How to make a spray bar to replace the AGA overflow nozzle

[Matt897]

sounds excellent how much ghp does your pump give off? i'm currently running a tiny mag-5 and have been waiting to get my hands on something with more power

 

[electric130]

800 @ 3ft and 750 @ 6 ft, so somewhere in between.

 

[Matt897]

very nice, tommorow i'll goto home depot and hopefully get this new project rolling thanks for all the help....

 

[s13silvia]

hey thanks for posting this up, i'm going to be setting a fuge up this weekend and wanted to have the return as a spray bar. looks like i'll need to buy even more pipes now

 

[spsphreak]

How did you secure the tubing to the tank? I can see something up there under the tubing, but I just can't tell what it is. Thanks alot. Also sent you a pm electric.

Scott

 

[Matt897]

looks like alot of salt crud build up... ewww, maybe push it back into the tank...lol i hate when salt builds up around my tank, its so nasty, does anyone think its a bad idea to push it back into the tank for any reason? i see alot of people don't even bother, lazy? bad for the tank? insignifigant?

thanks

 

[electric130]

if i could only come up with a way to eliminate salt creep, i'd be a millionaire!

 

[purduemaximus]

flow seems pretty even out of all holes. don't know how or why, but it is. i just switched to the CSL Velocity T3 today. so far, i love it. you can't hear it at all, and that's not an exageration. the spray bar mod was done a month ago. i wish i would have thought of it a long time ago.

Elec- I just built the same thing you did (awesome idea man) Actually the very first hole sucks in water. And after that according to physics the pressure on the end is still greater than the hole as you get closer to the begining but due to the length of the tube in relation to the diameter of the tube and size of the holes the difference in pressure is not going to be that great. Sorry to sound like a jackass but I took a couple of physics courses before switching to accounting (engineering before) any way there is my two cents. I have been bugged by what you said cause I didn't know if it would be true or not so I aske one of my roomates who is still and engineer and we worked a sort of sudo problem out. LOL long live the nerds

 

[electric130]

Elec- I just built the same thing you did (awesome idea man) Actually the very first hole sucks in water.

mine doesn't. it sprays water just like the rest of them

And after that according to physics the pressure on the end is still greater than the hole as you get closer to the begining but due to the length of the tube in relation to the diameter of the tube and size of the holes the difference in pressure is not going to be that great.

it is not a noticable difference. i would say it's almost the same if not the same.

Sorry to sound like a jackass but I took a couple of physics courses before switching to accounting (engineering before) any way there is my two cents. I have been bugged by what you said cause I didn't know if it would be true or not so I aske one of my roomates who is still and engineer and we worked a sort of sudo problem out. LOL long live the nerds

I am an engineering major and I have taken a couple physics courses myself. According to the Law P=(F/A), the pressure at each of the holes will be the same. the whole tube is at the same level so there's no change in gravitational potential energy. once the pump is running and the air is out of the line, there will be a certain amount of backpressure (unless you have too many holes and water leaves the pipe faster than it can fill up, may be why your first hole is sucking) in the spray bar. the force will be constant at each hole since they are all at the same level and the force being supplied by the pump is constant (relatively) the area of all of my holes are the same. so Force/Area at each hole will be exactly the same and the pressure in the pipe will be constant over the length of the spray bar.

I have been bugged by what you said cause I didn't know if it would be true or not

still buggin?

 

[purduemaximus]

Actually that formula may apply in theory to that application but not in reality. Possibly becuase of friction, but if you look at fluid dynamics the last hole would still get more pressure. OH well my head hurts I got out of this major don't pull me back in... LOL

 

[electric130]

well, to me, it's not worth getting into messing with fluid dynamics. on my bar, the water comes out evenly on all holes. i can't put a pressure guage upto each hole and measure it. i wouldn't if i could because i really don't care! on my spray bar the flow is even. if your's isn't, don't know what to tell you. i didn't build yours nor have i seen it. i built another one this weekend (smaller) to feed a refugium and flow is even out of all the holes too.

 

[bjohnson]

How to remove black locline?

How to remove black locline?

