[Howard28]

It would be a dual intake set up with a spray bar. I want to drill the holes in the spray bar in the front spraying at the front glass and every other hole facing down to the substrate. Im not sure if this is possible or even a good idea. Please tell me your thoughts and concerns or anything i should change in the design.

 

[talontsiawd]

There are plenty of write ups on the spray bar. Many have holes facing many directions. Some have them going all over the place. My concern would be if you have taller stems, you really don't have a lot of room for adjustment if it's blowing things around, one thing to consider.

 

[Hoppy]

When you feed a long spray bar at one end only, it is difficult to get much flow out of the farthest away holes. You have to keep the total area of the holes less than the cross section area of the spray bar if you are to have a chance of getting flow out of those far away holes. But, that can lead to pretty strong flow from the holes, which may be a problem as Matt noted.

 

[Optix]

Out flow should be in the middle...also no holes facing directly to your substrate or you will have a cloudy mess...aim them all forward and go for circular motion in your tank...or have it go down to your substrate then all the holes point up for circular flow that way

 

[dmagerl]

You dont have to aim the holes at all. When you build it, dont glue the joint where the spray bar goes into the elbow. Then you can rotate the holes in the bar to any position you want and try many different angles.

When I built my spraybar, I had the output pipe enter at the center with two spray bars going to either side. The big benefit of this is it balances the gravitational forces on it. You dont have to worry about the far end continually drooping downward.

 

[rezco]

Interesting thread - has anyone ever tried to put the spray bar at the BOTTOM of the tank with jets pointing up to create a circular flow? I am thinking of adding one to my 24" high tank to create water flow that will reduce the rate of settling of debris allowing it to be captured and filtered.

 

[aquarist]

Interesting thread - has anyone ever tried to put the spray bar at the BOTTOM of the tank with jets pointing up to create a circular flow? I am thinking of adding one to my 24" high tank to create water flow that will reduce the rate of settling of debris allowing it to be captured and filtered.

Yes, these is how jelly fish are kept in aquariums, if a jelly fish come in contact with the sides of the aquarium is will likely die.

 

[Howard28]

Cool thanks for all the reply's. I have read tons of right ups on spray bars but none had the holes facing the way i was talking about. I also was considering the inlet of the spray bar in the middle of the bar. I am currently using the duck bill on an odyssey 500 canister filter. I also tried to find stuff on the dual intake but only found 2 threads on different sites and both were confusing to me and sounded like it couldn't be done. I really just want to create better circulation in the tank and minimize dead spots.

 

[aquarist]

The design you are proposing is similar to a dual over flow or dual outflow tank, more commonly used in salt water tanks, this forum used to have a sister site called Carolina Fish Talk and it was a very active salt water forum, perhaps more information can be found there. Most people don't use a system like that for freshwater.

If you had two return pumps I would suggest have one pump attached to each end of the spray bar this will help increase your flow output and help keep the water pressurized the entire length of the bar.

 

[Howard28]

could i add a T-intersection on the outlet to get the dual lines to both ends of the spray bar. should help with pressure issues or even flow.

 

[bsantucci]

If you choose to do just one outlet you can keep the far end closed and just make the holes closest to the water outless slightly larger diameter. I did that with like the first 3 or 4 holes and it kept the pressure fairly even on all holes since it less water is building up on the capped end.

 

[aquarist]

could i add a T-intersection on the outlet to get the dual lines to both ends of the spray bar. should help with pressure issues or even flow.

You could, however using a t-joint or a 90 degree elbow will reduce the flow of the water by a lot, you are causing a bottle neck in your system because the water will have to slow down to a point it can make a 180 degree turn, it is more advisable to use 45 degree elbows if you are NOT trying to reduce flow.

 

[Howard28]

is the spray bar the way to go? as far as increased circulation and preventing dead spots, or should i just use a powerhead or two? The spray bar would be cheaper i think. I also really would like to eventually try the dual inlet on each end of the tank, I think it would be effective in increasing circulation.

 

[aquarist]

Did you end up building your spray bar??

