Picked one of these up at a LFS this weekend. Seems to have great pressure for grabbing stuff of the bottom of the tank. Even picked up a loose mushroom with it. I guess since I got it at a FS, it would probably work well in a fish tank. My bad.

It has grooves in the "stik" part that allow water in and it drains water back out when you pull it out. Not a little drip, either. Throw a towel on the floor, at least a half of a cup of water. Anyone have one? I thought about trying to seal the grooves up with silicon where they met the handle. Thoughts?

I didn't pay a lot for it, and it does have great pressure, but it isn't designed for fish tanks.

http://www.pikstik.com/

They have something here at work called the "Gopher Grip" or something like that. It has an aluminum body and rubber cups at the end (like suction cups almost).

I've thought about picking one up for $10, but my tank isn't so deep that it's that big of a hassle.

Make sure you're Careful when considering one of these, I bought one similar in a hardwares store once, turned out the inside mechanics relied on a metal cable that , due to saltwater, rusted.
Over time, I noticed a small amount of rust going into my tank everytime I used it.

Sure beat going up to my armpit in saltwater everytime I needed to reach something on the sand bed though.

Yup, that's why I haven't bought one yet. There's no string I can see, but it has metal arms at the end that flex and that's what holds the rubber grip.

I'm still trying to figure out if I can take it apart and paint it with something to seal it, or if the flexing will crack the paint.

That one will rust out internally and the cable will break. I have not found one yet that doesn't.

There is also an all plastic one available as well. Not very strong though.

I wonder about this one. Really cheap!

http://www.aquacave.com/the-grabber-aquariumbr-tongs-1028.html#

looks like the one a bought at the hardware store...... I bet its got a metal cable running through it

http://www.aquabuys.com/miva/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=esu_tongs_34&Category_Code=m1&Product_Count=5

could replace the metal cable in them with a thin stainless cable, you can get it at lowes.

I was just thinking high test fishing line. I have a few deep sea rods that probably have a line strong enough.