Filter Flow Control

[FreshyFresh]

I'm thinking something gutter-like (not my mind!) with lots of holes in it (Again with the mind-analogy)

LOL! Got it.

I used a section of a clear plastic water bottle over the outlet on the Aqueon quiet flow 50 I ran for awhile. I taped it to the top/front, such that it deflected the water flow towards the rear of the tank. It was OK, but caused the filter to bypass more than it normally did.

 

[Pinkey]

There are a number of old adages about keeping things simple. It is good to see this wisdom has won out again. Clearly the easiest thing to do is build a custom frame for java moss to grow on to diffuse the flow. Why not make a simple filter flow issue into something that also requires specific lighting and nutrients? I don't know why we all didn't think of this first.

Be careful harvesting castles. Most castles I have seen are very close to dead bubbling pirates guarding chests and sunken boats and submarines. If castles were easy to get there wouldn't be quite so many skeletons down there. Just watch out, is all I'm saying. Be sure you test your brass diving bell before you go.

 

[dougall]

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I guess it's a good idea I didn't suggest a Hamburg Mattenfilter :/

 

[ZorroNet]

Oh Pinkey, I sure hope you are joking! A moss curtain will be EASY to make and maintain. Really the window screen itself would probably do the job just as well as a neon castle. Fortunately I will not have to venture to New Jersey to get some window screen. That sounds kinda dangerous the way you put it!

Doug, I am not putting a hamburger in my aquarium.


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[ZorroNet]

Here's what I decided to do... It was a super easy and fast solution that worked out beautifully. Okay, it's not that pretty, but this is a grow out tank in my office no one sees. It's in a plastic tub for god sake

Anyway, it's a single piece of fiberglass window screen secured to the filter by good old gravity. It's pinched between the tub and the underside of the filter, then looped under the outlet areas filled with some java moss (just to see how that goes) and then placed between the intake tube and the filter body and secured at the sides by the filter lid. Not bad for a few minutes' work Flow is not inhibited at the intake, and it's defused by the mesh and moss at the output... perfect! The guppies thanked me for reducing the class 4 rapids down to a class 1. ("My Guppies Talk To Me" next on Dr. Phil)

 

[Pinkey]

Nice! Well done. I must have misread your original description because I was picturing a screen that would fill the back wall and have to be secured to the sides with water flowing from behind and moss growing evenly across the whole thing. I tend to make things bigger in my mind than they are.

 

[ZorroNet]

Thanks, Nate... Just a HOB white water rapids reducer I was wondering why you thought it was such a big project haha! No harm in thinking big provided you have a budget to match lol!

 

[Pinkey]

Keep up the $12 finds and your budget will always match. . .

 

[FreshyFresh]

It's the ZN screen-o-matic flow reducing system. Excellent work, as is your custom!

 

[ZorroNet]

It's the ZN screen-o-matic flow reducing system. Excellent work, as is your custom!

Ha! Nice product name you have come up with there Thanks for the compliments! I may do it to all of my HOBs but with screen only to lower the amount of surface agitation since all of my tanks are heavily planted. I don't want to lose all that valuable natural CO2 since they are low tech tanks without supplementation.

The 7th grade science teacher at the K-12 beside my business has some fancy probes to measure dissolved oxygen content, CO2, etc. I'd like to borrow. I am donating fish and plants to her class for an experiment regarding oxygen content of water in relation to plant density in fish tanks. Maybe I can also do a test regarding surface agitation and O2 + CO2 content using her equipment. It'd have to be on a tank first with the screen for say a week and then without for the same amount of time (or vice versa). Any thoughts on duration of the experiment times that would render the most correct results?