[swinginbeef]

has anyone made a spraybar out of black vinyl hose instead of PVC pipe? I've got an extra powerhead lying around (the stock pump from my AP12) and I'm envisioning cutting a rounded notch in the top of chamber 4 between the stock return and the glass and running hose with spraybar holes drilled into it, down that back corner and then across the bottom of the rear wall. Hose is insanely cheap and I like the thought of it being black rather than white. I would just drop the second pump into chamber 4 on top of the current maxijet and hook the hose to it, running it over the back wall (the notchout would allow the lid to close properly) and then down the corner and across the bottom.

Any thoughts?

[blind1993]

u can get a sprayhose from the aquarium store.

[kh6sat]

Don't see why it wouldn't work.

[swinginbeef]

well, if I can get this hose to straighten out (it had been in a roll on the shelf for who knows how long), I'll ost pics and inital thoughts later on tonight. Grand total of $4.99 at Lowes for 10' of clear hose, 2 - 90 degree fittings and 1 - plug fitting. Already had a pump.

[swinginbeef]

can you have too much flow?? and would using filter floss instead of this blue sponge flow better??

I dropped the second pump in the 4th and hooked up my hose spraybar. I dig the flow alot. I've got the 230gph maxijet blowing through a hydorflow at the stock return hole and I've got the stock 160gph pump pushing through the spraybar going down the right rear corner and the bottom edge. The flow it great. THe horizontal bar blows up along the back wall and out through my rockwork. The vertical bar flows across the back wall and along the side wall.

The problem is that the pumps flow so much that the sponge in chamber one is a restriction and the overflow from chamber 2 to 3 sounds like a waterfall. The waterlevel in 4 is keeping up with the pump flow.

So I'm wondering if filterfloss will flow a little better that this sponge if I don't stuff it in there too tight? If I totally remove the sponge, the flow keeps up enough that the waterfall effect goes away, but I need some kind of mechanical filtration. Or do I?? I need it right now but once I have live rock rubble on bottom and cheato on top in both chambers 2 and 3, will I need a sponge or filterfloss in 1??

THoughts?

[e_baer]

hmmm, IMO it would all depend on the bioload of the tank. how many lbs of LR and LS? how many fis, what size? snails crabs shrimp?

you can have too much flow, but i think you have a decent amount, it is fine wher eyour at.

yes, filter floww probably would allow al ittle more water movement.

hope this helps!

[swinginbeef]

I got it figured out. 160gph pump that came with the Aquapod12 is adjustable. I adjusted it to the most flow that didn't give me the waterfall sound, which is about 2/3 speed.

once the tank clears up a little bit more, I'll take a pic or two.

I've got a 12 gallon tank with about 15 pounds of live sand and 19.5 pounds of live rock. I need to get out and get another 5 pounds or so to break up into rubbler to go in the back chambers. I bought a light for my modded fuge in chambers 2 and 3 today on sale for $10 at Petco today! I'll have to play with it a bit to figure out how I want to time it because it throws off quite a bit of light behind the tank but none into the actual display. So I'll get rock and cheato back there and then I'm ready to go. Judging my my diatom growth, my cycle should be nearing the end. I'll check water parameters on friday and if they are 0/0/<20, i'll wait another week and then start thinking about a cleanup crew!! This waiting crap sucks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!

[swinginbeef]

here you go with the pics

[swinginbeef]

$5!! Could have been cheaper had I bought 'by the foot' instead of a 10' roll!!

the hose is 1/2"ID and 5/8"OD clear hose and then two 1/2" 90 degree bends and one 1/2" plug fitting. I took a razor blade and pinched the hose and cut tiny wedges out to create the holes. Difficuly level of this DIY is probably about 2/10 if that. I used a hairdryer to heat the hose while lying it flat to get it mostly straight since it had been in a roll at the store. The flow is alot better and the deadspots I had collecting crud in my little caves have disappeared now that the lower horizontal section flows right through the caves from the back to the front.

I was going to cut a notch in the wall of chamber 4 but didn't have to because the lid still closes normally with the hose going over the top and into the display.

[e_baer]

thats neat, i was gona make a spray bar with pvc, but it would be kinda hard, now im thinking of doing it with the flexible tubing, it will be a lot easier. my tank is already set up and it would be a pain to take it all apart just to put some pvc in.

[glampka]

Joe,
You may want to reconsider using the clear tubing. Algae will start growing inside of it which will cut down on your flow.

[swinginbeef]

I looked for black but didn't find it at Lowes (They DID have some 1/2"ID black but it was plastic and not as flexable and was only sold in 100' roll, which was only about $12, and I didn't want to buy 100' of material to use 2'!). Do you think it would cut down the flow so much that it would actually burn up the pump? I could actually use a little bit less flow. After running all night, the waterfall sound is back in the rear overflow from 2 to 3. The plastic barrier that keeps the bulbs dry is wet too leading me to believe that the 'waterfall effect' is creating ALOT more condensation/evaporation. I'll adjust the pump to run slower at lunch time and see what happens.

Thanks for the heads up on the clear tubing! I'll keep an eye on it. Worst case scenario, I'm out five bucks and about an hour of setup time! I didn't have to mod the tank at all, so I could yank it out in about 5 minutes and it would be like it was never there.

[glampka]

I'm surprised you have an evaporation problem with the Aquapod. Cube I have at home is Aquapod & my wife's at work is a JBJ. She has to add water constantly because of evaporation- like a couple times a week. On the Aquapod, I might add water 1/month. I replaced the pump on mine with the MJ 900 to push more water.
Depending on how the algae grows in the tube will determine how much flow restriction you get. Worst case scenario would be that the holes plugged with the algae & you ended up with little if any flow but that would take some time & a lot of neglect on your part.. You should be able to easily clean the tubing by running a tube brush through it.

[swinginbeef]

it's FAR from an evaporation 'problem'. I've only had it running for <2 weeks and haven't needed to add water yet. I was just noticing how wet the underside of the lid was this morning after having the waterfall overnight. It's never been wet like that before.

I'll buy one of those pipecleaner brushes one of these days and clean the tubing as needed, or at every water change or whatever it needs. I also have about 7 feet of the original 10' left, so I could rebuild it at least twice more.

[swinginbeef]

found what could be the downfall of my spraybar mod. Got home from work today, fisrt full day of having it running and my tank temp is up about 2.5 degrees. It's at 83.5 where it used to range from 79.x to 81ish. I uncovered and opened an a/c vent near it so we'll see if that helps. We keep the house at 75 during the summer and 68 during the winter so we'll see what happens. I might have to lower the house temp to 73 and see if that lowers tank temps by 2 degrees also.

either that or replace the stock pump with a lower wattage, similar flow pump?

[blind1993]

or u can run a fan above the tank surface.

[e_baer]

yes, i would recomend fans because they cost a lot less generally than buying a new pump.