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Atomizer, Spraybar & Koralia on a corner tank.

Gary Nelson

Member
Joined
20 Jan 2011
Messages
1,292
Location
Leicestershire
Hello everyone,

I wondered if some of you might be able to help a newbe out here.

I have a 180 litre corner tank, which is almost 700mm deep. I am running an external filter (Eheim 2075) with a inline atomizer from eBay. I am using the eheim spray bar mounted at the top left of the tank wall so that there is a little surface ripple from it. I am also running a Koralia 1600 mounted on the same wall as the spray bar but about 8” from the bottom, slightly pointing down to my planted grass.

I have suffered some algae on the grass, this was taken out and some more re-planted. I would like to know if I seem to have the right configuration as regards setup and placement of my equipment. Another concern is that when my co2 is on and I watch the fine mist coming out of the spray bar it’s just firing across the tank, with only a little bit of CO2 travelling down to the planted grass area. I am worried that if I angle the spray bar to fire the flow and CO2 down more into the tank, fish will suffer? My CO2 is running at about 1 bubble a second and my drop checker is green to lime green at times. I am running 3 x T5 lights (24w each)

Any advice would be greatly accepted as I have played about with moving the Koralia to different locations, but still not getting fantastic results :(
 
From what you've described, it might be that the Koralia is actually pushing CO2 and nutrients away from the grasses. if you imagine the flow is coming out from the top and across the tank, hitting the right side and deflecting back, the Koralia is then pushing water against it?

Of course, being a corner tank that may not be the case exactly. It's difficult to picture. Ian's lounge tank might be one emulate (depending on your planting).

I'd be tempted to try having the spraybar mounted pushing across the top and the Koralia in the front corner (where the spraybar points too) then angled down and to the side, sort of across the front but towards the centre. Then have your inlet in the back corner. So you get a sort of circular flow pattern (if that's even possible in a corner tank).

I'm not sure that makes sense!
 
Thanks for the info Steve, So is it best to leave the spray bar spraying out horizontal, or do any of you point the spray bar to fire down into the planted area?
 
Yours is quite a deep tank so distribution is always going to be a challenge, coupled with the corner shape that magnifies the issue. The best solution would be to spend an afternoon playing with flow. You are using an inline atomiser so you have a great indicator of where the flow is going (after all, the flow is there to shove CO2 round the tank!). Play with various configurations until you can see the bubbles going where you want them - because of your unique tank shape the accepted wisdom may not be applicable to you! Your fish will not come to any harm because of this. Don't rely on the drop checker to tell you the AMOUNT of gas going into the tank - the best indicator for this is livestock health. When you have afew days to do it jst up your CO2 injection by a bit each day. Keep a REALLY close eye on your tank and AS SOON as your livestock look unhappy (gasping, mouthing at the surface etc) cut the gas back a bit and TADA - maximum gas injection. The DC colour is such an arbitrary thing (one mans yellow is another mans green) that it is really unreliable as a measure of the quantity of gas injected, however it is useful to check consistency day-to-day and around the tank.
Hope this helps,
Matt
 
Do any of you think that if I could mount my spraybar at the back of the tank so that its firing straight forward, towards the front of the glass that it would work allot better than the spraybar mounted on the side.
 
It might, but it may leave you with a spray bar mounted right above your plants, and not at the back of the tank. You may do better using the outlet without the spray bar, located in the back corner pointing directly forward. Then supplement that with two koralias, one in each of the front corners, pointing in and down?
 
Did you work out an optimum position please?

I am going through exactly the same thing this weekend.

I've just ordered a circulation pump, problem I'm having with just the spraybar (same position as yours) is that the right hand half of the tank seems to be doing fine, but the left hand isn't. However the plants on the right are tall and the plants on the left are short, so it could be that the tall plants are getting co2 because the co2 is near the top.

To put it another way, I may find that with tank set up as it currently is, if my tall plants were on the left and the short ones on the right, I may find the left hand is now fine, hence it has more to do with the co2 not getting to the bottom of the tank rather than where the spraybar is positioned.

Beginning to wish I'd got a normal rectangle tank :)
 
Yes corner tanks are a little difficult to get right and I know just how you feel!

The way I have mine at the moment and it seems to be working is spray bar left side with the addition of a koralia pump just below it and pointing downwards to help push the flow along, very similar to ‘Ian’s Lounge tank’ I don’t think it really matters which side the spray bar goes, just as long as the koralia is the same side.

I have had it like this for the last month and all seems good so far, which corner tank do you have?

Cheers,
Gary
 
I did it your way (although I have a cheaper circulation pump which faces towards the glass, pushing the water round it, rather than down).

Now when I drop fish flakes in, I can see them going the entire way around the tank.

Many thanks
 
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