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How tall does my aquarium stand need to be? (40 gallon breeder)?

My dad is going to build me a stand for my 40 gallon breeder aquarium. I need to know how tall the stand needs to be so that I can use a gravel siphon to clean the gravel and change the water. How high does the siphon have to be so that gravity will pull the water down? My aquarium is 36" L 18" W 16" H.

Public Comments

1. Basically as long as the bottom of the tank is higher than the bucket anything works. Measure from the floor to your armpit then subtract about half the length from your armpit to your elbow. That measurement will be where the top of the tank should be for comfortable gravel cleaning without bending over too much. subtract the height of your tank and what's left is the height of the stand. Unless you are really short there should be enough drop to siphon. Alternatively you could get yourself a gravel vac that works off an air pump or battery powered, then you could vacuum between water changes and do a thorough job without worrying about water levels.