Doubling up on inlet and outlet

[Wacca]

Hi all.
I have a 500lt. 5,1/2 foot tank.
When I got it I was recommended the Fluval FX5.
Great filter. I love the fact I can fill my tank from the extra hose. It's got a great circulation rate. However. The pipe size is a pain in the ass.
Due to the length of the tank I now feel two filters would have been better giving me an inlet at each end.
I seem to have a lot of suspended particles that just don't get sucked up only having the one inlet.
The one outlet has to be on full power (almost) to get the water circulating throughout the tank. I can't get it to stop having a film over the second half of the tank. A DIY spray bar solved this and gave a much gentler but wider spread circulation and stopped this surface film.
Now. I can't afford two filters. Not after spending a fortune on the tank and the FX5.
What I was wondering is do you think it's possible to use two filter inlets, one each end ( the only place I can get them in due to the hood design) bring them down on a 16/22mm pipe including an inline atomisor on one and a heater on the other. Have them join via a t connector into a reducer piece taking it up to the fluval 25mm hose and then into the filter. There will obviously be the pinch point of the 16mm -25mm reducer but only over about an inch of pipe.
Can anyone see any glaring flaws or better ways of doing this.
Thanks in advance

 

[foxfish]

There are lots of post in the forum about fitting inline devises without restricting the 25mm pipe... if you can find them.... try goggling what you want & adding the forum name.
Basically you need a by pass to fit the device, you can buy the fittings required.

 

[Wacca]

Thanks Foxfish. I've read a fair few of them. My issue isn't so much the fitting inline devices but adding a second inlet without adding a second filter. I must admit that the bypass looks good

 

[Daveslaney]

Nice looking tank.
The problem you will have is balancing the flow between the 2 inlets. Water will always flow the path of least resistance so you may have good flow through one inlet and near zero from the other.
You could try valves on each inlet and try to balance the flow by closing the valves slightly to create resistance on each line, But would be a PITA to balance in my opinion.

 

[Chris25]

How about adding a powerhead to increase flow around the tank?