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Advise on Filter and diffuser

N

nijat11

Member
Joined
5 Mar 2023
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457
Location
The Netherlands
Hello everyone!
I have a superfish scaper 90 aquarium (60cm x 40cm x 38cm). I`m using Oase Filtrosmart 100 filter on this aquarium.
Outlet is a plastic spray bar and intake is lily pipe with skimmer. I have inline co2 atomizer connected to outlet.
My first problem is, my skimmer does not work with spry bar, I keep continue to get surface scum, but if I disconnect spray bar, the surface agitation gets better and seems skimmer work. So my question if I will change spray bar also to lily pipe, will it help with surface scum? Will it affect my flow and co2 distribution?
Any advise how to improve this setup?
 
Why is the spray bar interfering with the surface skimmer? Is it pushing the scum away from the skimmer? If so, it might be a matter of changing the position of the inlet or the outlet. Is the bar positioned side to side or back to front?

Changing to a Lily pipe will change the flow pattern, but that could be a change for better or for worse, it is hard to tell with such little information. I would recommend adding a full tank shot for people to visualize the flow patterns in your tank and give a more assertive opinion.
 
I would suggest pointing the spray bar more into the water, not at the surface, nor at the plants, kind of in the middle. if the skimmer isn't working as there is too much surface agitation, which is what it looks like, then pointing it down more should fix it. a lily pipe would probably work fine as well, just ensure that it isn't too close to the surface as you would have the same problem
 
it appears that the spray bar is quite big, and is close to the surface skimmer. maybe try and move it to the other side wall of the aquarium, as the flow could be blowing the crap away from the skimmer
 
AquaBonsai99 said:
it appears that the spray bar is quite big, and is close to the surface skimmer. maybe try and move it to the other side wall of the aquarium, as the flow could be blowing the crap away from the skimmer
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I tried to move skimmer, but I did not worked. The thing is spray bar does not crate any surface agiation, I disconnected spray bar and left, agitation became much better, and skimmer started to work, So that why I`m thking to change it to lily pipe
 
Is water being sucked into the skimmer when you have the spray bar attached. If yes, then I’d suggest @AquaBonsai99 solution t9 be the correct one. If not, the. Perhaps the spray bar reduces flow and renders the skimmer useless.
 
The max flow rate on that model of Oase is 600L per hour with a 1.1m head - which in Oase terms is the distance between the top of the filter and the water surface. So the flow is going to be quite low.

You could try to remove the spray bar and just use the duckbill attachment to see if the skimmer gets any better.
 
I don't know really - never had a skimmer as not had too much of an issue with surface scum or debris.

But I do use a fair bit of surface agitation (although I have reduced it recently) so that helps minimise the problem. As you can see, I have removed the spray-bar and duckbill nozzle, and just letting the outflow do its stuff. I have reduced the flow a little on the Oase's so the plants and livestock are not getting pushed around.

IMG_0870.jpeg
 
Ah, yes, I forgot you inject CO2. Apologies. That would be a problem from what I understand about surface agitation and CO2.
 
Unrelated to your original question but are you running that light at full power? If so, do you have any algae problems? And if you do, how do you manage them?
 
simon_the_plant_nerd said:
Unrelated to your original question but are you running that light at full power? If so, do you have any algae problems? And if you do, how do you manage them?
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Hi Simon, the light is superfish scaper led 60, I have setup it 2 weeks ago and it is running for 8 hours per day full power. So far no any algae, if i will see algae, I will reduce it.
 
nijat11 said:
Hi Simon, the light is superfish scaper led 60, I have setup it 2 weeks ago and it is running for 8 hours per day full power. So far no any algae, if i will see algae, I will reduce it.
Click to expand...
Ah so it’s very new. I have the same light and the same tank and if I run mine without any diffusion (I use floating plants) the tank is covered in algae in no time. 😄 Was wondering what your secret was.
 
From your first picture, it looks like the floating part of the skimmer is being pulled completely into the water. From my limited experience with my own skimmer, I don’t think it should do that. It looks like it is pulling too much water from the top and not enough from the bottom. My skimmer does that when the bottom grid is clogged, but it could also be that you closed it too much, if it has this option. Is the air pocket filled with air?

If the bottom part is completely open and not clogged, and the floating part keeps being pulled all the way into the water, it may be that your skimmer is too small for your filter. Although it seems weird that removing the bar, which should further increase the flow, fixes it…

My skimmer has very narrow passages for the bottom inlet, like yours, and from time to time it benefits from a good scrub with a toothbrush to remove whatever biofilm builds up there, as it is enough to restrict the flow.
 
LMuhlen said:
From your first picture, it looks like the floating part of the skimmer is being pulled completely into the water. From my limited experience with my own skimmer, I don’t think it should do that. It looks like it is pulling too much water from the top and not enough from the bottom. My skimmer does that when the bottom grid is clogged, but it could also be that you closed it too much, if it has this option. Is the air pocket filled with air?

If the bottom part is completely open and not clogged, and the floating part keeps being pulled all the way into the water, it may be that your skimmer is too small for your filter. Although it seems weird that removing the bar, which should further increase the flow, fixes it…

My skimmer has very narrow passages for the bottom inlet, like yours, and from time to time it benefits from a good scrub with a toothbrush to remove whatever biofilm builds up there, as it is enough to restrict the flow.
Click to expand...
I tried put it above water, put on the same level as water, open the bottom, close the bottom, half close the bottom, nothing works. To be honest removig spray bar also did not fixed any issue. My though that this skimmer just cheap piece of crap
 
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