# Lily pipe help please



## Plant Heathen (9 Dec 2020)

Hello everyone. I'm putting a tank together and am in the process of gathering all pieces and parts to do so. The tank is a 14-gallon cube measuring 15"x15"x15". I am going to order an OASE 100 with the heater built into it. So here inlays my dilemma. The size and shape of the lily pipe to use. Now I know the pipe size has to is 13mm but do I use a full-size set or a nano set. also what type of pipe would a spindown work best for this size tank? not even sure if this filter is the right size for this tank I have never worked with a tank this size. The plan for this tank is nano fish
like ember tetras and shrimp if that helps.


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## Geoffrey Rea (9 Dec 2020)

Hi @Plant Heathen and welcome to the forum.



Plant Heathen said:


> Now I know the pipe size has to is 13mm but do I use a full-size set or a nano set.



Mainly down to your preference, but nano sets are less intrusive on your viewing. They’re also easier to soak in bleach and water to get clean, usually fit nicely into an old ice cream tub for soaking and the smaller container requirement uses less bleach in the process.

The full length will draw water from lower down in your setup so has the advantage it may discourage less detritus to settle at the bottom of your 15x15x15” cube.




Plant Heathen said:


> not even sure if this filter is the right size for this tank I have never worked with a tank this size.



The Oase 100 is very small and will not offer much turnover of your maximum 
14.6 US gallon / 55 litres volume. Would be worth considering going larger for reasons of turnover, flow and media capacity. It is possible to fit reducers to bring the larger pipe diameter 16mm down to 12mm.


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## Plant Heathen (9 Dec 2020)

Geoffrey Rea said:


> The Oase 100 is very small and will not offer much turnover of your maximum
> 14.6 US gallon / 55 litres volume. Would be worth considering going larger for reasons of turnover, flow and media capacity. It is possible to fit reducers to bring the larger pipe diameter 16mm down to 12mm.



Thank you for your reply.  What would a good turnover for a tank that size? I was just worried about blowing the fish and shrimp around like a little hurricane in there. Do you think the Oase 200 would be large enuff?


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## Geoffrey Rea (9 Dec 2020)

Plant Heathen said:


> Thank you for your reply. What would a good turnover for a tank that size?



The Oase 100 does claim 600l/hr, but once filled with media and depending on whether it will sit alongside the tank or in a cupboard below, you’ll find the turnover much lower as head height varies its performance.

It really depends on what you’re aiming to do @Plant Heathen . Fish only? Planted? Co2 injection?

Personally I’ve run Dennerle 55l scapers tanks with both Oase Biomaster 250 thermo and Eheim Pro4 250 thermo models and found them a good marriage to that size of tank, both low and high tech.



Plant Heathen said:


> I was just worried about blowing the fish and shrimp around like a little hurricane in there.



Lily pipes can help disperse the return, spray bar can also even the return out effectively and as you mentioned there’s the spin pipe style return also. You can obviously also adjust the flow rate to find a nice balance.


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## Plant Heathen (9 Dec 2020)

Geoffrey Rea said:


> It really depends on what you’re aiming to do @Plant Heathen . Fish only? Planted? Co2 injection?



I'm planning a planted tank with CO2. I'm thinking along the line of shrimp and a nano fish of some sort. I also have a 36" x 18" x 16" tank I'm setting up. I'm hoping to run them off the sam CO2 source.


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## Psfor (11 Dec 2020)

I've added Chilli Rosbora (Boraras Brigittae) to a 30cm cube.  I lost one when it jumped, so have reduced the after level (2.5cm from top of the tank), added more floating plants (Frofbit - Limnobium laevigatum & Sagittaria sublata).  The  flow was too high until I used a spin pipe that's centred in the tank so no strong currents occur before the flow hits the side.    I have the spin pip just out of the water to remove the surface oil, and have a sponge over the  outlet to the filter.  I've since added Crystal Red Shrimp and one nerite snail.  For now all is settled.  

Spin pipes are your friend as the filter flow increases.


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## Psfor (11 Dec 2020)

Here are a couple of snaps.  I tried three different pipes, as well as a glass spray bar  (traditional lily and peony/poppy styles) 






 before settling on the spin.
The spray bar didn't work with floating plants.


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## Plant Heathen (11 Dec 2020)

Psfor said:


> Spin pipes are your friend as the filter flow increases.


Thanks for your input. I've really been looking at the spin-down as an option. I just don't want to loos too much flow. Do you think I will be ok with a spin down and the Oase 200?


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## Psfor (11 Dec 2020)

I have an Eheim ecco pro 130 in a 30cm cube.   The flow is fine as I see food distributed everywhere when I feed.  I'm not sure how two filters compare on stated flow.    The spin creates turbulence in two directions, rather than in one direction like the other pipes.  I use a standard poppy/peony in a 45 wide tank with an oase bio 100, and floating plants are okay with this.    Moving the pipe up and down in the water level makes such a difference.  I experiments for a few weeks before I was happy.


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## Plant Heathen (12 Dec 2020)

Psfor said:


> I have an Eheim ecco pro 130 in a 30cm cube.   The flow is fine as I see food distributed everywhere when I feed.  I'm not sure how two filters compare on stated flow.    The spin creates turbulence in two directions, rather than in one direction like the other pipes.  I use a standard poppy/peony in a 45 wide tank with an oase bio 100, and floating plants are okay with this.    Moving the pipe up and down in the water level makes such a difference.  I experiments for a few weeks before I was happy.


Thank you. You have made my decision much easier.


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