Tetratec EX1200 (Running at reduced flow)

[Richard Dowling]

Hi All,

I have a Tetratec EX1200 filter which runs at 1200LPH.

My next tank will likely be around 70 litres (60x45x25).

I know that having flows over what the tank manufacturers say is usually a good thing for aquascapers but I would imagine this is a little excessive. On the tetratecs you do have flow valves on the tubes which you can use for feeding times to lower the flow temporarily. Does anyone know if you can half close these valves to permanently reduce the flow and make a large filter suitable for a small tank? I didnt know if it would put strain on my filter motor by doing so???

Can anyone advise whether i can keep this filter or would a new smaller one be better?

 

[Notator]

I don't know if this helps but :
I have a Aquamanta 200.. on a 26 litre tank... (It's suitable for a 200 litre tank!) and YES, it IS "turned down".

The "effort" a pump has to make is the effort to life the water back up into the tank, gravity/siphon helps it on the way down. Reducing the water flow with a gate valve simply removes the volume/turnover - the pipes are still full therefore the same weight of water / load is in action on the pump.
Plus, I beleive most pumps use an impeller - the load here is by driving the impeller through the water which is not compressible, the actual flow through is irrelevant. The impeller doesn't know if it's pushing up 10 or a 100 litres, as long as the system is full, you should be fine.

 

[Richard Dowling]

Ah ok, that sounds ok then. I just had visions that a motor that is designed to turn over that amount of water would be trying to shift more water than you are passing through it and it would over heat and burn out or something. Thanks for your help.

 

[Garuf]

I ran a ex1200 on a 60x30x30 and never had any issues, I wouldn't stress it at all, I've ran nearly 40x turnover in the past and never had any issues with fish stress, fish had great colour ate well and were loads more active than any I'd seen in standard fish tank setups or "too much flow" or anything like that. Just run the filter as it comes, they only produce about 40% of what they actually say they do anyways, in all seriousness, there's no need to dial it back, just enjoy the extra umph, the plants like more flow it allows them to get more food and also makes them grow more compact.

Talking to tetra about running the taps closed, they say it will stress the pumps and void the warranty, they're not meant to be restricted using the taps but you can do it.

 

[Richard Dowling]

Ah ok, well i'll see how it goes in that case. When i had the ex1200 in a Rio125 i had problems with my sand substrate getting blown away from the front by the spray bar, i figured my new plant substrate may get blown about in the same way. The addition of lily pipes may improve the distribution of flow though id imagine. We'll see

 

[Garuf]

Ahh, right some people have reported things like this in the past. My advice would be to double check what sand you have, if it's very fine, maybe swap it out, that is, unless you're happy with it. I know I have a lot of problems with wear on the filter impeller and mulm build ups when I tried to use a very fine play sand. The other thing would to to take a drill bit and to open out the holes, the issue isn't related to the turnover but the pressure created by the small holes creating a high pressure/velocity column of water, reducing the size of the holes will reduce the pressure, the flow will be roughly the same but at a much lesser pressure/velocity.