spraybar help

[shinny]

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I am going to make a spray bar for my return pump. I am going to drill 10 or 12, 1/4 inch holes down the length of my pipe and point them in the direction of the LR in my tank. I will then put an end cap over the tubing. The pump is a Mag 9.5. The pipe I am using is 1 1/4 inch flex spa pipe. There will be no 90 degree turns just maybe a 45 so I will have quite a bit of pressure I think. Comments from anyone with experience doing something similar would be appreciated. Thanks. Also, how would I prevent siphoning with this setup?

 

[CaptainCoral]

Welcome to Reef Central!

I made one for my 55 gal tank 3 or 4 yrs ago and it works great. (far better than the stock aga single spout). It is horizontally mounted at the top in in the back. I have my holes positioned spraying the surgace from back to front mostly, and some holes pointing down at the rockwork. The siphon breaks really fast in this position. I think my hole size was 1/8" initially and found them too small and infrequent, so I made more at 3'16" size. I think I have around 25 holes. My tank is 4' long and flow is diminished at the capped end. If I were to do it over, I'd split the return line, and feed the spraybar from both sides.

How were you planning on mounting it (vetical/horizontal)?
What size tank is this for?

 

[shinny]

tank size 67 gal. I will be mounting it horizontal. I have heard that you lose flow the closer you get to the end. One guy drilled smaller holes at the start and increased size near the end cap. I think I will have to do a little trial run and see how it goes. I think mine will run about 2 and a half feet at the top. Thanks for the info.

 

[818]

With a mag 9.5 i doubt youll loose any flow even with a 90 degree in there.

IME I used a cheapy force pump from ebay rated at 400gph and I did that same spray bar. though I eneded up goin with a sweet closed loops design from melevs web site.


I built one like his here
http://www.melevsreef.com/closedloop.html


Check his whole site while ur at it.
http://www.melevsreef.com/

This guys made so many reefers lifes easier with many step by step DIY projects. MELEV SAVED MY OBSSESION IN THIS HOBBY!!!!!!!!:lol:

 

[shinny]

yea, I have checked out that site before. U are right that is a great site. I got the spray bar and sump hooked up but I am waiting to fill her up. I have like 10 holes drilled in it right now but I might have to do more if they are too powerful.

 

[DHyslop]

I just built a horizontal spraybar for the return on my 75. I have about 40 3/16" holes in it, mostly staggered in three rows pointed toward the far side and a bit down.

The bar itself is 1" PVC and has a male fitting--the whole thing twists right into a bulkhead in the back pane. Two 45 degree elbows bring the bar up to the water level so I don't lose all the water above the bulkhead in a pump failure. I did this arrangement because it is an octopus tank and I don't have "escape-proof" a hole in the lid for the return.

I can't wait to test it tomorrow after all the glue has dried!

Dan

 

[shinny]

yea, let me know how that works. That seems like a lot of holes. What kind of pump do you have or how much gph are you running? I hope it works for you. I drilled about a dozen holes in mine but I have a bigger pipe (1.5 inch ID) I also increased hole size as I got to the end of the spray bar.

 

[DHyslop]

I'm running a Mag 7 pump and its screaming. Before I had it set up with 3/4" rigid PVC and got about 300 gph by the bucket test. Now I'm using flexible PVC and even with the spray bar I'm getting better flow. I have two rigid PVC drains so I can't do a bucket test, but I would guess I'm doing around 400 gph on that little pump.

Dan