Choosing the right heater

[Fred13]

Hello,

I would like to help me in order to choose between 2 thermostats for my tank.

Hydor external thermostat or Fluval E 300 watt series?

Hydor is external but i guess reduces flow . I also heard that its noisy when going on and off?
Fluval E seems stable but quite big. I cant really choose.

Thank you!

 

[Konsa]

Hi
Fred I imagine U are talking about heaters as termostat is different bit of kit.
It all depends on the overall look U are after.If planning a clean ada stile setup The inline is a good option as long as the filter U have has a good flowrate for your tank.
If going towards a bit more jungle nature aquarium U will be able to hide the heater amongst the plants and it will have no flow reduction effect.
Im sure they will both do the job well.
Regards Konsa

 

[Fred13]

Hi
Fred I imagine U are talking about heaters as termostat is different bit of kit.
It all depends on the overall look U are after.If planning a clean ada stile setup The inline is a good option as long as the filter U have has a good flowrate for your tank.
If going towards a bit more jungle nature aquarium U will be able to hide the heater amongst the plants and it will have no flow reduction effect.
Im sure they will both do the job well.
Regards Konsa

I will use the eheim pro4+ 600 into a 65 gallon tank.
Yes heaters sorry my mistake

I believe i will go for more minimal style , more open spaces not jungle..

 

[Zeus.]

Hydor all the way, cant see them in tank, no flow reduction if filter uses same size hose, as for noisy I will have to listen out for that But mine are in back of base behind filter cant even see them

 

[Fred13]

Hydor all the way, cant see them in tank, no flow reduction if filter uses same size hose, as for noisy I will have to listen out for that But mine are in back of base behind filter cant even see them

Great...

I want to fit an external reactor which needs a hose adaptor and it will reduce flow a bit thats why i was asking about heater too. But great thank you!

 

[ian_m]

Remember a 16mm inside diameter pipe has a cross sectional area of 200mm² and next standard size down, 12mm, has cross sectional area of 110mm², so roughly a half.

Whilst is won't decrease the flow by a half, as the "blockage" will generally increase the pressure, increasing flow, if your pump/filter has 16mm outlet it pays to make sure everything in the water flow is at least 16mm or else flow will suffer.

Talk to (or look at his links) Zeus, and his clever CO2 injection system that injects CO2 into 25mm pipe using a 16mm diffuser without impeding the water flow.

 

[kadoxu]

Stay away from the Fluval heaters... that's all I can say from my experience... bought 2, one was tricky the other was faulty...

I'd go for external heaters any day! I use them in all my tanks now.

 

[Fred13]

Remember a 16mm inside diameter pipe has a cross sectional area of 200mm² and next standard size down, 12mm, has cross sectional area of 110mm², so roughly a half.

Whilst is won't decrease the flow by a half, as the "blockage" will generally increase the pressure, increasing flow, if your pump/filter has 16mm outlet it pays to make sure everything in the water flow is at least 16mm or else flow will suffer.

Talk to (or look at his links) Zeus, and his clever CO2 injection system that injects CO2 into 25mm pipe using a 16mm diffuser without impeding the water flow.

Ian sorry my friend but i cant understand... You confused me a little bit.

My filter has 16/22 hoses , i will buy 22/16 hydor heater and my external riactor has 12/16 hoses. So, i need 2 hose reducers. One to insert the 12/16 riactor and one more to exit but change again to 16/22 hose. Am i right?

I also have a good inline diffuser but i dont want bubbles in tank.

 

[ian_m]

Your reactor having 12mm hoses rather than your 16mm rest of piping will halve your flow rate. Are you sure you want to reduce the flow by this much ?

 

[Zeus.]

Your reactor having 12mm hoses

Thats one of the issues I had with the APS EF my Fluval FX6 has 25mm hoses. I got round it by fitting two APS EF and using a bypass too. I have the flow though the reactors pretty slow. Still get a Great pH drop and Fast but have twin CO2 injection Booster line for pH drop and trickle to maintain pH drop. No CO2 bubbles in tank

 

[Fred13]

Your reactor having 12mm hoses rather than your 16mm rest of piping will halve your flow rate. Are you sure you want to reduce the flow by this much ?

If i open flow again after reactor? I mean i will put the first adapter to reduce hose and then after reactor i will put another adapter to open hose to 16mm again. Is that possible or wrong setup?

 

[ian_m]

Yes you can do that but any 12mm restriction however small in length will halve the flow. Zeus did it rightish by splitting the 25mm into two. Still restricting his flow as two 12mm pipes does not equal one 25mm pipe.

