Pump Problems and Heating Issues

[beckdg]

if you're talking about a diy spraybar intake...

since the intake is through the pvc i'm saying wrap that with course media held on by your stocking instead of having media inside of it. more surface area (circumference) = better flow. intead of restricting it you'll be more like dampening/baffling it on the outside. don't worry if the media isn't right up against the holes either cause that can cause it to clog faster.

if not you can always build a pump box out of media also.

you may need more holes in your pvc, idk. i'm assuming when you say 90* you mean a slow curve, not a bend? that would be better on the ouput imo. i guess if it's necessary you could make due.

[froggsong]

The pipe has a slow bend, yes. It's too long to use on the outflow, so it's going to have to go on the intake. It fits better than the PVC piece anyway.

I get what you mean now, my brain was really having a hard time wrapping around that for some reason! I stuck that piece into the PVC because it's all I had handy atm to keep the sand out. I can certainly swap it for something else. The PVC doesn't have all that many holes in it, should I make the part wrapping around it longer than the pipe so that it gets better flow?

[beckdg]

more surface area is better, so if that's what it takes, yes.

ideally, if you can have your input less restricted than your output you're good to go. that's the whole idea... how far you want to go without the input feeling the restriction. if it needs it, or can use it you can add things on the output (heaters, pools, uv filters, co2 reactor, fluidized bed filters, etc.) or just restrict, split or direct it.

[froggsong]

How well does it heat the water to add a heater to the output? I have a heater rated for a 10-15G tank, and there's around that much in the tank, but the water never gets warm, I'm guessing because it's larger and more shallow, as opposed to smaller and deeper like a tank that capacity usually would be. It's a problem I've had with Riku because she'll spend all the time in the water and doesn't stay warm enough.

[beckdg]

what temps are you trying to get to and from?

if you're talking more than a couple degrees i'd say round it up to 20 because it's shallow, times that by five and call it a 100 watt minimum. if you're looking to get above 76-78 you'll need something variable.

[beckdg]

oh, sorry... it does quite well, imo. admittedly, i don't know about other models since my in line is custom, used, old as dirt and the only one i've ever needed. the hydors seem to get good reviews.

[froggsong]

damn stupid non posting idiot forum... grrrrrrrrr

Anyway. I think I said something along the lines of:

I do need it up to 76-78, but I'm not sure what the water temp is atm, and it's probably a bit colder because the heat lights have been off the tank for a couple of days. I'll go look to see what the wattage on the heater is in just a sec, I can't remember off the top of my head.

It's too bad I can't just put a heat mat under the tank. I've always wondered is the risk of breaking the glass the same if a heat mat is just sitting under the tank heating the air underneath as it is when one is attached directly to the glass? I have a 15W heat mat that's for starting seeds, if it won't break my glass, I'd like to give it a try, but I'm too cautious with something so serious to just try it out.

[froggsong]

I've always been curious about another thing as well. You can get water heaters from the hardware store (I assume for water heater tanks). Can you make an inline or in sump heater with one of the small ones of those, or is it totally unsafe?

[beckdg]

the danger in breaking glass is held within a sudden stop of movement and a sudden shrinkage. if we can do our best to reduce those things from happening we can keep glass from breaking. now, you can't keep that from happening if there's gaps, the heat necessary isn't dispersed properly over the right distance, etc.. if you ever look at ambient heat, it pulsates... the hotter, the larger and faster. the reason being is because hotter things move faster. this can be air, electrons, atoms, flames... whatever.

so, we have to use what we know works to dissipate heat appropriately for the temperature swing we need to invoke. with a coffee pot i would use hot tap water in the pot so as to not cool down the pot too quickly and unevenly. once the pot is overflowing i slowly turn the temperature down on the water giving it a nice even ambient gradient to work with. in our cases we need that glass hot... sometimes there's no way around it so this train of thought comes more from a frying pan. we need either a material that's worthy of transfer heat well and even, air pockets to reduce contact so as to reduce the speed at which changes occur or a combination of both. one thing to take into concern is that you wind up with something stable too.

sooo, i like flexwatt for this and i'll use it as an example. say i was keeping the beardie in the flatback hex. i'd cover 3/4 of the bottom with flexwatt with silicone zig zags from end to end to get most of the floor between 75-90* with a small area without. this would take 2 panels back to back at different temps (hot one below the heat lamp). i'd tape them end to end with foil tape and foil tape all the way around it with tape all the way to the end of the glass on the hot side to make a perfect air pocket where air couldn't escape with enough tape to hold ambient heat so the glass isn't radiating/fluctuating so much.

since the silicone doesn't transfer heat well all the heat will come through air which will move freely and quickly even itself out. the fact that it closed keeps it from siphoning cold air for the quick shrink. the foil radiates the heat and covers the other side of the glass from cold air keeping the quick fluctuations almost purely inside the tape.

a side benefit from this whole situation is since heat rises and we're not losing any it's more efficient also. we're getting more than 50% of the heat output of the pad applied. that's more than i can say for a lick em' stick em' store bought model that might shatter you're glass when the glue starts dieing.

i'm breaking this down for you so you can use it better. it surely could be applied to other materials and i'm sure you have something in mind already.

[beckdg]

the water heater element might get too hot, be hard to control at the right temps, leak heavy metals that we treat for, etc.. bottom line... i don't know. i trust glass and only a couple metals used for a few things for aquatic life until i know better. safety first there, you know?