Questions/Concerns Regarding my AquaClear 110's "Flow Control" Valve...

[Kaskade10729]

^^^

I understand what happens when the flow is reduced -- that is, more water in the media chamber, per se, is "re-filtered" -- but I just don't know what setting to KEEP this flow control knob set to...

 

[jpappy789]

YMMV...your miles may vary. My two AC 20s seem to have different flows depending on the "setting". Never had issues all the way up to the largest model I've used (AC 50).

The media you use and it's placement in the basket will affect the flow. For example I've placed biomax in between two foams and it was noticeably slower than placing the biomax on top of the foam. Something about having a piece of the foam on top slowed it down. Obviously there's a number of different combinations of media you can use with such a HOB so that will play a part.

There are a lot of DIY ideas out there as well for physically diverting flow from the outflow to minimize the impact as well. Just keep in mind you risk having more dead spots in the tank with less circulation.

Never kept fancies before, so I can't give you any specifics.

 

[Kaskade10729]

YMMV...your miles may vary. My two AC 20s seem to have different flows depending on the "setting". Never had issues all the way up to the largest model I've used (AC 50).

The media you use and it's placement in the basket will affect the flow. For example I've placed biomax in between two foams and it was noticeably slower than placing the biomax on top of the foam. Something about having a piece of the foam on top slowed it down. Obviously there's a number of different combinations of media you can use with such a HOB so that will play a part.

There are a lot of DIY ideas out there as well for physically diverting flow from the outflow to minimize the impact as well. Just keep in mind you risk having more dead spots in the tank with less circulation.

Never kept fancies before, so I can't give you any specifics.

Thanks Pappy...

Makes sense that the media configuration would affect flow I suppose; right now, I'm running the sponge on bottom, a 100ml sack of Purigen (nearly exhausted though) on top of that and the BioMax bags on the very top...

Look, at the end of the day, it's probably just my ridiculous OCD about all this stuff...I just can't seem to decide on an "ideal" setting for the flow; sometimes, the goldfish seem too "blown about" when they pass the return flow from the 110 when it's on max flow, while other times even keeping it at minimum flow affects them so it doesn't matter. Then, there's the noise factor -- because one of my bubble bars sprays right up into the 110's intake above it (I'm working on a solution for this; probably a prefilter on the intake tube) it creates a horrible grinding noise that actually seems to INCREASE and cause MORE cavitation when the filter is set to MINIMUM flow, if you can believe that...so now I'm hesitant to leave the darn thing on the minimum flow setting because this "box of rocks" noise appears to get worse in that position. :mad2: