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

[electric130]

Suggestion: Why dont you make one closed to the bottom of the tank and one on the top this way all the preassure wont be concentrated at the top. One thing, when you make your spray bar do not use glue. Bad mojo if something hapens and you have to take it out.

because the one at the bottom will be a nightmare to clean the holes, and the will have to be cleaned. we did 2 spraybars on my father in laws tank. one at the top and one midway down that ran behind the rocks. well, 1 year later and not being able to clean the holes on the bottom bar, that bar might as well not even be there. if you can't access the holes for cleaning, don't bother putting a spraybar there.

 

[Lowredranger]

i am not really worried about there being to much pressure b/c i can always drill more holes i was just looking for a good starting point for that size pipe and at least 1000gph going through it.

 

[Fonchy]

Is this tank going to be bare bottom. IMO 1100GPH on a hex tank I think is too much and if you make the pipe 1/2" then it will be a spray from hell.. Good luck.

 

[Lowredranger]

well i was originally going to just have 6 1/2 nozzels and i hooked it up and it was not too strong but then decided to go with this idea. i can lower the gph a little to like 1000-900 because the pump also diverts a little water to a refugium. no it is not a bare bottom but i figured that i could have a hole every inch if i needed to lower the flow but it is going to be an sps tank so i want flow just not the sand going everywhere but the holes are going to be pointing at the rock not at the sand or across the tank. thanks for all advice.
Jason

 

[HotHotHot]

I just installed the spraybar and it works great. Nice flow all around my tank. Super easy for a not-too-handy DIY'er.

I also just upgraded my return pump from a rio 2100 to a Mag-18. Whoa! Really nice pump.

I do have a question though, unrelated to the spraybar. Since upgrading the return pump, the syphon break is now acting like a venturi and sucking in air. I think it has about a 1/16th hole in it. Would drilling a larger hole allow water to flow out again, or would it make it worse?

TIA,
Ed

 

[Homebrew]

HotHotHot - Wow... that's interesting. So I assume your spraybar is spitting bubbles?

A few questions... Is the siphon break hole in AGA supplied plumbing? Mine is, but I haven't upgraded my pump yet. I think Electric130 said his AGA hole was drilled down. In mine, it is drilled horizontally into the "L" so it points towards the overflow/tank. I would think that the horizontal drilling would keep it from sucking air and instead would shoot it out (as it does now). Is your syphon break hole horizontally or vertically oriented?

Electric130 - was I correct that your siphon break hole is vertical, or is it horizontal too?

 

[electric130]

I just installed the spraybar and it works great. Nice flow all around my tank. Super easy for a not-too-handy DIY'er.

I also just upgraded my return pump from a rio 2100 to a Mag-18. Whoa! Really nice pump.

I do have a question though, unrelated to the spraybar. Since upgrading the return pump, the syphon break is now acting like a venturi and sucking in air. I think it has about a 1/16th hole in it. Would drilling a larger hole allow water to flow out again, or would it make it worse?

TIA,
Ed

where is your siphon break hole in relation to the rest of the pipe? do you have the AGA plumbing? my siphon break has water coming out of it under normal op. do not make it bigger. more than likely you have too many holes in the spray bar. how long's the spray bar? how many holes and of what size?

 

[electric130]

HotHotHot - Wow... that's interesting. So I assume your spraybar is spitting bubbles?

A few questions... Is the siphon break hole in AGA supplied plumbing? Mine is, but I haven't upgraded my pump yet. I think Electric130 said his AGA hole was drilled down. In mine, it is drilled horizontally into the "L" so it points towards the overflow/tank. I would think that the horizontal drilling would keep it from sucking air and instead would shoot it out (as it does now). Is your syphon break hole horizontally or vertically oriented?

Electric130 - was I correct that your siphon break hole is vertical, or is it horizontal too?

yes, mine's vertical. on the underside of the elbow. orientation shouldn't matter though. i wouldn't think anyways.

 

[Homebrew]

Someone can (and will!) correct me if I'm wrong, but I THINK it could matter depending on the force of flow over the hole. Sprayers like lawn weed sprayers have vertical holes to draw liquid from the jar to mix. The flow over the hole pulls it in. If the hole is horizontal in the fitting the water would be forced out rather than sucking in air. Does this make sense, or am I off base?

The Mag 18 is probably pushing more water than your pump, which may also be causing the problem on his and not yours? At 3' head, it is rated at 1500 GPH.

I'm curious to hear if HOT has a vertical or horizontal siphon hole.

