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Hydor and Fluval FX5

R

rudirudi

Member
Joined
17 Jan 2012
Messages
60
Location
Ipswich
Hi
Im about to set up my tank,I was to heat it via two 300w heaters attached to a thermostat,it will be filtered by 2 Fluval FX 5's and a small Eheim. My wife is in the process of setting up a small tank she got a Hydor 300 (in line) heater then realised it would be too big.-my question is-the fluvals have 25mm pipework,the Hydor is 16mm,could I reduce the pipework down so I am able to use the Hydor.'

Regards
Rudi
 
you could reduce it but I wouldn't recommend it. it would negate the point of using fx5's (the primary reason being their flow rate since media wise they hold less than other externals!).

Reducing your pipework down to 16mm will seriously reduce the flowrate closest I could think would be the split the 25mm pipework into 2x 16mm branches through the heaters and then join them back together as a single pipe before returning to the tank. still be alot of flow reduction though
 
Cheers Hinch,common sense told me it would not be a good idea,Im sure the concensus would be not to reduce the flow.
I am using the eheim with a Sera co2 reactor on the return,if I have enough room I wonder I could put the heater on the return either before or after the reactor.

Rudi
 
How about doing a bypass ? You have two Hydor 300's right ? Split the 25mm down to 2 x 16mm, one hydor on each, and then rejoin to the 25mm. Its just an idea, I dont know if it would work, but doubtless one of the more techy guys can shoot it down or confirm it would work.
 
Looking at the suggestion of 25mm into 2x16mm.

You need to consider the cross sectional area of the pipe. Assuming 25mm and 16mm are the internal diameters, then

25mm has a cross sectional area of 490mm^2
16mm has a cross sectional area of 201mm^2

This would leave you 88mm^2 short which is a 10mm diameter pipe.

Of course it's never quite that simple, you're increasing the resistance to flow due to drag at the tube wall.

I'd say you'll be ok, but thats just based on theory. Real life might suggest differently.
 
Thanks for the replies,I think I might give the Hydor a miss it all seems a tad complicated and it might be detrimental to the effectiveness of the filter,
 
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