How do you remove the loc line? When I set up the tank, I did glue the the bulkhead to the pipe and the other end of the pipe to the 90 degree elbow. I don't remember cementing the locline to the 90 degree elbow. I have the 72g bow. I think i put the locline-elbow-pvc pipe assembly together then cementing that whole assembly to the bulkhead. How do you remove the locline without destroying the overflow teeth? I have a real tight fit. I don't think I can get a wrench in there without breaking something.

Brian

 

[electric130]

Re: How to remove black locline?

Re: How to remove black locline?

I have a real tight fit. I don't think I can get a wrench in there without breaking something.

Brian

it will be a really tight fit and you'll just have to take it slow. as long as you didn't glue the threaded part, you should be able to get it back off. just make sure you put teflon on the new threads and you won't have to use a wrench to put the spray bar on.

 

[bjohnson]

Did you have to shave any material off the overflow wall? It seems like the hole in the overflow wall the locline is placed in would not allow a 3/4" PVC tube. ALso when you "widened" the preflow teeth, did you have any cracking problems?

Brian

 

[purduemaximus]

When I widened my slots I just did it with a drill bit. There was not any cracking. The material is too soft. Just be careful it will want to grab and pull the drill through and you will hit the other side.
On mine I did not have to make the opening any bigger it fit the 3/4 stiflex just fine.

 

[electric130]

what purduemaximus said. didn't have to widen the hole. the silflex isn't the same thing as PVC. silflex fits just fine. same thing on the holes. just used a 1/4" drill bit and wiggled it around a bit. in the pic there's one tooth that looks like it's cracked. that was my first attempt to widen the slots. don't remember what i used but it sucked.

 

[Fonchy]

Hey electric: What did you use to fasten the silflex to the top of the tank, and how close to the back of the tank is your pipe.

I got 2 overflows on mine and I wan thinking of doing the same thing on mine but what do you think about this: one pipe staright out one overflow and from the other overflow put a 90 degree down and half way another 90 degree and another pipe so I will have one pipe on the top and another one about the middle or maybe a little down. How many hole do u think for a 72" (lenght) tank.

I got the same problem on my ovedrflow it doesnt skim the top. What size hole did you drilled on yours???

If you guys have any suggestions please dont hesitate.

I dont have any rock in mine but I want to get everything I can in before puting the rock.

 

[purduemaximus]

I didn't drill holes in mine like the rest I actually just used the drill bit to wident the entire slot and now it is skimming it very well.

As far as keeping it up. you won't need to the silflex kindof just floats up on its own and I think the water pressure might have something to do with keeping it rigid as well.

 

[electric130]

Hey electric: What did you use to fasten the silflex to the top of the tank, and how close to the back of the tank is your pipe.

i didn't. the PVC fittings and bouyancy of the plastic hold it up

I got 2 overflows on mine and I wan thinking of doing the same thing on mine but what do you think about this: one pipe staright out one overflow and from the other overflow put a 90 degree down and half way another 90 degree and another pipe so I will have one pipe on the top and another one about the middle or maybe a little down..

that would work fine, just make sure that you have a siphon break somewhere on the pipe that has the submerged bar. if you don't and power goes out, you'll have a mess.

How many hole do u think for a 72" (lenght) tank.

i have about 25 1/4" holes in 3ft of pipe on mine. number of holes doesn't really depend on length, it's how much flow through it. i'm pushing about 750-800GPH through mine. if you're running two returns and each has about 800GPH coming from it, i'd still only put 25 holes in each spraybar, just spread them out more. you can alway drill more holes if needed.

I got the same problem on my ovedrflow it doesnt skim the top. What size hole did you drilled on yours???

i used a 1/4" bit, but wiggled it around to make the hole bigger. the holes are probably 5/16" now. i only needed to drill out the top, but i also "extended" the holes up a little. try doing just the top, and if needed, widen the whole slot like PURDUE did.

 

[Fonchy]

Great Im going to Lowes right now to get mine. BTW your flowout the holes is pointing which way. (which way is the water coming out) at 90 degrees, 45 degrees or down, or does it mater????

great thanks