 

[Homebrew]

Just as FYI, my AGA supplied elbow is also drilled on the underside, but fairly horizontally drilled (slight angle up into fitting) so as the water rounds the corner it hits the hole and sprays towards the overflow/center of tank.

 

[HotHotHot]

Thanks everyone.

I'm not sure of the orientation of the hole. I'll have to get in there tonight with a mirror. If I had to guess, I think it is exactly in the corner of the L. i.e. direct flow out at a 45 degree angle.

Yes, I have the standard plumbing kit from Oceanic. FYI, under normal circumstances it used to spit water.

"more than likely you have too many holes in the spray bar. how long's the spray bar? how many holes and of what size?"

Interesting. The bar is approximately 39" and has 23 holes of 1/4" size.

"Someone can (and will!) correct me if I'm wrong, but I THINK it could matter depending on the force of flow over the hole. "

That was my thought. It wasn't engineered fro that high of flow.

Regarding the pump, I'm losing 12-14 ft of head due to twists and turns, and the outlet is about 5' high (deep tank). The flow should actually be under 600 GPH, because I didn't want to overload the drain (1" bulkhead). The overflow has maybe 12" of water in it.

Ed

 

[Homebrew]

Ed,

Electric130 and I have AGA, not Oceanic plumbing. Is your elbow glued or just pushed on (ie. easy to replace). If easily replaced, I bet if you drilled the hole like mine, you wouldn't have a problem. I could post or email you a sketch in case my description wasn't clear. If it is glued, you could cut and replace with a coupling. Elec130 may have a better idea, but I think this would eliminate the problem. How much air is the spraybar spitting?

Greg

 

[HotHotHot]

Home,

I was looking at it this morning, and it looks like it is glued. I had the same idea. If it's just screwed on, that would be an easy replacement. I'll try to give it a twist tonight.

Another question. Since the spraybar is exclusively at the top of the tank, not dual level, do I really need a siphon break? Since the water would stop flowing at the bottom of the "teeth". BTW, the teeth are hadling the flow well. I'm glad I didn't have to twiddle with that too.

Ed

 

[HotHotHot]

Re: the amount of air.

It seems to go in cycles. Not much and then a lot.

It's enough to keep the fish "heads down" Although they adjusted.

Ed

Edited 'cause I can't type.

 

[OxInYourBox]

JR-I'm going to copy this for my Oceanic 58G as I was impressed with it in seeing your tank first hand.

 

[Homebrew]

JR... not trying to hijack your thread... really. I'm just stoked about this Sil-O-Flex spraybar!

Ed - my elbow was on tight, but not glued. I would tend to agree that the siphon break in the elbow may not be needed now since the first few holes in the Sil-O-Flex will do the same thing. I noticed right off that after a system shut down, my sump filled with only half the water that it normally did without the spraybar because the spraybar holes let so much more air in so much faster. Most of the sump water from a system power down came from the drain overflow area and not the return. You may be able to just plug the hole in the elbow, but I will assume no responsibility for any flooding issues in your house!

 

[bigzman]

Any one try this one the new megaflow? I tried to read the whole thread. it is to long.

 

[HotHotHot]

Ed - my elbow was on tight, but not glued. I would tend to agree that the siphon break in the elbow may not be needed now since the first few holes in the Sil-O-Flex will do the same thing. ... You may be able to just plug the hole in the elbow, but I will assume no responsibility for any flooding issues in your house!

I'm glad you agree with me, 'cause that's what I did (plugged it). That was more of a "Reality Check".

I'll let you know what I find out tonight. Another trip to Lowe's ...

Ed

 

[electric130]

Interesting. The bar is approximately 39" and has 23 holes of 1/4" size.

the problem isn't high flow, it's lack of flow in your case. i have 24 holes over the span of about 42", but my holes are 7/32" which is just slightly smaller than 1/4". i'm also pushing about 800GPH through this. so there's enough back pressure to create even flow through all of the holes. if you have more holes than you have flow, the holes towards the beginning of the pipe will have less flow, or no flow since all of the water is rushing to the far end of the pipe. i experienced this once when i had too many holes in the pipe. the holes at the near end to the return were sucking air, while the far end holes were putting out tons of water.

this may or may not be the case with your setup. the easy way to tell would be to take your fingers and start covering holes on the far end of the pipe and see if it stops. if it does, you've got too many holes. if it doesn't, the orientation of the siphon break may be the problem.

 

[electric130]

JR-I'm going to copy this for my Oceanic 58G as I was impressed with it in seeing your tank first hand.

thanks for the compliment Will. let me know how it works out on the 58 and of course let me know if you have questions.