Re: Wet/dry help

[Erik Olson <erik at thekrib_com>]

On Tue, 11 Apr 2000, Ivo Busko wrote:

> Erik Olson <aquatic-plants at actwin_com> wrote:
> 
> <snip>
> > have a concentrated amount of flow on the intake unless you can find some
> > way to spread out the surface area on the strainer (consider that an
> > overflow box has maybe 6-10 linear inches where the water flows in, but a
> > 3/4" pvc EL has maybe 2-3 inches.
> <snip>
> 
> Erik,
> 
> I didn't understand. All that water that flows into the box still has to make
> its way thru the 3/4" or whatever bulkhead fitting on the tank wall. So why 
> the need to spread the intake water in the first place ? 

I found that fish got sucked in more easily with that arrangement, and the
increased pressure tended to build up more macro-sized clogs around the
intake (i.e. dead leaves). THe other effect was that if the diameter of
the intake was close to that of the pipe, it would alternate between
skimming and just draining (i.e., just water, no air getting pulled in).  
As the system transitioned from one to the other, it would emit a loud
obnoxious sucking sound.  I found, however, that with the buffering of the
overflow and sponge in between, I was able to reduce both of these effects 
(I also had to increase the size of the drain hose to get rid of
the noise entirely).

  - Erik


-- 
Erik Olson
erik at thekrib dot com

---

• Prev by Date: Trimming radican swords
• Next by Date: RE: plants and bacteria
• Prev by thread: Re: Wet/dry help
• Next by thread: More on tiny leaves
• Index(es):
  • Date
  • Thread