Glass Lily Pipes And Flow Advice Needed

[Zikofski]

okay a couple of questions, i plan to do a smaller tank for when i go to Australia, planning a 30"x12"x15" 88L (23 Gal)

now first thing is first flow seeming i am going for a heavily planted tank with co2 injection, from what i have learnt over the past few weeks/months i need good flow around 10x the tank volume is a good ball park figure seems to be thrown around these days, now is it best to get this flow from one source say 1 filter, so in my case a filter rated at a minimum of 880Lph, or do i get a less rated filter and get the flow with a power head? im asking what is best, not what looks nice, but i do want to minimise what i put into the tank, i think 1 filter without power head would be sufficient and on that note i am looking at getting this Filter

Eheim 2173 Pro 3 350T, it is rated at 1050Lph so its plenty for my tank, has a built in heater thumbs up for me, i was looking at the 250T but i think the 350T will be better, at £257 a hefty price but the filter looks good reviews are good and i know i can get spares out in Australia for that particular filter if needed,

now onto what i want so badly in my tank, is glass lily pipe intake and out take, i am again in two minds on these, two options are available to me, getting original's at £60-80 for a single intake and out take so thats £120-160, or do i go with the cheaper stuff from HK at £20-40?

or are there other glass alternatives that i am missing completely?

 

[Livewire88]

Hello,

You are on the right track in regards to flow, so as long as you can create good enough circulation with what ever outlet you use you should be fine, if you need to add a power head a hydor koralia nano 900lph would add enough additional flow to deal with any possible dead spots, however you may get away without using one.

In regards to lily pipes one thing to think about is are you happy with having to remove them regularly to keep them crystal clear? Lily pipes with algae on the inside don’t look that great and they can be a pain to remove from the filter pipe, you will be scared stiff of breaking the lily pipes, especially if you pay out for a decent set.

Quality wise I purchased a cheap set of lily pipes from ebay about 4 months ago for £30 and when they arrived they were different to what was shown in the advertisement, I did manage to get partial refund from the seller but it was not worth sending them back to Hong Kong for a full refund so they are just sat in my spares box not being used. And the black in/out flow pipes I am using now are hidden by the black background in my Arc60 tank.

If I could spare the £$£$ I would pay for a decent set (ie ADA) but still wouldn’t fancy having to clean them.

 

[Zikofski]

aah thank you yes, for the comment and yes that is my biggest worry, with regards to getting them from HK or Singapore i have found this website

http/www.aqmagic.com/lily-pipe/magic-lily-pipe-16mm-p-292.html

seems good they are on Ebay, they do a better deal when bought from there website still not 100% sure, although I think I may risk it at the end of day,

with cleaning, I want glass, because my plastic stuff has stained and ye dose not look nice I hate it, I am willing to clean regularly using a pipe cleaner I have works a treat for my pipes at moment and is delicate enough for glass, but yes i plan to have a connector close to the glass so i don't haft to take the pipe of and on the glass.

the one thing i want to avoid to is a power head in the tank. all i want is temp sensor which i can hide with plants inlet and outlet and co2 drop checker, as little plastic and stuff inside the tank

again thank you for the advice

with that filter i will have 11.9x the flow which should be ample enough for the tank even with a in-line defuser on it.