Hey guys, it is Andrew Esquivel here, back with another review.
And today, I’m going to be kind of doing a dual review here.
In fact, this is going to be a major comparison between simplicity and cheap versus relatively
complex and very expensive.
So we have here, our two different gravel vacuums.
This one is $10 from KolhlerCraft.
This one is from Fluval, it’s about 50 to 60 bucks, depending on where you get it.
So you would think that the one that is more expensive, from a very reputable brand like
Fluval, would be the obvious choice and winner in terms of performance.
But as I will explain, getting directly to the point just without any nonsense, the KolhlerCraft,
I feel, is a way better design, and it just works better for my needs.
Let’s talk about the Fluval real quick.
It comes with two different lengths of -- it’s called a chimney, and the impeller is right
here.
The water goes through in here, and the impeller, all the way up here and gets put down here
into this cartridge-like system that can be removed.
And this is what collects all the detritus, and poop, etc.
And this was for your little red piece that goes in top here, I dropped it, but long story
short, that’s where it goes into.
And it seems like that’s fine and all, but I personally don’t like that because the
amount of space you get inside of this, to collect detritus is extremely small.
Because, if I take this out again real quick, you notice there’s this internal sort of
sponge that is a sort of filter to prevent the detritus and poop from getting back into
the water.
I mean, look at that.
That’s really not much room to collect much of anything.
And replacement parts for Fluval products can be a little money expensive side.
Now, there is one thing that this does that the KolhlerCraft doesn’t do.
And it’s got a little thing that allows you to switch from just cleaning up detritus
to actually pouring out water to do a water change.
That being said, I would rather just deal with the regular siphon that uses physics,
than using a battery powered device to do a water change.
The only time this would come in handy for a water change is if your tank is in a really
really awkward spot, and the physics just won’t work properly with a normal gravel
vacuum that uses physics to aid its process.
Now, going over to the KolhlerCraft.
Instead of having to swap these two out, the KolhlerCraft has an extendable chimney.
So, makes getting it from high to low, high tanks just really quick.
And it’s got this kind of little sack that goes over this little piece right here, that
collects all the detritus and poop.
And I think this is way better, because it’s out of the way, and it doesn’t need a bunch
of silly pre-filters to collect all the gunk.
And rather when I’m done with it, I can wash it, and then re-use it.
Whereas with this, once the pre-filters are gone, there’s really not much you can do
to re-use it.
I mean, this comes with two types.
It comes with a fine kind of like filter flask-like material, and then we got this thick sponge
that I suppose, you can re-use.
But the volume of how much stuff you can suck up, I think is greater in here.
And one of the important things I want to talk about is, these both use two C batteries.
The impeller right here, I have had numerous issues.
The impeller on the Fluval just continues to stop mid cleaning because, let’s say,
a little tiny piece of sand gets stuck and hit the impeller and, “bang” it shuts
off.
I don’t know if that’s a safety feature in case of fish, gets sucked up that way or
something.
But personally, I don’t like it.
It makes doing the water change really awkward, and I have to continuously pull the entire
assembly off, and then turn it back off and on, off and on, and then put the assembly
back on so that it clears itself and can continue to work.
Whereas of the KolhlerCraft, I have not had that issue.
The KolhlerCraft just keeps going regardless and maybe that’s just because the impeller
is just in a different spot by design.
That’s one of the crucial things is, if you’ve got a battery powered gravel vacuum,
you expect it to continue to provide suction.
And if it just stops consistently, it’s really no good.
And speaking of suction, we come to pretty much the last part of the comparison between
these two.
As I see right here, this is an unprotruded.
There’s no holes in the chimney here.
Whereas this one has four holes.
And people say that this prevents the suction from getting anything.
People are saying that there’s no suction because of these bruise that are built into
this.
But I strongly disagree.
I think what people are failing to realize is, this KolhlerCraft really shines in aquariums
with sand.
And what I mean by that, is the proper amount of sand.
You should have approximately, let’s say you have 10 gallons, you want 20 pounds of
sand.
And I just kind of double it and it gets you a good sand bed and everything, and that allows
for better planting and stuff to plants to get root and whatnot.
But that’s more or less the general rule, it can be a little more or little less, depending
on how you like it.
But this thing is designed, assuming that you have the proper amount of sand, not gravel,
sand.
And if you have the right amount of sand, you will be closing the gap quite significantly.
And then once the gap is closed, there’s no problem with the suction.
It essentially becomes like that, and you might as well have the same thing.
The only difference is, now it’s easier to mix and kind of agitate the detritus out
of the sand with this little -- with the way this is designed.
So once you kind of agitated it, it becomes free-floating and then gets sucked up through
the tube, and then put into the bag.
Whereas with this standard chimney, just like with the regular gravel vacuum, it goes up,
up, up.
And you’ve got to pull it out and let it fall back down.
Now, one key difference is, the Fluval is not designed for sand.
It’s not recommended for sand, it says so in the box.
The Fluval is designed for gravel, because gravel is a lot heavier.
It’s not going to get sucked up.
So as far as these two go, they do serve slightly different scenarios.
The KolhlerCraft is fantastic for sand, it’s what it was designed for.
It’s got a great suction, it doesn’t stop working, the bag is easy, cleanable, reusable,
and it’s great for things like my shrimp tank where I don’t want to do just a regular
old siphon to clean the water up because I got baby shrimps that might get stuck.
That’s why I got this, is so that way, I can clean the detritus and then safely remove
the water a different way.
Whereas with this, once it goes up there, you can’t see what’s going on.
It’s all opaque plastic and then goes into this cartridge right here that’s just awkward.
And you’re holding it by the top right here and water is just kind of spraying around
on your wrist and whatnot, and I just don’t care for that.
Whereas with this, it’s obvious where the water is being directed.
So even though this is more meant for sand, this is more meant for gravel, I’ve used
this plenty of times for sand and it just does not work with sand very well.
And also, fine gravel, this does not work with.
This is designed for just straight up, regular, big, chunks of gravel.
But it’s pretty interesting to see that just a simple change in design makes a big
difference.
And it’s funny that the KolhlerCraft, which is $10, does what I feel, a much better job
than the Fluval which is much more expensive.
So that being said, I think if you know what you’re getting it for, and you actually
get it for the correct set-up, the KolhlerCraft is by far superior.
It’s a much more simplistic design.
And in the end, sometimes, simplicity beats out sophistication.
And this is a perfect example of that scenario.
I know I didn’t show you guys the things sucking up the gravel.
You kind of just have to take my word on this one because I just did a bunch of cleaning
so there’s not much to really show.
But as long as you have 2 C batteries, and a KolhlerCraft, you can get rid of the detritus
and poo without having a full blown water change.
And it does a fantastic job, provided you’re using a tank with sand, and have the proper
amount of sand in the tank.
So that being said, thanks for watching guys.
Don’t forget to comment, rate, subscribe, show your friends, check out my other videos
I’ve got plenty of them.
And as always, I will see you next time.