# Fluval 306 - different intake/outtake and tubing



## bsherwood (Nov 22, 2007)

I have several tanks and am experimenting with exactly what you are talking about. We have all used the HOB overflow filters. Those give you everything in the same location. They also give you noise and the joy of purchasing filters. (don't get me wrong- I use them, they are workhorses- I have at least 10 in various sizes). When I was in the salt insanity I purchased an FX5 for my big tank. Big ugly fluval hoses. I put them smack dab in the center of the 120. I had a nice circular flow. Recently I purchased 5 Sun-Sun's of various sizes. I now have 2- 55's and put the intake and the outflow side by side on one and on opposite sides on the other. one is a shrimp tank and the other is a dirted planted tank. Thus far I notice no difference but the dirted tank has only been up for about 5 days.


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## keymastr (May 25, 2015)

You can use the Ehiem 5/8ths tubing and a standard hose clamp for that. Makes adding in-line stuff much easier and the smooth wall tubing flows much better.


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## heel4you (Mar 8, 2015)

Hey milbran220,
Don't mean to hijack your conversation, just going to bump.
I am wanting to do the same with my Fluval 406 (it uses same ribbed hose as your 306).
I like keymastr's idea, I just worry about leaks.
Anyone tried this method on Fluval 306 or 406?


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## Cmeister (Jul 5, 2009)

I have vinyl 5/8 OD 1/2 ID on my Fluval 205 - with 13mm lily pipes - works fine.


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## heel4you (Mar 8, 2015)

Cmeister,
Can you share a link or where you purchased the tubing?
Also, can you post some photos of the connections please?
Thank you


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## milbran220 (Jul 18, 2014)

Today I'm going to my LFS who has promised to set me up with some tubing and whatever adapter I need. I assume I will get charged more (in the long run) but having someone else do it and fit it will give me peace of mind.

Bump:


Cmeister said:


> I have vinyl 5/8 OD 1/5 ID on my Fluval 205 - with 13mm lily pipes - works fine.



5/8 tubing ... 13mm lily pipes? I thought you'd need 17mm lily pipes for that size tubing. 

Am I missing something obvious?



heel4you said:


> Cmeister,
> Can you share a link or where you purchased the tubing?
> Also, can you post some photos of the connections please?
> Thank you


I went to my LFS...they attached a 5/8" tubing to my filter. It was a tight fit but it worked. 

I will probably wait to hook it up and test it once I get the rest of my system delivered, but the tightness in the store and the fact that the manager said that was the tubing he'd use, makes me pretty confident in it.

Once I get it all hooked up I'll post here.

Bump:


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## Cmeister (Jul 5, 2009)

heel4you said:


> Cmeister,
> Can you share a link or where you purchased the tubing?
> Also, can you post some photos of the connections please?
> Thank you


Hey,

I meant to say 5/8" OD 1/2 " ID, I accidentally typed 1/5" ID by mistake. Home depot is a cheap source for vinyl tubing - food safe and presumably fish safe.


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## milbran220 (Jul 18, 2014)

Cmeister said:


> Hey,
> 
> I meant to say 5/8" OD 1/2 " ID, I accidentally typed 1/5" ID by mistake. Home depot is a cheap source for vinyl tubing - food safe and presumably fish safe.


Ahhh... that makes sense now


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## Cmeister (Jul 5, 2009)

milbran220 said:


> 5/8 tubing ... 13mm lily pipes? I thought you'd need 17mm lily pipes for that size tubing.
> 
> Am I missing something obvious?


 5/8" OD with 1/16" thick walls produced ~1/2" ID inner tubing.

1/2" roughly 12.5 mm
13mm lily requires 1/2 mm of stretch

In my case this yielded a solid connection, though I've noticed that taking the lily pipe on and off the vinyl a few times stretches it and weakens the connection. I cut my vinyl tubing just an inch shorted and this yielded 'fresh' vinyl. Ideally if you buy knock off lily pipes ( which I recommend over brand name, I know a good ebay seller who sells quality 13mm) go snag some type of quick connect/disconnect and allow yourself the option of removing the lily pipes (for cleaning or whatever) without needing to dislodge that connection. Someone I think had two sets, then left the 'unused' set in a shrimp tank to let them attack the algea that grows on the glass. I don't know if that really worked or not though. 

Remember, watertight fit comes from friction and that comes from the stretching. In order to get the stuff on in the first place I boil a large cup of water and keep it around to expand the vinyl.

Remember, lily pipes should be made from lab grade Pyrex, borosilicate glass, not just any crappy glass material; I don't know if most knock off glass brands are, but my first pair is, the seller mentioned that and that is the sole reason they got my business. Pyrex can take hot/cold transitions unlike say a drinking glass, knowing that I still try to avoid getting the glass with boiling water directly and just hit the vinyl. The first few times, I couldn't tug hard enough on the lily pipes to remove them from the vinyl, forms a very good connection. I read that pushing upwards on the vinyl can break the seal, and I found this sort of works. Remember, its easy to 'tug' from the loop at the top of a lily pipe, but this is the weakest part. Try to gently apply force along the same neck as is connected with the vinyl, never applying a point force in any one spot nor applying any to the suction cup glass barbs. Don't use the part that would normally sit in your tank to apply force to, as this applies force to the upper curve, the weakest part. I 'coil' some extra vinyl tubing in my stand, allowing me to pull the lily pipes up and away from my tank to service them - I realize that this creates more friction in the line, but a bit of 'play' in the vinyl line is good. If you had some sort of quick disconnect that would work instead. 

