heather Posted May 17, 2005 Report Share Posted May 17, 2005 I just unpacked my Rena XP3 filter, which has arrived by Courier from Mike at Riverlea in Nelson. (Dont mind giving him a bit of a plug cause he's been really good!) Anyway it has an optional venturi fiiting on the outlet pipe. Its a bit of ailine that pokes above the water. But i have not a clue about what it is, what it does, or if i need it. Any ideas out there? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DiverJohn Posted May 17, 2005 Report Share Posted May 17, 2005 Hi heather, Dont use them myself, but I think you will find that this little bit of tube sucks in air and mixes it with the water to increase the oxgenation of the water. Does it have a valve @ the end? This is to vary the amount of air being sucked in. but you could try here... http://www.aquariumpharm.com/filstardirections.html STEP 5 Venturi Valve- If you are not using the venturi valve, skip to Step 6. (Note- If you are not using the Venturi you should have installed the Venturi Plug in Step #3-B. A. On the Outlet Pipe Assembly -- attach the Venturi Tubing (#B) to the Venturi Valve in the center of the Outflow Regulator (#4). B. Attach the Venturi Silencer Valve (#C) to the end of the venturi tubing. C. Use the Venturi Suction Cup & Clip (#D) to attach the Venturi Silencer Valve to the inside of the aquarium above the water line. HTH John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HummingBird Posted May 17, 2005 Report Share Posted May 17, 2005 Yeah you turn the valve and it sucks a bit of air in with the water being put back in the tank. You just just have the output breaking up the surface and achieve the same results though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heather Posted May 17, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 17, 2005 Yes it has a valve on it. Extra oxygen cant hurt, can it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heather Posted May 17, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 17, 2005 I was thinking I would have the outlet or spraybar running under water to minimise disturbance and so to minimise CO2 loss. If I do that then it would probably be a good i idea to add the O2? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DiverJohn Posted May 17, 2005 Report Share Posted May 17, 2005 Do you have the CO2 setup as well?? I think you will find that conventiona wisdom suggests you do not need to run O2 when running CO2 in a planted tank. If you have a look on the net you will find that in a planted tank o2 concentrations can actually exceed saturation (I read 120%) because the O2 plants produce is difused into the watter far better that any "bubble maker" or venturi system. Just recently my tank has started "fizzing" at night with the plants streaming O2 off the leaves. My fish are all doing fine, without the addition of extra O2. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DubbieBoy Posted May 17, 2005 Report Share Posted May 17, 2005 Hi Heather, If you're actively adding CO2 (as in a true planted tank) then you are best to leave the water surface as undisturbed as possible. I'd suggest you put the filter output well below the surface to minimise surface agitation and omit the venturi altogether as the bubbles will only cause CO2 loss which is the opposite of what you're trying to achieve. There's no need to worry about O2 unless your tank is heavily overstocked; in a properly stocked tank bubbles are pretty but serve little other purpose - Dubb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heather Posted May 17, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 17, 2005 Thanks all, that makes sense. One more question, does it make a difference for the fishies as to where and how i put the outlet under water. i.e. spraybar or normal, if spraybar then horizontal or vertical? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DubbieBoy Posted May 17, 2005 Report Share Posted May 17, 2005 Nope. The only difference is likely to be how strong the water current is. In a planted tank, a steady, gentle circulation is often best (you don't want your plants bent over in a strong current) in which case the spraybar might be best to modify the filter output. Horizontal, vertical, top pointing down or bottom pointing up, makes no odds. Fishies won't mind either way. Nice planted tanks are just the coolest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suphew Posted May 17, 2005 Report Share Posted May 17, 2005 Some fish like more or less current, my tetras spend most of their time swimming in the filters outputs at one end of the tank, my discus almost never go down that end and spend their time in the filter intake end where there is far less current. Out of interest, I actually setup my filter this way to acheive that result, i.e. so I would see more of the Discus. It's not so good for the tank because the water dumps onto a log and in the middle of all my plants so doesn't move the rubbish off the bottom as much as it could. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suphew Posted May 17, 2005 Report Share Posted May 17, 2005 One other thing, if you don't have a good diffuser for your CO2, you can hook the CO2 in to the venturi fitting. I've done it and it works well, but you need a bubble counter so you can see how much is going in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beachy Posted May 17, 2005 Report Share Posted May 17, 2005 Sometimes the venturi fittings can make a bit of a noise too, just thought id pop that in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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