IN the water...


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## superjohnny (Jul 31, 2004)

> quote:
> 
> Originally posted by ekim:
> 
> I hang this over over the tank so I can sit back and smoke!!!


Maybe you should sit under it to put out the fire?










Fish are the things that live with my plants.


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## imported_trilinearmipmap (Feb 11, 2003)

Ekim,

Where to buy the "waterbed drain and fill kit", is it at Wal-mart or Home Depot? I can't find it at Canadian Tire or Zellers.

Canadian Aquatic Plant Trading Website


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## Rex Grigg (Jan 22, 2004)

You don't need the waterbed drain and fill kit. I use the hose as a standard siphon hose and then just bought an adapter to fit the hose end on my faucet.

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## Doomer (Feb 2, 2003)

I bought my Python 12 or 13 years ago and have used it weekly since then. It's never given me any problems and shows no sign of wearing out but if it ever did I'd buy another as a show of support for a product that works for the long haul. The only other piece of aquarium gear I still have working from back then is a 75 gal. Oceanic. Ditto for Oceanic also.


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## ekim (Jan 31, 2004)

Any place that sells bed sheets and blankets should have them, I have seen them at walmart and zellers. They are usually hanging on the end of the bedding isle.

*My Digital Gallery*


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## jart (Mar 13, 2005)

> Originally posted by Roger Miller:
> 
> I've needed to drill holes like that several different times and never really found a good way to get the spacing right or even. Would anyone like to share their method?
> 
> Well roger if you have a drill press you could probably set up a jig to do this. the first step would be to place a scrap piece of wood beneath the tubing and drill the first hole. don't just drill through the tubing, drill through the scrap piece as well. turn the scrap piece over and drive a nail (same size as the drill bit) up through the hole. this board with the nail is your jig. clamp the jig to your drill press. now, fit the tubing over the board with the nail (obviously with the nail in the hole). drill your next hole (spacing is up to you). move the tubing so that the nail is now in the new hole. drill. repeat.


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## Roger Miller (Jun 19, 2004)

Thanks, jart.

Roger Miller


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