# putting equipment "inline" - what's advisable?



## NatureBoy (2 Jul 2012)

Hi

i have a Eheim 2028 cannister filter for a 270l aquarium, I've bought a maxmix CO2 reactor I wish to put "inline", aswell as a Vecton V2 UV steriliser. Would I be adding to much to the filter workload if I went and bought a Hydor 300wt Eth to place inline aswell?

I'm attempting to set this up before adding the hardscape, so is difficult to know without asking someone who may have tried / is happy with the result,...the aim is to have intake and spray bar only inside the tank regarding clutter, so I have a blank canvas so to speak when "scaping", rather than scape to hide heater, etc!

As this is the first time I've "cut" the return hose, I'm having nightmares about losing 270 l's of water - are hose clips the way to get peace of mind?

ps is anyone doing plastic clear cheap lily type intake pipes? 

cheers all

Gary


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## LancsRick (2 Jul 2012)

You'll be fine in terms of putting things inline.

With regards to cutting hose, you don't really need to worry - basic things to ensure when you're refitting hose are:

- a nice clean perpendicular cut, with no damage to the end of the hose (i.e. no splits or nicks that could creep)
- a clean barb to push the hose onto (quick wipe with a cloth and job's done!)
- push the hose on the full length it can go

I share your worries since I've just moved to my first external filters, but not a drop has gone missing so far!


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## NatureBoy (2 Jul 2012)

cheers for the advice

I reckon I'll get the hose clips as an additional measure as the land lady lives below me!

cheers


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## Ady34 (2 Jul 2012)

NatureBoy said:
			
		

> cheers for the advice
> 
> I reckon I'll get the hose clips as an additional measure as the land lady lives below me!
> 
> cheers


Good idea, you dont want to upset her any more than necessary as youll be paying rent late this month with all the extras your buying  



			
				NatureBoy said:
			
		

> Hi
> 
> i have a Eheim 2028 cannister filter for a 270l aquarium, I've bought a maxmix CO2 reactor I wish to put "inline", aswell as a Vecton V2 UV steriliser. Would I be adding to much to the filter workload if I went and bought a Hydor 300wt Eth to place inline aswell?
> 
> ...


I think that is quite a lot to be putting inline on one unit. I dont know the flow rate of the filter, but everything you add inline reduces the turnover rate a bit and you could end up underfiltering/circulating. You may need to use 2 externals to split the inline equpiment so as not to run into distribution problems later down the line. 
Cheerio,
Ady.


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## ian_m (2 Jul 2012)

One of the shops I visited whilst looking around before restarting my tank, had a Hydor heater, UV sterilizer and CO2 reactor in a separate "loop" all powered by a Eheim pump, thus leaving the filter pipe work "untouched". All pipes had jubilee clips on and were "nicely" clipped to inside of one of the cupboards under the tank. The other cupboard had a large filter in it, pipes going straight to spraybar and intake.

My inline CO2 diffuser now has jubilee clips after this weekend. Whilst messing with the filter I pulled the pipe out the diffuser and started syphoning the 180litres of tank onto the floor......


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## NatureBoy (2 Jul 2012)

yep that's what I want: a tidy, efficient, leak proof, shock proof use of space. the Vecton V2 I think will definitely need jubilee clips as the hose tails are pretty big at the nearest size to 16/22mm hosing.

thanks for sharing ideas and experiences


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## Iain Sutherland (2 Jul 2012)

whats the UV for?


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## NatureBoy (2 Jul 2012)

In the past I've been convinced that good fishkeeping alone cannot prevent the possibility of introducing pathogens into the tank, should this occur I want to limit the possibility of it spreading from fish to fish through the water column. Thinking about such things as hexamita (rams, etc), mycobacteriosis (rainbowfish), and that neon tetra disease. Pretty sure the UV tube will provide a nice swimming experience for the fish. Not planning on using it 24 / 7, just as and when things may need it.


