i can top the salt water, one time my bright self decided to siphon gas out of my dirtbike ( the gas had been there a while) i got a nice full throat of old gas. now that prob coulda killed me...haha...
but an easier way to siphon is to put both ends of the tube in the tank and fill it with water or just fill it with waterin the sink and hold your thumb over both ends.then place both ends where you want them and let go, since the tube is already primmed it siphons great