Aquarium Air hose - Airhoses or air piping for your fishtank

Your aquarium air hose is very useful tool in your aquarium setup.

These air tubes are normally made of a clear bendable plastic and are about 8 to 10 mm in diameter.

At first glance these air hoses seem to only have one function.

Its main purpose is obviously to channel air from your air pump to your filters and other aquarium attachments.

Several valves and t-splitters exist in order to split the airflow to multiple attachments.

When buying these air hoses, always buy a little more than you really need as the spare pipe as always handy to have around.

One extra use for the left over air hose is as inexpensive gravel cleaner.

Take about one meter (Depending on your tank size) of air hose and push the complete length of the pipe into the water. Turn both the open ends upward to let all the air escape and the pipe fill up with water.

Put your thumb over one end and remove that end from the water.

Release your thumb once you have the hose end over a bucket located lower than your aquarium.

Once water starts flowing out of that end, you can use the other end that is still in the water to vacuum all the small debris out of your gravel.

If you find that your gravel gets sucked into the end of your air hose, block of the end of the pipe where the water is coming out temporarily and the gravel will fall back out of the pipe into the tank.

When the pipe is clear, remove your thumb and continue as before.

Periodically check the level of your bucket, so that it doesn't overflow.