elusive_fish Posted March 10, 2009 Report Share Posted March 10, 2009 Hi, I'm currently setting up a 250L tank and have a Aqua One Cf1200 on the way. I have never set up a canister filter - and although I know I can follow the instructions to make it work I don't know what the best placement is. I've tried searching for this answer, but the search function doesn't want to return results due to the words being too common. Bah. I'm imagining that I'd put the spray bar just above the sand at one end of the long axis to move the mess down to the other end, where I'd have the inlet hose. Does this sound about right? The sand I have is around 1-2mm. If anyone has suggestions - especially if you have a diagram - please let me know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whetu Posted March 10, 2009 Report Share Posted March 10, 2009 It depends on your setup, the kind of fish you have, where your plants are placed, where ytour hard landscaping is, and what you want to achieve. Hope that helps. :lol: Ok more specifically: If you have fish that like a decent current, then yes you will want to make sure you are rushing the water straight from one end of the tank to the other, as fast as possible. If you have fish that like a slower current, then you may want to point your spay bar towards the tank glass or anothr solid object, to create a less direct current. With sand, you will need to make sure you don't keep picking up the sand and blowing it around the tank. I have gravel and if I point my spray bar straight down I end up with a big hole in the gravel and I can see the glass on the bottom of the tank! If you have plants you will need to give them a slightly sheltered area to grow, at least until they get established - otherwise your stem plants will end up growing horizontally (actually not a bad look if it's what you want. However you arrange things you are going to end up with eddies and with some dead spots where gunk will collect behind rocks, plants, in corners, etc. you will need to vacuum them out once in a while, or just stir the water up to let the filter get hold of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whetu Posted March 10, 2009 Report Share Posted March 10, 2009 Actually I just re-read that and it's a very complicated answer to a simple problem. :oops: I suggest setting up your filter with the output at one end of your tanka nd the intake at the other end. All the rest of the detail can be worked out by experimentation. The only thing I would say is make sure your intake is high enough above the sand that you're not going to end up with all the sand inside the filter. Once you've done that you can just experiment with the position of the output/spray bar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenix44 Posted March 10, 2009 Report Share Posted March 10, 2009 +1 for the second post. lol. Keep your spray bar toward the top of one end of the tank. I dont use a spray bar as it limits the power of the filter (though negligibly). | In................................Out | | ^ ................................||... | | || ............................... V....| | | | Water | | | | Fish | | | | | | | | sand | | _______sand________________ | Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenix44 Posted March 10, 2009 Report Share Posted March 10, 2009 ok... that didnt work... :-? here: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elusive_fish Posted March 10, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 10, 2009 Thanks for the lovely paint diagram! So you have the out hose quite near the water surface? Does it still catch all the poop that settles on he bottom? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenix44 Posted March 10, 2009 Report Share Posted March 10, 2009 sorry it wasn't clear. the IN is the water going to the filter. the OUT is the water going out from the filter. (I did that cause the filter has labels on it). reason why i have the filter OUT so high is so that i have lots of water flow which my fish like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wok Posted March 12, 2009 Report Share Posted March 12, 2009 I have submerged my spray bar so that I get flow across the tank instead of one big jet of water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spoon Posted March 12, 2009 Report Share Posted March 12, 2009 in the instructions for the cf1200 it recommends that you put the spray bar across the back .this way you can make it longer wit the pieces provided, so more holes in it more water volume but at a lower velocity(the velocity of the jets will affect turbulence ). a longer spray bar (or pointed down spraybar )would be better for a planted tank as its less likely to stir the surface of the water(which drives out co2) but im assuming this is for your african tank where that wont matter possibly just using one of the spraybar attachement(the come with two that clip together to make 1 long 1) across the opposite end of the tank to the intake strainer and pointed down at the substrate in the middle of the tank to help push some of the crud towards the intake strainer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smidey Posted March 12, 2009 Report Share Posted March 12, 2009 my cf1200 has the spraybar at the top of the back of the tank & sprays into the back wall as the cf1200 creates alot of current. you can angle it slightly upward to create a "wave" on the surface to airate the water also so you don't need an air stone. the outlet or suction hose i have sucking from the bottom at one end. the cf1000 don't create as much current so are a little more versatile on how you can point the spraybar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted March 12, 2009 Report Share Posted March 12, 2009 Generally you want the spraybar and inlet at opposite ends/sides of the tank to promote good flow through the tank it can be good to stick it above or slightly below the surface as others have suggested. But if you are relying on this to keep your fish alive (ie when you turn it off they gasp at the surface) add an airstone too, I used to do it just with a spray bar but had one come unstuck in the middle of the night and woke up to some half dead very unhappy fish. Obviously it is one of those risks that comes with overstocking tanks. End of the day just set it all up and have a play see what works for you and what the fish like if the fish are going round in circles you might have to look at changing where you put it If you stick the outlet too close to your sand it will all get stirred up, same with your intake you don't want to jam it into the sand because it will fill your filter with it generally with fine sand based tanks I put the intake alot higher up the tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elusive_fish Posted March 13, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 13, 2009 Currently I have the spray bar at one end, the inlet on the other. The spray bar is pointing directly down on the left hand side, which creates quite a strong current. I heard lionheads like it, but it seems to be the johanni that spend all day swimming into the stream like a fish treadmill lol. Should I turn this up towards the surface? My actual aquarium design makes it awkward to stick on both outlet and inlets to the wall, which is complicating issues somewhat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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