# How did you install Hydor Inline heater on CFS 500?



## nalu86 (Oct 19, 2010)

Hi,

I installed my inline heater on my cfs 500 today.
I used a reducer to connect to the 1" hoses to 5/8.

Now my problem is, I have no flow anymore. 
How did you do this and did you loose a lot of flow?

Thx


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## samamorgan (Dec 31, 2011)

If you reduce the size of the piping, you're going to reduce the flow no matter what you do. Since the hydor inline heaters are for two different set pipe sizes, hopefully you got the bigger one. If you want better flow, figure out a different heating solution. The only other one i know of thats hidden (besides the ones built into the canister system) is an undergravel, and they can be a pain.


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## nalu86 (Oct 19, 2010)

samamorgan said:


> If you reduce the size of the piping, you're going to reduce the flow no matter what you do. Since the hydor inline heaters are for two different set pipe sizes, hopefully you got the bigger one. If you want better flow, figure out a different heating solution. The only other one i know of thats hidden (besides the ones built into the canister system) is an undergravel, and they can be a pain.



I bought the 5/8 300W... to bad that's the biggest.

I think it divided the flow in half... maybe even less flow. 
I will have to make a spray bar with smaller holes seems like.

I hope they will make them with bigger connectors soon, maybe we all should send a letter to the costumer service.


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## Higher Thinking (Mar 16, 2011)

^That's right, if you reduce the tubing, the flow of course will be reduced. I run an FX5 on my tank, but also use a marineland 350 to hook the hydor inline heater up to, as the FX5 tubing is HUGE. You could get another canister filter or just get some kind of external pump.


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## samamorgan (Dec 31, 2011)

From what ive heard they really arent a very popular heater. Most people still run in tank heaters, its us planted tank folk that like our clean inline ones. This is reflected by the fact that hydor makes the only inline heaters, and the pet stores almost never have them.

Demand = supply, once those in tank pieces of crap go the way of the dodo im sure we'll have a lot more options.

Also, its not the connectors that make it an issue, the heating element is a glass tube that the water passes through and is heated inline, so the entire unit would have to be designed from the get go to run with a specific size of tubing.


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## kevmo911 (Sep 24, 2010)

You can buy a powerhead (or external pump) and run it with much larger tubing than its connections are designed for. That way, you eliminate any flow reduction through the CFS500 due to a tubing reduction. A decent sized pump won't cost you more than $30 if you're careful. And you can dual-purpose it with CO2 injection if you'd like.


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## kevmo911 (Sep 24, 2010)

samamorgan said:


> From what ive heard they really arent a very popular heater. Most people still run in tank heaters, its us planted tank folk that like our clean inline ones. This is reflected by the fact that hydor makes the only inline heaters, and the pet stores almost never have them.


Incorrect. A *lot* of us use the Hydor ETH (inline heater). And there are many ways to make it work, regardless of canister tubing size.


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## OverStocked (May 26, 2007)

I have a FX5, and too have the 1 inch hose. Instead of a hydro I decided to make my own inline fitting to use with any standard 1 inch heater. I am going to begin custom making them in the next week, and all you will need to do is give heater length, heater type, and hose barb sizes. 

I can then make it pack it up and ship it out. I expect the housing to go for about 30 bucks shipped, and then you add the heater. They are PVC, and I can offer them painted black. 

Not as "one" step as the hydor, but they also will allow you to replace the heater at any time, and you can turn almost any heater into an inline heater.


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## nalu86 (Oct 19, 2010)

kevmo911 said:


> You can buy a powerhead (or external pump) and run it with much larger tubing than its connections are designed for. That way, you eliminate any flow reduction through the CFS500 due to a tubing reduction. A decent sized pump won't cost you more than $30 if you're careful. And you can dual-purpose it with CO2 injection if you'd like.


Good Idea, but i can probably also work with a 2 Y pieces, would that work?

Seems lie I will have to re-plumb a little to make this work.


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## samamorgan (Dec 31, 2011)

kevmo911 said:


> Incorrect. A *lot* of us use the Hydor ETH (inline heater). And there are many ways to make it work, regardless of canister tubing size.


