Python Squeeze Siphon Starter Aquarium Adapter

Works great & easy to use

There's a review that explains it pretty well above, but it takes a little getting used to. I went from a very manual process (involves tipping a vacuum head upside down in the water, lifting above water, and immediately tipping back down) to this, and this thing is a work of art. I had to get the hang of it, you do have to hold this pump the wrong way to get the water flowing, but it is SO much easier than the manual process and SO much more comfortable than siphoning with the mouth (insert barf emoji). I had this pump paired with the "Python Pro-Clean Aquarium Gravel Washer & Siphon Kit, Small" and I actually enjoy cleaning my gravel now. It's heavy enough that I don't even have to clamp the other end down into the bucket, I just keep this sucker (pun intended?) on the end and drop it in the bucket once the water starts flowing. It comes with two fittings, one for a smaller size tube (1/4in?) and one for standard (1/2in?) and both are easy to remove but still stay on the tubing well. I haven't encountered any leaking. All in all, I very much recommend. Treat yourself to no more fish poop water in the mouth or on the floor, it's worth it.

It doesn't work very well. If you squeeze too hard the end will pop off, but if you don't squeeze hard enough it won't start the siphon on the longer Pythons. It also doesn't have any way to attach a hose to the outflow side, so the squeeze bulb has to be at the very end, which means the entire thing will be in your bucket. It also has no threaded fittings that will work with the Python water changer, so the only option is to remove the faucet adapter from the Python and put this on. It's just a poorly designed product that fails to be intuitive enough to work directly with Python's other products. It could have been great, and should have been. But it's not. Very disappointing. Luckily it's cheap.

This product works great once you realize you need to point the open end UP and squeeze in order to start siphoning. I only bought mine a couple months ago, so I'd say I was still learning how best to use it for my setup. At one point the whole unit slipped off my siphon tubing into the 5 gallon bucket. I forgot about that when I went to dump it in the toilet. As I snaked the toilet several confusing hours later, one of the green pieces came out on the end of the snake. Thank God, I finally knew what was clogging the toilet! But now I've got a dreadful project on my hands. So don't do what I did.

It turns out the two included intake nozzles were both the wrong size for the tubing I use to clean out my aquarium. One was too big and the other too small. The curve of the base of the small one does make it so that if I push the tubing against the base of the nozzle hard, I can make it seal sometimes and get the siphon bulb to work, but of course if I don't have it just right, air gets through and the bulb doesn't work. It takes some fiddling around and a few tries to eventually get a good seal and get the flow started. I think it works great otherwise, I just wish it had another size nozzle in between the two that came with it.

Since the description is pretty lackluster I will re-describe the product: First of all it is made for tubing that is either 1/2" or 1/4" These are the most common sizes for gravel suction hoses. It comes with 5 parts pre-assembled and a extra adapter for the 1/4" tubing. The rubber squeeze bulb is just that. There is the 1/2" adapter on one end. The other end is the the drain end which has 3 parts making a ball valve. Also this product is made in the U.S.A. At first I didn't think the thing worked I squeezed several times and nothing. I read the instructions and it still didn't get it to work. Thinking that maybe it was clogged I opened it up (super easy to do, which is great if the pump every gets clogged with stuff you suck up)and realized how it worked. In order for it to work you must have the draining end of the pump facing UP(They completely failed to mention this in the instructions). Once you've primed your suction tubing you can point the drain down into your bucket or wherever you're draining. The reason for this is the valve will be open if the drain end is facing down so when you squeeze the air pressure won't build up--air will just go out the drain end. Anyway the product works great, which is great because although I love Snailbert (my snail) I am absolutely disgusted by him at the same. Now I don't ever come in contact with the water in his tank. One downside is that I personally think it's a bit expensive, but maybe rubber is expensive or maybe it's because it's made in the the U.S.A.

I've had aquariums for decades. Siphon tubes are a fact of life to do water changes. With a new tall column tank I knew I was going to have trouble as it's too narrow to siphon the regular way. When I saw this "starter" I figured why not? Fits my regular Python tube siphon and is so much easier to get the water flow going than just gravity. Only drawback is if you have moss balls that have lost their roundness, it will suck the bits & pieces up and you have to unclog the little ball cock but that's easy enough with tweezers. I'm using it in both a 29 gallon regular tank & the 15 gallon column tank. Much faster and more efficient with this starter!

This makes starting a Python sand siphon simplicity itself. I have a giant siphon for my larger tanks, so to start this I rest the siphon head against something hard (like rocks) because it otherwise jerks forward while I pump this squeeze-starter and loses the suction pressure. I have no desire to have a mouth full of aquarium water, so I use this at the end of my tube. The weight of this starter at the end of the tube keeps it firmly in the bucket, too. The starter also comes apart easily to clear out if plant matter comes down the tube. The plant interferes with the one-way valve the next time you go to use it until you do so.

Helps alot with the smaller tanks. Does get cloged if plants get sucked up but easy to remove

No se adapta a las medidas de mangueras standard. Ya cuando el nivel de la pecera es bajo no succiona correctamentente. Muy descpcuonado del producto

I initially thought that it doesn't work but the problem is the poor quality of the instructions. So I searched Amazon.com reviews & found a review by Fredin J. Pallikal. "In order for it to work you must have the draining end of the pump facing UP(They completely failed to mention this in the instructions). Once you've primed your suction tubing you can point the drain down into your bucket or wherever you're draining. The reason for this is the valve will be open if the drain end is facing down so when you squeeze the air pressure won't build up--air will just go out the drain end." So it works but isn't worth the money.

Works great and with the different fittings can be used with a selection of Python siphon hoses

Easy to use. Easy to dismantle to clean when blocked with gravel. Does leak from where connectors fit in rubber bulb so needs to be kept in a bucket or water will get on the floor.