Dead Spots, Water Circulation

[nicklfire]

Hey there guys,

After redoing my tank and redoing the design and stuff i started to think about water circulation in my tank. I currently have my co2 mister on one side of the tank and it seems that plants pearl on that side only (probably cause co2 dosnt get to the other side of the tank)

So i'm wondering if you guys use powerjets at all to move water around the tank alot more. I was reading a topic on tom barrs website about water circulation and it got me thinking about it aswell. IF you have alot of dead spots then your plants arnt getting proper co2 saturation and are going to prone to die eventually.

I was thinking about installing 2 power gets in either corner of the tank and then just have my main spray bar in the middel top of tank poitning at 45 degrees down.

Input.l

 

[DevUK]

I've recently installed a power head in the bottom front corner of my tank mainly as a way to help my newly aquired pair of bamboo shrimps feed more naturally (using filter attachments on their fore-arms) and its working quite well. Also my fish seem to love playing in the current it creates.

As for circulation, I'm not really sure if its helping much. One thing to consider is placement of your filter inlet and outlet. This can really help. Don't forget that you don't want too much surface aggitation if your using CO2 (though, some is always good).

 

[nicklfire]

You can only gain so much by inlet and outlet placements, i have a spray bar so that does alot of work, but the placement of my plants can cut off circulation of water movement. I notice this by debris gathering in certain parts of the tank and are not free floating which gets sucked up by the filter. You notice it especially when you muck up the substrate and then it settles, wherever it settles you can have a pretty good idea where you really do not have much of a current. I'm sure straticially placing 2 power heads on either side of the tank would greatly improve circulation and co2 saturation. If you have your co2 mister on one side of the tank, chances are it's not getting to the other side of the tank if there's dead spots on the other side... ideally you would want your co2 mister under your outlet to spread around your tank, but still you have plants, wood, etc blocking ciruclation. I dunno it's just what i been thinking about lately. It makes sence with my pearling on one side of the tank and not the other.

 

[DevUK]

I currently use a spraybar with my EX700 filter. I have just moved the diffuser underneath it and it tends to blow bubbles about well enough. I still have dead spots though (ie, under the spray bar and in that corner). I was thinking about making some holes in the sparybar at 90 degrees so that I have some water being pushed down the back corner of the tank too. It might work, but in the end it reduces the overall flow from the spray bar.

 

[piper]

I have been thinking the same.

Ihave thought of using an external reactor connected to a long spray bar at the back of the tank with and four 40mm strains in the substrate. This should give me a very good coverage through out the tank. (I hope)

 

[nicklfire]

it's definately a reality that dead spots affect plants all around, without proper current there is bound to be problems in the tank without co2 saturation and o2 saturation from that point. I have heard of tom and vaug using 2 filters one and either side of the tank.. which is good.. but not cost effective. I believe i'm going to buy a couple power heads and just set them up and see how much better results i can get.