Anyone Used the Eheim Sludge Remove or the Sera Gravel Cleaner?

[celticfish]

hi all,

I would like to ask if anyone has used the following Items:

a) Eheim Sludge Remover - Battery Operated

or

b) http://www.sera.de/index.php?id=488&L=1 - Airpump

both systems return the water to the tank.
so you dont have to do a WC when you use these items.
obviously the Eheim costs multiple time more than the Sera.
i would like to hear from anyone that has used these products.
i intend to use either on dennerle quartz gravel.

Thanks!!

[Quixotic]

While I have not used them before, the November issue of Practical Fishkeeping has a short review of gravel cleaners.

The two you listed are reviewed in there. The reviewer had problems with the Sera gravel cleaner and prefer a more conventional style of siphon. The reviewer found the Eheim to be pretty favourable.

P.S. PM me if you wish to borrow the copy.

[celticfish]

thanks for the headsup!!
would that be this months issue of PFK?
then i should head on down to the bookstore.
much thanks for the offer!
i may take you up on that if i can't hunt down a copy.

[BFG]

I was told that the Eheim 'Sludge Remover' battery operated was well received or was popular here in Singapore during a visit to Aquarama 2007. Any owner here to share their experience?

[wasabi8888]

Damn! I was asking about this the other time with a LFS. They said that Eheim does not produce this. Do you know where I can buy the battery operated one?

[Cacatuoides]

I believe it is not in stores but singapore eheim supplier either has them in their warehouse or they can get it for you....

Try asking a lfs to order for you

[celticfish]

the eheim sludge remover is not in the asian website.
however, it is avialable in singapore.
i have bought one from C328.
it is expensive though, in the mid hundred.

i chose this one because it is battery operated and therefore should have sufficient power.
it has two pieces of plastic to adjust for different height tanks.
if you slip, no problem its fully submersible!
the battery compartment has an O-ring for water-proofing.

power-wise, it is aptly named "sludge remover.
i tested it on my outdoor sparsely planted 4x1.5x1.5 ft tank.
this tank has never had a water change since last november.
man, was i happy with the power to remove the mulm (without a water change... ).

i find there is a technique to using this item.
it must be used slowly... this allows the vortex created in the column enough time to filter the mulm.
the filter "box" did fill up quite a few times while i was using it.
but i think my tank was an exception due the the accumulated mulm.
for normal usage, i assume weekly, it should be sufficient.
as my tank was sparsely planted i dug in to 2 inches.
no problem, more mulm than i ever imagined was removed!

overall, i would especially reccomend this item to fish and gravel tanks.
in a fully planted tank it can only perform a fraction of its full potential.
but i had it over some low growing crypta and gentle brushing action took off some mulm in the cluster.
only "con" to this item is the price but you really get what you pay for.
also, the spares avialable literally can build another piece like all eheim products...

final judgement --->
four of five due the the hefty price tag.

[bossteck]

Hi,

Thanks for the review. Good job.

[Jungle-mania]

OT here, another really cheap method I do to collect mulm is to use 2 CO2 hoses about 2 metres like those you find in a LFS to siphon the mulm. I simply suck on one end of each hose and presto! Instant mulm removal. The reason why I use 2 hoses is because 1 hose tends to be too slow. Do not try to get away using a bigger hose as the siphon effect exponentiate with any increase in the diameter.