Just because theyre popular within this comminuty doesnt mean theyre popular with the aquarium community as a whole. If they were so popular, hydor wouldnt be the only company making them. And every petsmart and petco box store in the country would be selling them.

Also, it doesnt matter what you put on the end of it, if you run it through a small tube to begin with, it doesnt matter how much power you have at the end of the tube, the water cant physically move through the smaller tubing any faster than a certain rate. Youd have to double up the tubing and only run the inline in one of the tubes, or run two inlines. Water is non compressible.


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## nalu86 (Oct 19, 2010)

OverStocked said:


> I have a FX5, and too have the 1 inch hose. Instead of a hydro I decided to make my own inline fitting to use with any standard 1 inch heater. I am going to begin custom making them in the next week, and all you will need to do is give heater length, heater type, and hose barb sizes.
> 
> I can then make it pack it up and ship it out. I expect the housing to go for about 30 bucks shipped, and then you add the heater. They are PVC, and I can offer them painted black.
> 
> Not as "one" step as the hydor, but they also will allow you to replace the heater at any time, and you can turn almost any heater into an inline heater.


That's cool, good for you for coming up with this. 
I think I saw this ones in one of your posts. 

how do you work with the plug? do you have to cut it?


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## nalu86 (Oct 19, 2010)

samamorgan said:


> Just because theyre popular within this comminuty doesnt mean theyre popular with the aquarium community as a whole. If they were so popular, hydor wouldnt be the only company making them. And every petsmart and petco box store in the country would be selling them.
> 
> Also, it doesnt matter what you put on the end of it, if you run it through a small tube to begin with, it doesnt matter how much power you have at the end of the tube, the water cant physically move through the smaller tubing any faster than a certain rate. Youd have to double up the tubing and only run the inline in one of the tubes, or run two inlines. Water is non compressible.



I don't think your right about the water pressure, the more psi you put on the water the faster the flow, see shower flexibles or even 3/4 inch copper pipes in house plumbing.


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## kevmo911 (Sep 24, 2010)

samamorgan said:


> Just because theyre popular within this comminuty doesnt mean theyre popular with the aquarium community as a whole. If they were so popular, hydor wouldnt be the only company making them. And every petsmart and petco box store in the country would be selling them.


You're right - I should have read your post more carefully. My comment is specifically in regards to the planted tank community, which is a minority in the aquarium world. My apologies


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## samamorgan (Dec 31, 2011)

nalu86 said:


> I don't think your right about the water pressure, the more psi you put on the water the faster the flow, see shower flexibles or even 3/4 inch kopper pipes in house plumbing.


That is true, pressurized water does flow faster, but it cant be compressed. As soon as liquid goes from a bigger pipe to a smaller pipe, it attemps to compress, which it cant do, so there's a slowdown. The only way to counteract it is to push the water through the pipe at a faster rate from the bigger pipe, which the canister filter isnt strong enough to do. Putting a powerhead on the other end of that smaller pipe would do nothing since the pipe is only delivering water at the rate at which the filter is feeding it. Even with all of that, theres still a physical limit to how much water can pass through a certain space within a certain amount of time. Friction and other forces come into play.


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## samamorgan (Dec 31, 2011)

kevmo911 said:


> You're right - I should have read your post more carefully. My comment is specifically in regards to the planted tank community, which is a minority in the aquarium world. My apologies


No need to apologize, and im sorry if i sound pompous, im just like that


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## nalu86 (Oct 19, 2010)

samamorgan said:


> That is true, pressurized water does flow faster, but it cant be compressed. As soon as liquid goes from a bigger pipe to a smaller pipe, it attemps to compress, which it cant do, so there's a slowdown. The only way to counteract it is to push the water through the pipe at a faster rate from the bigger pipe, which the canister filter isnt strong enough to do. Putting a powerhead on the other end of that smaller pipe would do nothing since the pipe is only delivering water at the rate at which the filter is feeding it. Even with all of that, theres still a physical limit to how much water can pass through a certain space within a certain amount of time. Friction and other forces come into play.


