Aqueon Medium Siphon Vacuum Aquarium Gravel Cleaner, 9-Inch

I’ve used this Aquarium siphon daily for a few months. I use it to clear clumps of algae and debri from my fountain. It has really good suction. Some reviewers said it quit working. All that gunk does need to be cleared out of the bulb periodically. A good shake does the job but when there are larger pieces, I unscrew everything and flush it. Oh! Be sure not to lose the tiny orange flap on outside of one end of the bulb. It won’t work without it.

Made quick work of cleaning my 50 gallon tank. Wish I'd purchased sooner. Read some reviews from people who probably didn't read the description closely enough to realize this is for large tanks as it siphons water quickly. Really cleaned the gravel well.

At first I thought it was crappy, but after priming a few times, its great. I have an Aquon 7 1/2 gallon shrimp tank with some GloFish. The clip is great for holding the water hose in place in the bucket. It does suck up substrate which surprised me as it's heavier then gravel. In my adventures with vacuuming it, I sucked up a shrimp. I rescued it :). Be careful to watch the bucket as you can get so focused on cleaning the tank, before you know it, my small bucket was almost overflowing. Once it gets to sucking it, it sucks up fast.

I retired from my 50 gallon fresh water tanks many years ago. A few weeks ago, the grandparents gifted 5 goldfish in a tiny bowl. I rushed out to get my old 5 gallon tank that I still hang on when the boys won some goldfish at a carnival several years ago. Within a few days the tank was clouding up and I was freaking out. We already lost two fish and I did not want to lose any more.

I immediately search here to see if they have a vacuum gravel cleaner for such a small tank. I use to use a larger one on the big tank but was not too happy with the results. Wow! They do make a small version of my super vacuum gravel cleaner.

What I like about Aqueon version verus my old monster 6 feet vacuum gravel cleaner?

Pro:
Comes with instructions in the packaging
Instruction tells how to use the intake tube to start the suction of water from tank to bucket. No more lips on the tube to start the suction of the water. I never like the taste of the fish tank water on the lips and tongue.
It comes with a hose clip bucket. A simple and great needed feature. No more exit tube slipping out of the bucket and creating a pond of water on the floor and all over the place
The intake tube was the right length for my small tank. It was not too short that I had to drown deep in the water or too long that it towered out of the tank.
Flexible tube is nice and thick and shaded dark brown or grey. This is great because with my old monster vacuum, after several water changes, I could see dark stuff attaching to the tube. It looks bad but the darker color of this tube will hide it.

Con:
I did not find any con other than it would have been great that it comes with a 5 gallon bucket but that will add too much to the cost.

This is a very simple small siphon for small tanks. The suction is as expected for the size, and doesn't go so quick that your 5 gallon tank is empty before you know it.

The pain is getting the sucking to start, I can't use my big pro one on my 5 gal. tank and that is the one thing that I wish I would have just spent a little more to get the starter with it.
Other than that, the hose length is great and it does a good job.