 

[Fred13]

Yes you can do that but any 12mm restriction however small in length will halve the flow. Zeus did it rightish by splitting the 25mm into two. Still restricting his flow as two 12mm pipes does not equal one 25mm pipe.

So Ian, what are you suggesting me ? I want completely or almost completely dissolution for not having micro bubbles in my tank.

I had a bazooka and other atomizers which are great but aesthetically i dont like it at all...

 

[Zeus.]

Yes you can do that but any 12mm restriction however small in length will halve the flow. Zeus did it rightish by splitting the 25mm into two. Still restricting his flow as two 12mm pipes does not equal one 25mm pipe.

and a 25mm bypass with a valve. Surprising there is still flow in the twin reactors when the valve is fully open

 

[Fred13]

and a 25mm bypass with a valve. Surprising there is still flow in the twin reactors when the valve is fully open

Zeus i cant really understand maybe because i have no clue about those dyi connections..

I will finally go for JBL E1501 because i found a very nice offer. It is rated at 1400 l/h and i will use it in a 65 gallon. Will the hose adapter -reducer cut that much the flow so i am gonna have issues?

 

[ian_m]

ill the hose adapter -reducer cut that much the flow so i am gonna have issues?

Yes putting in 12mm restriction will certainly throttle the flow as JBLe1501 is designed for 16mm inner diameter pipe. It will certainly work, but why not just go for an JBLe900 in the first place (with 12mm pipes) rather than 1/2 a JBL e1501 .

Zeus, on his 25mm pipe from FX6 put his two 12mm reactors, and a bypass pipe & valve to allow flow to go round the flow restricting reactors as well. As he states works well, dissolved CO2 and virtually no restriction to the flow.

 

[Fred13]

Yes putting in 12mm restriction will certainly throttle the flow as JBLe1501 is designed for 16mm inner diameter pipe. It will certainly work, but why not just go for an JBLe900 in the first place (with 12mm pipes) rather than 1/2 a JBL e1501 .

Zeus, on his 25mm pipe from FX6 put his two 12mm reactors, and a bypass pipe & valve to allow flow to go round the flow restricting reactors as well. As he states works well, dissolved CO2 and virtually no restriction to the flow.

hmmm i understand your points Ian but i cant understand what Zeus did in his tank. I tried to find some photos of his setup but i cant.

Is there any possibility of having completely dissolution with my inline diffuser ? Dont suggest me the intake method because i think it will get dirty and maybe damage the filter.
If i put the inline diffuser as far it can gets and use long hose from filter to output?

 

[Fred13]

Another option is probably w8 and spend a bit more for e1901 so i can go for hose reduction anytime..

 

[ian_m]

What you need to do with your reactor is like Zeus has done with his 1" (25mm) piping from his FX6. Actually he splits the 1" pipe to 2 off 16mm lines (and now with CO2 reactors).

The idea of the bypass and valve to not restrict the flow at all. You tweak the valve slightly to get some flow round the 16mm injection loop. As Zeus reports his is actually a dual loop with dual reactors and works fine even with the valve fully open.

So you need to construct similar with the 1" above replaced with your JBLe1501 22/16 pipe, 22/16 to diffuser and 16/12 to the reactor. Maybe even use 12mm diffuser and do all the loop in 12mm.

Below is link to Zeus's drawing of parts based on my sketch above.
https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads...-co2-reactors-fitted.43046/page-2#post-469673

Below is link to photo of Zeus's real world implementation.
https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads...-co2-reactors-fitted.43046/page-3#post-475073

 

[Zeus.]

What you need to do with your reactor is like Zeus has done with his 1" (25mm) piping from his FX6. Actually he splits the 1" pipe to 2 off 16mm lines (and now with CO2 reactors).

The idea of the bypass and valve to not restrict the flow at all. You tweak the valve slightly to get some flow round the 16mm injection loop. As Zeus reports his is actually a dual loop with dual reactors and works fine even with the valve fully open.

So you need to construct similar with the 1" above replaced with your JBLe1501 22/16 pipe, 22/16 to diffuser and 16/12 to the reactor. Maybe even use 12mm diffuser and do all the loop in 12mm.

Below is link to Zeus's drawing of parts based on my sketch above.
https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads...-co2-reactors-fitted.43046/page-2#post-469673

Below is link to photo of Zeus's real world implementation.
https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads...-co2-reactors-fitted.43046/page-3#post-475073

I must update what I have actually done, its really simple but the links and pics can be a bit confusing I think, Plus throughout my thread there have been updates allow the way, over a 1.0 pH drop in less than an hour and stable pH throughout the photoperiod bubble free CO2 wise, as for the pearling and the twinstar well thats another story