Cyano removal tip: quarter-inch hose.

[Tired]

If you need to do some manual removal of cyanobacteria, get yourself a length of quarter-inch hose to do your water changes with. It's wide enough to have a nice strong suction to it, but thin enough that it doesn't suck out a ton of water at once and finish your water change before you can really clear any notable area of rock. 

 

I used this, https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07W5TGX8B/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1, but I'm sure any hose that size would work fine. 

 

The only two downsides: it does very much have enough suction to slurk up snails, your sand, and pretty much anything else you put it on, and, it's satisfying enough to get the thicker cyano mats out that you might get distracted from, say, making sure the other end of the hose doesn't spray water out of the bucket and onto your hardwood floor. 

 

 

[mcarroll]

Good tip for having a mid-sized hose option!!   I also like a piece of airline from a few to several feet long with a 1' section of rigid line inserted for improved control to do really light stuff like detritus but where you DO NOT want strong suction for whatever reason (eg presence of obstructing debris).

[Tired]

Oh, I'll have to try that to get behind my rockwork. There's some low-flow spots that could use a cleaning. 

 

Tip for anyone about to try and use airline tubing as a siphon: if you're using your lungs to start the siphon, do so carefully. Airline tubing needs way less of an inhale to fill with water than regular tubing does. If you reflexively inhale as strongly as you do with regular tubing, you will get a mouthful of saltwater. 

 

(Source: did that accidentally while draining my opae ula tank. Not pleasant.)