LancsRick
Member
- Joined
- 18 Apr 2012
- Messages
- 683
Ok, there are various snippets both on here and scattered on the net, but nowhere have I found a discussion where anyone appears to have returned to say how they got on with their flow layouts.
At present I'm running just the internal filter (to be upgraded to 1000lph), but will be moving to an external in the near future. That said, I'm more than capable of forming and drilling acrylic tube, so I'm intending to make spraybars as required.
My questions are from two angles really:
- how best to setup the spraybar(s) for outflow
- where to position the inflow to a) support the flow and b) pick up surface material as well as suspended
What I'm thinking of doing is this:
- Outflow will be across the rear corner (like the horizontal bar on an "A"), facing forwards, angled horizontally. This should give a good area of surface agitation, and also start top-bottom flow by forcing the water down the front glass.
- Inflow will be positioned a small (1 inch? 2 inches?) distance below the surface right in the back corner (the top point of the "A"), behind the spraybar by 4-6 inches.
The only concern I've got with the thinking above (and I might just have to test it if nobody can offer advice on here!) is that if there isn't sufficient momentum built by the outflow, then rather than setting up a circulation current that goes all the way along the top, down the front glass, and all the way back along the bottom, it might "short circuit" and actually transition from top to bottom midway along the tank, leaving a deadspot at the front glass.
I've got half a mind to knock up a CAD model of the tank and run a CFD simulation on it to try and get a somewhat informed answer, because I'm just going on intuition here!!
Any and all help gratefully received.
At present I'm running just the internal filter (to be upgraded to 1000lph), but will be moving to an external in the near future. That said, I'm more than capable of forming and drilling acrylic tube, so I'm intending to make spraybars as required.
My questions are from two angles really:
- how best to setup the spraybar(s) for outflow
- where to position the inflow to a) support the flow and b) pick up surface material as well as suspended
What I'm thinking of doing is this:
- Outflow will be across the rear corner (like the horizontal bar on an "A"), facing forwards, angled horizontally. This should give a good area of surface agitation, and also start top-bottom flow by forcing the water down the front glass.
- Inflow will be positioned a small (1 inch? 2 inches?) distance below the surface right in the back corner (the top point of the "A"), behind the spraybar by 4-6 inches.
The only concern I've got with the thinking above (and I might just have to test it if nobody can offer advice on here!) is that if there isn't sufficient momentum built by the outflow, then rather than setting up a circulation current that goes all the way along the top, down the front glass, and all the way back along the bottom, it might "short circuit" and actually transition from top to bottom midway along the tank, leaving a deadspot at the front glass.
I've got half a mind to knock up a CAD model of the tank and run a CFD simulation on it to try and get a somewhat informed answer, because I'm just going on intuition here!!
Any and all help gratefully received.
