[gia_ekdahl]

Ok, sorry if this has been posted already. I looked and did not find it so if it was please excuse this.

Ok, so I was begging my hubby for a python. I showed him the 25 foot one at nnnnnn for $32. It wasnt long enough but hubby wanted to see what it was all about anyway. He looked at it, and of course...if you are married you have probably heard this... "I CANT MAKE THIS!!" LOL!!!!

So this credit really belongs to him, but I thought Id pass it along.

Our original idea was to use these parts:

A 50ft cheapy garden hose for $6

A "T" connecter thing for less than $1

A valve to connect to the hose. This is so you can make it fill or drain. It was under $3 I think.

And last, a fitting to go on the sink to connect the system to the sink.

This would have worked had my hubby not forgotten that the male end of the "T" and the male end of the sink would not connect!!! LOL.

So we went to Ace Hardware to see if we could find a piece that was female on both ends to connect the two.

While looking we found a water bed drain and fill kit. It came with the sink adapter too! So I returned the other items. LOL.

The water bed drain and fill kit was less than $6. Here is how everything was put together...

This is the piece that connects to the sink and to the hose. It even tells you on the piece where the hose goes and where the sink faucet goes.

The bottom of it turns so that you can fill or drain your tank.

Go ahead and attach this to your hose.

It comes with another piece to go on the other end that would normally be used to fit into the water bed to fill it. It looks like this.

I bought these little strainers to go inside of the hose for $1.50 so that the gravel will not be sucked into the hose, ruining the plumbing in your sink!

The fit inside the piece just like this, with the round end being pushed inside.

Attach that to the other end of the hose.

You're set! Total cost? Lets see...

$6 for the 50ft hose
$6 for the water bed drain and fill kit
$1.50 for the stainer piece.
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Your total is $13.50 for a 50 foot alternative siphon system!!!!



It worked great for me. Only thing I can say is its a little slower at draining because the hole inside the drain and fill kit is smaller. If you get the "T" piece and do it that way it might be faster because the hole is bigger in that thing. It fills faster than it drains and I dont mind that at all.

If you dont like the garden hose, you can even get a clear hose at home depot or lowes if you wish. A small sized clear hose at Lowes was 28 cents a foot.

If you are on a budget this is the way to go and it sure beats dragging the hose in the house everytime I have to do a water change!!!!