I found with my fluval 205, getting the vinyl on the lily pipes was relatively easy. Getting the vinyl tubing onto my fluval spouts was hard as can be.


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## Cmeister (Jul 5, 2009)

In terms of Co2, I've never done this - but from what I understand you can get some sort of co2 injection mixer off of ebay that is rigid plastic that your vinyl tubing connects to. Once mixed, I'm not sure the Co2 damaging the Vinyl is as noticeable. 

The reverse funnel lily pipes are supposedly shaped to sit side by side your intake, and do a 'suction' eddy effect, sucking water from the surface down inside the funnel. I found that my fluval 205 is hard pressed to provide enough flow for this to occur. However, I built a little lego stand  that elevates the lily pipe to the surface and at the surface it can create the vortexes. 

Ultimately - the placement isn't 'important' specifically. Just do whatever looks best or whatever you like best. I find my lily pipes are always dirty, I ordered a cleaning thing for them, it never arrived and I noticed a significant number of pictures of broken lily pipes supposedly from the cleaning things. I find my lily pipes, even dirty, still look neat and are very 'clean', tidy and take up much less room then the typical fluval spouts. I just like them, and I wouldn't pay more than 25$ (canadian) for a 13mm set. I know 16/17mm sets get $$ though. 

Most people I know throw an inline hydro heater on their canister filter outflow line. I'm way too cheap to buy a hydro heater - but if you can get a working one, I think that is a slick setup.

Bump: Anyways, my mouth runneth overethh. 

I find the 5/8" tubing on my fluval seems somewhat restrictive, if 17mm lily's weren't so expensive I would have gone that route and gotten the extra flow. I even found my vinyl pipes (when new) got all kinds of algea crud for the first 2 months. The crud entirely halted the water flow down to just a trickle, but inexplicably disappeared after that. I have no idea if 16mm tubing would fit comfortably on the fluval ports, but I suspect it would. 

I did a lot of research into lily pipes myself, when I bought a set a year+ ago. Sounds silly, its just an out/inflow, but I intend to spend $ only on things that last, so I wanted to be sure. I thought I would save you the time so you are aware.


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## heel4you (Mar 8, 2015)

Great information!



> I went to my LFS...they attached a 5/8" tubing to my filter. It was a tight fit but it worked.


Millbrand220,
When you have a moment, I would like to see a photo of the connections. 
I can't wait to get rid of these ribbed pipes!

Cmeister,
Can you PM me the where you got your Lily pipes? I just got a used set of ViV 17mm for $30.00 and the intake was broken in shipping :/ (Got my money back). It was a shame, nice set too!!
Now, I have to buy another set or try to find another intake. I know I want soon find another deal like the last one, but the cheaper the better 

On another note, in the same deal as the lily pipes, I also picked up a used Hydor inline heater for $30.00. I can't wait to get this hooked up too 

I am setting up a new 65 gallon next month, so I am trying to get all my "ducks in a row"...lol

Thanks!


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## milbran220 (Jul 18, 2014)

heel4you said:


> I am setting up a new 65 gallon next month, so I am trying to get all my "ducks in a row"...lol
> 
> Thanks!


Sounds like we are in similar spots. I'm hoping to receive my substrate this week or next, and I'm still deciding on hardscape.

I will definitely take a photo once I start putting the whole thing together in the next week or two. Still haven't ordered my CO2 system and accompanying in line diffuser which will need to be installed.

I do have a Hydor heater though... wonder if I'll be putting that above or below the co2 diffuser.


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## heel4you (Mar 8, 2015)

Yes, we are in the same boat...lol

I am wanting to build my own cerges reactor (for 100% dilution with the water) for my pressurized Co2. I just cannot seem to find a concise (short) thread on how to build one. Every thread I have found, they kept "tweeking" it. So, I am not sure what worked and what did not!

As for the heater, I don't think it really matters. Just a matter of preference. I "believe" I will place mine before the Co2 reactor.

Looking forward to seeing your progress!


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## milbran220 (Jul 18, 2014)

heel4you said:


> As for the heater, I don't think it really matters. Just a matter of preference. I "believe" I will place mine before the Co2 reactor.
> 
> Looking forward to seeing your progress!



I asked Orlando of Green Leaf Aquariums and he said filter - heater - co2 diffuser - tank... because you don't want any chance of bubbles in the inline heater.

I'm getting so excited!


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## heel4you (Mar 8, 2015)

Milbran220,
Good to know for sure.
Thanks for posting this.


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