Question regarding spraybar/c02

[R.sok]

Keeping shrimp in a biocube is pretty tricky. I've had to put tiny prefilters over the inlet & had to do the same for the outlet. Problem with the outlet is simply flow..I've greatly had to reduce it because at full flow the inlet just couldn't keep up & water would overflow to the back. So I've had the outlet choked down pretty good for the past couple months, everything works fine but the tank overall doesn't get much flow with the outlet the way it is.

So Today I fabricated a custom spray bar that allows better flow through out the tank, hopefully eliminating dead spots. I run c02 & the spray bar is about 1 inch above the surface. Will I lose a lot of c02 with it being that high? is there a certain angle it should be set? Imagine this is the tank from front view [_]. I have the bar on the left side shooting water down

[Darkblade48]

You will probably lose quite a bit of CO2 if your spray bar is 1 inch above the water surface and the water is splashing down.

Can you set the spray bar so that it is just at water level? That way, the water from the filter return is gently rippling the surface of the water; this is the ideal amount of surface agitation you want to have to prevent excessive CO2 off gas (diffusion).

[R.sok]

Originally Posted by Darkblade48

You will probably lose quite a bit of CO2 if your spray bar is 1 inch above the water surface and the water is splashing down.

Can you set the spray bar so that it is just at water level? That way, the water from the filter return is gently rippling the surface of the water; this is the ideal amount of surface agitation you want to have to prevent excessive CO2 off gas (diffusion).

I redid it so it is about 1/2 above the surface. I will go buy some adapters tomorrow so I can adjust the bar lower. With the holes drilled on the returns the streams are somewhat strong & usually the remedy to this would be bigger holes but that is not an option...too scared a shrimp might find his way in. So aside from me needing the spray bar right at the surface would the jet like stream affect anything?

[laqu]

how are you attaching your spray bar?

[R.sok]

Originally Posted by laqu

how are you attaching your spray bar?

Here is a picture for reference. On the right side I plugged the outlet & used a hard plastic 90 degree bend that fits the bar snug across the left side of the tank

[blink]

Are you using the stock biocube pump?
You could try downgrading to a hydor or maxijet that gives lower flow, something in the 160 gph range perhaps.

[R.sok]

Originally Posted by blink

Are you using the stock biocube pump?
You could try downgrading to a hydor or maxijet that gives lower flow, something in the 160 gph range perhaps.

No I'm using a different pump. (picture above isn't mine)

[R.sok]

After some thought & looking at the spray bar operate while being above everything it didn't seem to move much water from the middle down, so I repositioned it to be inside the tank on the left side from the bottom to the top with the jets facing towards the front. Now I have the flow that I want all around the tank, my plants sway a little bit But I'm curious as to whether it is bad for the shrimp?

Blue represents how the spraybar is mounted

[veryzer]

Originally Posted by Darkblade48

You will probably lose quite a bit of CO2 if your spray bar is 1 inch above the water surface and the water is splashing down.

Can you set the spray bar so that it is just at water level? That way, the water from the filter return is gently rippling the surface of the water; this is the ideal amount of surface agitation you want to have to prevent excessive CO2 off gas (diffusion).

Not trying to hijack, but I've been running a hagen mini just under the filter intake. The tiny little bubbles get sucked up and shot out through the spray bar below the surface (about 2"), creating gentle agitation. Still, I don't have good co2 concentration with at least 6 bps. If this isn't germane I'll start another thread.