To answer a few questions you had above, yes a spray bar will help reduce dead spots and help increase flow, but I doubt it will be enough flow to keep the entire tank circulated. Depending on what size aquarium you have will determine if you need a power head or not. Right now on my 75 gallon I am running to large canister filters and a circulation pump. I bought some SunSun circulation pumps (wave makers) for my 180 gallon and they work amazingly. Much quieter than my Koralia, and a lot cheaper, I bought the one with dual outlets and two impellers per pump, think they are rated at like 1,800 GPH and were around $15 each so I was able to get both for less than one Koralia.

 

[zetvi]

I have almost the same set up in the picture but instead of one canister filter, i have two sun sun canister filters. One filter hooks up with co2 reactor and contains seachem purigen ( rated as 250 gph) the other one with bigger flow about 350 something i cant recall, hooks to intake heater and contain heavier medias.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[jmhart]

Interesting thread - has anyone ever tried to put the spray bar at the BOTTOM of the tank with jets pointing up to create a circular flow? I am thinking of adding one to my 24" high tank to create water flow that will reduce the rate of settling of debris allowing it to be captured and filtered.

I have a ~24" spray bar at the bottom of my 120 gallon in the back. It shoots water up the back of my tank, which then curves around at the surface words the front my tank. It works great at keep things clear and from settling too much/not getting filtered out, but it pushes all background plants forward.

 

[Howard28]

Did you end up building your spray bar??

To answer a few questions you had above, yes a spray bar will help reduce dead spots and help increase flow, but I doubt it will be enough flow to keep the entire tank circulated. Depending on what size aquarium you have will determine if you need a power head or not. Right now on my 75 gallon I am running to large canister filters and a circulation pump. I bought some SunSun circulation pumps (wave makers) for my 180 gallon and they work amazingly. Much quieter than my Koralia, and a lot cheaper, I bought the one with dual outlets and two impellers per pump, think they are rated at like 1,800 GPH and were around $15 each so I was able to get both for less than one Koralia.

I did attempt to build a spray bar but the flow was really bad. I started with a hole every 1" and the flow was bad so i mad the holes a little bigger, only because that was my only option at that point. I did do a connector in the middle of the spray bar and capped on both ends. so I ended up getting a powerhead rated at 350 GPH. My filter is hated 500 GPH, with both it has good circulation. Maybe go back to the spray bar another time.

 

[rezco]

I have a ~24" spray bar at the bottom of my 120 gallon in the back. It shoots water up the back of my tank, which then curves around at the surface words the front my tank. It works great at keep things clear and from settling too much/not getting filtered out, but it pushes all background plants forward.

Thanks - I looked at your tank setup - beautiful!

I will probably place mine at the back too vs front to float detrius up and past the filter intakes.

 

[m00se]

I did attempt to build a spray bar but the flow was really bad. I started with a hole every 1" and the flow was bad so i mad the holes a little bigger, only because that was my only option at that point. I did do a connector in the middle of the spray bar and capped on both ends. so I ended up getting a powerhead rated at 350 GPH. My filter is hated 500 GPH, with both it has good circulation. Maybe go back to the spray bar another time.

Hi Howard,

I built my spray bar with seventeen 1/8" holes *per side* of a center feed. It works really well. I'm using an FX5 now but here are a couple of pix of it with a CFS500 on it. As you can see there is plenty of flow (but not too much). I was in the process of swapping a 30g with a 40b here in these so the plants are a little akimbo ;-)

 

[Howard28]

cool mine looked like that out of wate

Hi Howard,

I built my spray bar with seventeen 1/8" holes *per side* of a center feed. It works really well. I'm using an FX5 now but here are a couple of pix of it with a CFS500 on it. As you can see there is plenty of flow (but not too much). I was in the process of swapping a 30g with a 40b here in these so the plants are a little akimbo ;-)

Pre Water Change December 3, 2013 - YouTube

cool, mine looked like that out of water but once in or on the surface it had no plant movement. I think the DB with the powerhead is good.