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## Antipofish (2 Jul 2012)

ian_m said:
			
		

> One of the shops I visited whilst looking around before restarting my tank, had a Hydor heater, UV sterilizer and CO2 reactor in a separate "loop" all powered by a Eheim pump, thus leaving the filter pipe work "untouched". All pipes had jubilee clips on and were "nicely" clipped to inside of one of the cupboards under the tank. The other cupboard had a large filter in it, pipes going straight to spraybar and intake.
> 
> My inline CO2 diffuser now has jubilee clips after this weekend. Whilst messing with the filter I pulled the pipe out the diffuser and started syphoning the 180litres of tank onto the floor......



Hi Ian,
This is something I have thought of doing myself.  Do you go back to that place much, as a pic would be really handy    Also, because a lot of inline equipment gets dirty, what measures did they take to prefilter the water ?  I have been thinking about an external loop pump so it would be running as a dry pump.  I guess it would mean running a prefilter in the tank, which can look ugly but I guess a small foam sleeve over the inlet would work.

To the OP:  Running a pump like ian m has mentioned, or indeed, another filter, will help your flow rate too.  And I have to agree that adding all three of these items will definitely have a noticeable affect on flow (which you no doubt have read is important to make sure the CO2 gets distributed well. the same applies to any method of CO2 injection including reactor chambers).


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## Antipofish (2 Jul 2012)

NatureBoy said:
			
		

> In the past I've been convinced that good fishkeeping alone cannot prevent the possibility of introducing pathogens into the tank, should this occur I want to limit the possibility of it spreading from fish to fish through the water column. Thinking about such things as hexamita (rams, etc), mycobacteriosis (rainbowfish), and that neon tetra disease. Pretty sure the UV tube will provide a nice swimming experience for the fish. Not planning on using it 24 / 7, just as and when things may need it.



If you have it plumbed in it will always cause the flow restriction unless you are thinking about hooking it up or removing from the loop... which I think is potentially courting disaster as one time you are bound to end up not connecting it properly.  Inline items are best connected and then left to their own devices as much as possible.  Plus, if you believe there is a benefit using UV, why would you not want to receive that benefit 24/7 ?  I have been contemplating getting one but if I do, it will be on permanently.  Just a thought


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## Aqua sobriquet (3 Jul 2012)

Not sure how effective they are but the Sera external filters with built in UV looks like a pretty good solution.

http://www.sera.de/uk/pages/products/in ... ve-uv.html

Manual:

http://www.sera.de/fileadmin/gbi/30601_ ... 04_INT.pdf


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## Antipofish (3 Jul 2012)

Aqua sobriquet said:
			
		

> Not sure how effective they are but the Sera external filters with built in UV looks like a pretty good solution.
> 
> http://www.sera.de/uk/pages/products/in ... ve-uv.html
> 
> ...



SERA swear by them     Actually its one of the filters I considered.


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## NatureBoy (3 Jul 2012)

Possibly will be on 24/7, especially when new fish are introduced. Never had one before, got it for a bargain on aquarist classifieds and have been keen to see what effects it has on fish health. All good hopes


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## ceg4048 (3 Jul 2012)

Hi,
    This could be real or they could be placebos. It's difficult to tell unless side by side comparisons are done. Also Sera is not making it easy to assess the effectiveness of the unit from a UV standpoint. In general, for fuel injected planted tanks, an onboard filter UV is at direct odds with the requirements of flow. CO2 tanks typically require high flow while sterilization via UV requires low flow, because the radiation must permeate the water chamber and the microbes must be exposed to the radiation for enough time to affect their cells and DNA. If the flow rate is too high the germs are not exposed to the UV photons long enough for real damage to be done.

Sera should have provided standard UV data such as mass dwell time, or Microwatts per square centimeter. I suppose you could measure/calculate the surface area of the bulb, chamber volume and so forth and then measure the real flow rate and then estimate the numbers, but they should have done all that for you, otherwise they are not really serious. Lack of real data normally indicates marketing hype.

