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I've noticed mildew and other gunk building up inside my gravel-vac hoses. They're all fairly long one, and even after holding them upside down and shaking it out after use, I don't think the inside ever really dries out between water changes.

I suppose that since I'm only using the hoses to drain water from the tank, not put it back in, it's not that big a deal, but it's very disgusting to look at.

Is there any solution besides replacing? One of the hoses is really long -- it's an extender to a Python hose because it's the only one I could find that was long enough to drain water to our patio (we have an old septic system that we're babying along so I don't want to dump it in there) and it would be expensive to replace.

Our old python hose was like this.

It really didnt hurt anything, and we have been using that for years like it.

If you want to replace the python hose, i highly suggest getting the acuall hose from the python company.

We went to home depot to get new hose, and it isnt very good. It kinks so easily.

Last edited by victimizati0n at 28-Dec-2004 07:31

I had a similar problem, and found one solution.

Everytime after I gravel vac, I run water through the whole thing in my sink. I then blow in the actual siphon part in efforts to get some water out. The way I found it dries the best is hanging it over my shower door, so that the whole airline tube part is on one side, and the actual siphon is kinda hanging out on top. All the water seems to drip down and dry this way, and I haven't had a problem with an icky siphon since. I hope this made sense.
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-Formerly known as the Ferretfish

Soak it in a mild bleach water mixture, then rinse rinse rinse rinse and rinse again.

Simular to what Booger has stated; I take a 5 gal bucket, and make a 10% bleach solution. Then siphon the bucket empty, but stop the syphoning when you reach the end. Leave the bleach water in the hose for several hours, then syphon clean water through it thoroughly. this will kill and remove any algae growning in the hose, and the flushing then will remove the bleach solution.

I do this about every 4 water changes regularly.

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There is always a bigger fish...

I use a method similiar to Booger and Acid. Mild bleach solution, really hot water, and weight it down so it sinks to the bottom of my sink or tub. Got to mess with it a bit to get all the air out. Only bad thing about it is that it tends to turn the hose more opaque each time i do it.

Bdadawg