Fluval Fx5 And Spray Bar

[mark1979]

hi all,i no hagen dont do a spray bar made for the fx5,like the rest of the range.

has anyone made there own,or no where to get something that will fit the fx5's 1" pipework

cheers

 

[dave_oddballs]

hi,
first of all you need to get a bit of 1" pvc pipe, making sure it has no fungiside stuff on it, you only need about 2 inch of it!, get yourself a 1" - 15mm reducer and add 15 mm pvc pipe to the desired length, plug the end with a 15 mm stop end drill holes down the 15mm pipe with a 4 mm drill bit (or what ever size you want) and stick together using aquarium silicone.
i have thought it through a while ago, and even built it and it works, if i can find it i shall take a picture of it, but it will, because it works under pressure, slow down the flow rate of the fx5, obviously the bigger the holes you drill i the 15 mm pipe the less pressure it will be under.
if you have a half decent diy store near you then it should cost you about a fiver. cost me about 2 quid as i had the pipe just needed a stop end and a reducer!
good luck!!

David

 

[mark1979]

@ Mike,no mate,links didnt work for me on that thread!!

dave,so this could inturn but more strain on my filter?

i have a 5ft tank,so if i ran 4 ft or more,this would with decent size hose,not cause,if any back pressure?

its a good idea,but its a shame it will be white piping? does anywhere do black,lol

 

[dave_oddballs]

you would be able to get black piping i would of thought, i do a bit of fitting bathrooms and kitchens so i only ever get white piping!
erm "i have a 5ft tank,so if i ran 4 ft or more,this would with decent size hose,not cause,if any back pressure?"
i take it you meen the pipe from the filter to the tank will be 4 foot, the longer the pipe the more pressure the filter will be under, but saying that the height in which the filter has to push the water to will have a bigger effect!
i run an fx5 on my 4 foot tank but the filter sits underneath at one end so the pipe on that is at least 4 foot and works perfectly fine.
when i mentioned the strain on the filter, you could eliminate this by, like i said, drilling bigger holes in the pipe (the actual spray bar part), it would be a case of trial and error, drill 4 mm holes in as i mentioned if it seems to be under too much pressure go through with 5 mm bit and so on until you get desired flow rate. the pressure will also depend on the amount of holes aswel as the size of them!
it does work believe me! i did it!
i used white pipe as it sat above the water so it wasn't visible!i am almost certain you can get 1" pipe, 15mm pipe,1"-15mm reducer and 15mm stop end in other colors other than white.

David

 

[mark1979]

hey dave

sorry i will try and explain better,lol

the fx5 is underneath at 1 end of the tank ( the outlet end )

there is 5ft ish piping to the inlet strainer and say 2 ish ft of piping to the outlet nozzle

if i run a 4ft length or more pvc pipe in the tank from the outlet end, this will be a pretty long spray bar,so should if drilled correctly relieve the pressure on the fx5?

yours sat above the water? so it wasnt submerged at all?

 

[england]

Ok mate i have a greatsite someone made for tarting up the fx5's......anything that doe's not work, give me a shout and i will mail the bloke who made the page's....some good bit's of info

http/www.innovationlandscaping.com/fx5/

 

[mark1979]

Ok mate i have a greatsite someone made for tarting up the fx5's......anything that doe's not work, give me a shout and i will mail the bloke who made the page's....some good bit's of info

[URL="http/www.innovationlandscaping.com/fx5/"]http/www.innovationlandscaping.com/fx5/[/URL]

i have had a peek at that site,and it does look realy good

problem is half the things to do "mod" on the left dont do anything!!

the gravel vacuum,quick water change,diy spray bar etc etc to name a few

 

[dave_oddballs]

yeah iv been on that site and it needs a little work to say the least lol! some very good information on getting more out of the fx5 though nelly!

ah i see i was getting all confused! so the 4 foot pipe you was on about is the actual spray bar!
yeah well in that case there should be plenty enough holes to distribute the pressure sufficiently as not to affect the pressure on the pump.

yeah my spraybar was above the water, not submerged at all. so it was spraying down onto the water surface!
and yes it was noisy but i liked it. i don't need anything like that on the tank now so i use the normal double outlet thing that came with the fx5.
so you actually get how to make it from my explaination?
oh and you will need a 1" 90 degree bend too!

you could always make the whole spray bar from 1" pipe? it would be simpler but i just thought it may be too bulky?
a guess it would be totally up to you!!

 

[mark1979]

hey dave

yep i get the jist now,im looking for black piping as white may stand out abit.

what sort of distance apart should the holes be on the spray bar?

also im wandering,would eheim 15- 27mm pipe work as the spray bar?

 

[dave_oddballs]

at a guess id say yes it should work, never used it or even seen it so i couldnt say for certain! Might meen a bit of eperimenting! I think its a very easy thing to do, it just makes it sound 100 times harder when you try to explain in words!
Oh and i dont think it would matter about the space between holes too much, on four foot pipe with the fx5's power id say 1 hole every inch n a half with a 3mm drill bit. Thats just a guestimation!

 

[mark1979]

i was just wandering,you didnt mention a 90 degree bend!! or dont i need 1?

sorry,you said that a bit further down,lol

 

[mark1979]

i made 1 today and all was going well,and i was well happy,then the rubber connector on the end of the fluval tubing came off and water everywere!!!

has anyone changed there original fluval piping to something else? if so what,as i can have none of these rubber bits coming off then!!

dave,how did you get yours above water level without kinking the pipe?