Help with placement of spray bar and intake

**rahlcepx516** · 01-08-2010, 10:58 PM

Standard 55 gallon
Eheim 2217 canister
catalina 3x54w T5 HO
Live plants.
DIY co2
2 day per week Seachem Flourish dosing
Aquariumplants.com substrate

1x Rubberlip pleco
3x Pearl gouramis

I am having trouble deciding where I want to put my intake and spray bar at for my filter. My current setup has the spray bar in the back left corner, positioned vertically and spraying at the front-middle of the tank to cover most the tank. The intake tube is in the back right of the tank.

The spray bar pushes some good current, but from what I have seen from rough tests (dropping items in the tank to observe current flow), it does not get around my ship to the intake, and stops at right about where the ship is.

I did not want to place it directly at the surface so I don't lose all that lovely co2 I am putting in, plus I have an aerator to serve that purpose.

I am also worried that it is too much current for my gouramis, but I do not want to limit it to a front-back current, reducing the efficiency of my filtering.

Any suggestions?

**smaug** · 01-08-2010, 11:24 PM

With a spray bar it will be diffcult to achieve all around flow in a 55 gal.I have the same issue so I use a hydor koralia placed in the corner the furthest away from my intake which pushes the current toward the intake.Of cource you could accomplish this by placing your spray bar to push the length of the tank.BTW,thats a beautiful tank!

**rahlcepx516** · 01-09-2010, 01:44 AM

Thanks! I originally had it moving directly to the intake from the other side, but it was causing too much disturbance in my plants. I was really surprised at how much current this thing pushes for a spray bar. It is going the length now, sort of.. I might just rig it up a different way and move the Wisteria so its not blowing all over the place.

**smaug** · 01-09-2010, 03:11 PM

If it doesnt have a flow control valve,get one.That will make a differance.

**lowlight** · 01-10-2010, 07:06 AM

You could move your ship to the left a little away from the glass, that would allow water to flow freely by. I run a jet in my tank that is next to the intake on the right hand side pointed toward the front left corner. Water does flow to the intake although it is a slow current on the right side of the tank. Moving the ship away from the glass would also make cleaning the glass and overall maintenance easier. I agree with smaug, nice tank.