# Best Spray Bar Design



## Veloth (Jun 25, 2008)

Welcome to TPT! I made one that ran across the back of my 75g at the top of the tank with the flow going towards the front. My co2 runs through my filter. This worked great for me, but I still need power heads to get the flow I wanted. Its the flow in the tank that determines the different Co2 concentrations in the tank.


----------



## sick lid (Jan 13, 2008)

jh1392 said:


> I am thinking of constructing my own spray bar for a planted tank. I would like to get opinions from you more experienced members on the best design. I want to get good water circulation, but I don't want the taller plants to be blown to one side or the other. Right now I am thinking about running it horizontally along the bottom with the holes pointed up. I will be adding Co2 soon to the intake of the filter. Does the placement of the spray bar effect the concentrations of Co2 at different areas of the tank? Thanks


That's how I have mine set up, and precisely for the reason you said- it keeps my plants from getting blown around. Mind you I don't run Co2, so it doesn't matter for me, but I do supplement the flow with a Koralia 1 and a Fluval 404, in a 180g.


----------



## jh1392 (Aug 30, 2009)

I forgot to mention that its a typical 30 gallon tank. Money is tight so I would prefer not to have to buy any extra powerheads.


----------



## sick lid (Jan 13, 2008)

Depends on the flow rate of your filter and how densely planted you are, but it's likely you won't need additional power heads in that size of tank.


----------



## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

If you are using CO2, and an external reactor, so the incoming water has the CO2 dissolved in it, I would put the spray bar at the bottom of the tank, pointed towards the front. That puts the CO2 down where it can rise up through the plants, giving them the best shot at getting some of it before it leaves the tank at the water surface. If you make the spray holes in the spray bar have a combined area significantly less than the cross section area of the spray bar tube, every hole should get about the same flow through it. And, the larger those holes are, the slower the flow will be coming out of the holes. But, if the flow is too slow, the water and CO2 won't reach all the way across the tank.


----------



## essabee (Oct 7, 2006)

When aquarium goods were unavailable here; I adapted the UGF for all that I needed for a planted aquarium and that included CO2 reactors. 

Now although aquarium goods are available here; I find my system more convenient, easier to maintain, more efficient in creating circulation of tank water, and very economical.

I don't need a canister for mechanical filtration. My UGF does that for it uses swimming pool filter sand for that purpose. I use submersible pumps hidden in rear corners to draw water from the UGF ensuring that I have an adequate flow for the tank. The UGF is situated at the bottom of the front portion of the tank and the pumps after drawing the water sends it down CO2 reactors to finally escape into the tank through spray bars along the bottom of rear wall (pointed at 45 degrees upwards and forward). These placements cause the tank water to circulate from back to front slowly pushing all the muck towards the filter sand of the UGF which traps them. During the weekly water change I simply vacuum the UGF sand and presto I have at the same time cleaned my tank and the filter.

My UGF is walled off from the substrate and therefore the plant roots do not interfere with it. Any PMDD or micro solution to be applied is injected into the sand of the UGF. This ensures that it is further diluted and spread along the whole length of the rear by the spray bar and then along with the circulation flow forward through the plants.


----------



## fauxjargon (Oct 23, 2010)

Hoppy said:


> If you are using CO2, and an external reactor, so the incoming water has the CO2 dissolved in it, I would put the spray bar at the bottom of the tank, pointed towards the front. That puts the CO2 down where it can rise up through the plants, giving them the best shot at getting some of it before it leaves the tank at the water surface. If you make the spray holes in the spray bar have a combined area significantly less than the cross section area of the spray bar tube, every hole should get about the same flow through it. And, the larger those holes are, the slower the flow will be coming out of the holes. But, if the flow is too slow, the water and CO2 won't reach all the way across the tank.


Hoppy, what do you think of the idea of sucking water off the surface of the tank (using a small skimmer), adding CO2 to the water via an inline reactor, then pumping it into a spray bar at the bottom of the tank?


----------



## hbosman (Oct 5, 2006)

essabee said:


> When aquarium goods were unavailable here; I adapted the UGF for all that I needed for a planted aquarium and that included CO2 reactors.
> 
> Now although aquarium goods are available here; I find my system more convenient, easier to maintain, more efficient in creating circulation of tank water, and very economical.
> 
> ...


This is a very cool setup. Filters from front where it can be cleaned easily, CO2 injected into both green pipes (probably) and spray bar circulating water and CO2 towards the front. The hardware footprint in the aquarium isn't bad either, considering that even with canister filters and external reactors, there is usually at least one powerhead and at least one set of pipes into the tank.


----------