Yes, you are right its not possible to create so much force with canister filter. And its not worth to buy a 5hp pump or so, lol

Would it work with 2 Y pieces? Or would the one not get enough flow?


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## samamorgan (Dec 31, 2011)

nalu86 said:


> Would it work with 2 Y pieces? Or would the one not get enough flow?


I believe that would work just fine. Im guessing you mean just take the 1", Y it off into two 5/8" pipes, install the heater on one leg, then Y it again back into a single 1" pipe. As long as the Y connectors are smooth transitions and dont pull a 90 degree bend or anything, you shouldnt notice any slowdown of flow, since you will effectively be increasing your pipe diameter by 1/4" for a short period of time.

This probably wouldnt be as efficient for the heater since only half of the water passing through the pipe would be heated at one time, but certainly more efficient electrically than adding a powerhead and mroe tubing to your system.


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## OverStocked (May 26, 2007)

nalu86 said:


> That's cool, good for you for coming up with this.
> I think I saw this ones in one of your posts.
> 
> how do you work with the plug? do you have to cut it?


NO cutting at all. All you do is take your new heater, put it inside the cord grip and tighten snug. you start by allowing water to run through the filter then after about an hour start adjusting the heater setup. You usually find that to get the desired temp they have to run it a little lower than they are use to. 

I run my heater on a controller to make that even easier. 

With these you can be running an inline heater using just about any aquarium heater in mearly minutes. The control nub sticks out the end. I'll have a few pictures later when I post the FS thread.


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## kevmo911 (Sep 24, 2010)

Just remember - a decrease is area of a pipe does *not* mean a proportional decrease in flow. Yes, a smaller diameter tube will decrease flow. But it's not proportional - if the area is decreased by 50%, the volume of water that passes through will be much greater than 50%, though less than 100%.

Think of a river. When the banks narrow the river, the flow increases. Yes, it's different, because there's no vertical limit, but gravity plays a role there.

The point is that I suspect that the total flow is reduced *less* than you think it is reduced (the CFS500 sounds *AWESOME* by the numbers ...but there's an honest reason it's a fraction of the cost of similarly-rated cans). And, at the same time, a decrease in diameter from 1" to 5/8" doesn't seem like much on paper, but if you do the math, the tubing size has just been reduced to 39% of the original. So, yeah, it's significant.

I still strongly suggest running the heater and any other toys (like CO2 reactor) in a different loop.


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## samamorgan (Dec 31, 2011)

kevmo911 said:


> And, at the same time, a decrease in diameter from 1" to 5/8" doesn't seem like much on paper, but if you do the math, the tubing size has just been reduced to 39% of the original. So, yeah, it's significant.


He wont actually be decreasing the pipe size though, just splitting it into two streams, there should only be a minor slowdown at the split and re entry, as compared to a large slowdown reducing to a single pipe like he has now, since the excess water that is attempting to compress will have a place to go. It will be like putting a 1.25" pipe in the line.


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## Jim_PA (Aug 26, 2011)

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/equipment/156785-hydor-eth-line-heater-clicks-off-2.html

I had the same problem, I follow the info on the 2nd page of the link above, I am also using CO2 Reactor, UV, and the inline heater, flow seems to be back to normal since I used the example in the link above.


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## Capsaicin_MFK (Nov 15, 2009)

1" tubing ---> True Wye with 3/4" split (5/8" tubing will fit, just heat it up in boiling water) ---> one side has Hydor, other side has whatever you want or nothing ---> True Wye back to 1" tubing.

I did this on my FX5 so I could have 2 Hydor inline heaters and a co2 atomizer.


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## Daximus (Oct 19, 2011)

Capsaicin_MFK said:


> 1" tubing ---> True Wye with 3/4" split (5/8" tubing will fit, just heat it up in boiling water) ---> one side has Hydor, other side has whatever you want or nothing ---> True Wye back to 1" tubing.
> 
> I did this on my FX5 so I could have 2 Hydor inline heaters and a co2 atomizer.


This is what I did with my CF-500 and Hydor. I thought of it as a bypass. I have nothing on the "bypass" side of mine, just hose. Everything works perfectly.


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