i was in my LFS today and was looking at the gravel vacs, and noticed that they were really quite expensive on my budget. and started to wonder would it be possible to make my own gravel vac. i was thinking getting a water bottle drilling a hole in the bottom and feeding some tubing through it. i just wanted to know would this work? this is just an initial idea and i know i would need to change and improve it. i just wanted to know your thoughts and ideas on this. thanks alot

that would work. go to home depot or similar they sell clear tubing in many sizes by the foot.
Bring the bottle with you and buy the tubing fit tightly over the opening, tight is good...
forget the holes just cut the bottom of the bottle off.

bob

Can anyone with experience in DIY give any tips to doing this?

If you go to a chain store pet section instead of an lfs the gravel vacs are only a few dollars, have you tried anyplace like that ?
Might be easier than making one.

I made my own poop vacuum by taking the barrel off the gravel vac and just using the tube to siphon poop. It works great and doesn't empty too much water from the tank. I attached the tube to a long dowel so I don't even have to get my hands wet. Its great for getting in the corners.
I don't have gravel in my tank. I found the gravel vac just took out too much water, so I had to stop before I had done a decent job.
I dont see why you cant make your own vac. It's just a siphon. Just don't make the tubing too small in diameter, you will find that the poop just goes up inside the barrel and never goes into the tubing and out to the bucket there's just not enough suction to pull it up. It just sort of gets stuck at the top of the barrel and the minute you tip the thing it all spills back out into the water.

you will have to tinker with it a bit to get it just right. Show us when you get it done, I like to tinker with things too. I'd love to see the other inventions out there.