Cheers,


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## Antipofish (3 Jul 2012)

Clive,

I fully understand what you are saying about exposure time.  Well, partly, lol.  Given then tanks are circulated often ten times an hour, surely it would be true to say that the organisms would pass over the UV and with prolonged/repeated exposure, become just as damaged ?  Or does this not work like that.  From a one pass point of view, what you have written above makes sense, but I thought it would be good to clarify the position from repeated exposure. ?  Cheers, Chris.


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## ian_m (4 Jul 2012)

Antipofish said:
			
		

> ....  Given then tanks are circulated often ten times an hour, surely it would be true to say that the organisms would pass over the UV and with prolonged/repeated exposure, become just as damaged ?  Or does this not work like that. ...


No it doesn't work like that, you need so many mW of exposure for a certain dwell time to be effective. Probably why some people put their UV in a separate slower pumped loop rather than the higher flow filter loop.
See here http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/AquariumUVSterilization.html


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## ian_m (4 Jul 2012)

Antipofish said:
			
		

> ...This is something I have thought of doing myself.  Do you go back to that place much, as a pic would be really handy


Not been back for  a while. But the circuit went, Eheim 12mm intake, straight down to a Eheim pump screwed to side of cupboard. I think the Eheim pump had bigger than 12mm intake/outtake as there was a bit of jiggery pokery with bigger pipes and jubilee clips around the pump. Then to a V2ectron UV steriliser bolted to side of cabinet,then a Sera CO2 reactor (I think) and finally a Hydor inline heater and back to tank via a flexible plastic "jet" pointing at the filter spray bar. Also there was a CO2 cylinder in the cupboard.

Tank was planted and well looked after and would be what I aspire to...


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## Aqua sobriquet (4 Jul 2012)

The flow rates on the Sera filters look fairly low given their size so I'd guess they've worked out the exposure required to do the job.

I suppose one way to tell if it's effective against algae is to run it on a tank with green water and see if it clears it.


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## spill50 (4 Jul 2012)

*putting equipment "inline" - what's advisable?*

Several months ago I had a green water outbreak so invested in a cheap inline 11w UV. I placed it on the output of my aquamanta efx300 which is rated at 1100lph. The water was crystal clear after 3 days of using it. However the flow from the filter was massively reduced which ended up causing other algae problems.

So personally if you are planning on using an inline UV I'd put it on a second pump rather than the filter. Especially if you are putting all the other equipment inline with the filter.


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## Aqua sobriquet (4 Jul 2012)

*Re: putting equipment*



			
				spill50 said:
			
		

> However the flow from the filter was massively reduced which ended up causing other algae problems.



Thats a worry, which one did you buy out of interest?


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## spill50 (4 Jul 2012)

*putting equipment*

Sorry it was 9w not 11w cost around £20 on ebay. It looks like this






It did the job I got it for but I should have put it on a separate pump


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## Aqua sobriquet (4 Jul 2012)

Thanks.


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## NatureBoy (13 Jul 2012)

Ok, on my eheim 2028 pro outlet pipe i have placed a max mix CO2 reactor, then the Vectron 300 UV, then up through a Hydor 300 Eth. My worries about whether the filter can handle the roller coaster ride and still deliver a meaningful turnover have been quashed and am seeing a nice level of turbulence through all corners of the 270ltr tank. That's with filter media but without any fishload. I've used hose clips to ensure a nice fit on the UV unit and CO2 reactor. The water driven impeller on the max mix is noiser than the eheim! which is a bit of a downer, but I can't wait to see it chop through and completely dissolve the CO2. 

Thanks for all your input

Gary


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## Aqua sobriquet (13 Jul 2012)

Glad it worked out ok Gary. Nice to see some pics of it all set up if you get a chance!


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