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What's the effect of head hight on filter flow rates?


fishy-fish

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I have a canister filter which is rated at 1200L/hr with no media in it and at tank level. I have three trays of media and the top of the filter is 87cm below the top of the tank where the outlet enters. My outlet hose is also approx 2m long from the canny to the spray bar. Based on this, does anyone know roughly how much preformance is lost? If I was to lift the cannister up 30cm so it's approx 50cm below the top of tank, how much more flow am I likely to get? And the same goes for shortening the outlet distance - would that also help if I dropped it to say a metre?

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If I was to lift the cannister up 30cm so it's approx 50cm below the top of tank, how much more flow am I likely to get?

None. Head height is the distance of the outlet(Spraybar) above the surface of the water in the tank. The cannister's physical location is irrelevant.

And the same goes for shortening the outlet distance - would that also help if I dropped it to say a metre?

A little bit, that would decrease frictional losses. I don't think it will be much, maybe 50lph.

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I always thought that the water siphoned from the tank to the filter and was pumped back up to the tank. Because of this there would be no increase in static head unless it was pumped back to a level higher than the water level in the tank. There will be a slight loss of flow from the friction loss in the pipes but that would not amount to much. I don't think they work unless they are below the level of the tank.

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I believe the rating of a filter is measured with the cannister filter at the same level as the tank. Efficiency drops when the cannister is below the tank due to the increased pressures on the impeller.

dont know about that one aye, for example pretty sure the eheim classic's for example need to be below the tank as there a gravity fed filter

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