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Retirement and forum shutdown (17 Jan 2022)

Hi,

John Howell who has managed the forum for years is getting on and wishes to retire from the role of managing it.
Over the years, he has managed the forum through good days and bad days and he has always been fair.
He has managed to bring his passion for fish keeping to the forum and keep it going for so long.

I wish to thank John for his hard work in keeping the forum going.

With John wishing to "retire" from the role of managing the forum and the forum receiving very little traffic, I think we must agree that forum has come to a natural conclusion and it's time to put it to rest.

I am proposing that the forum be made read-only from March 2022 onwards and that no new users or content be created. The website is still registered for several more years, so the content will still be accessible but no new topics or replies will be allowed.

If there is interest from the ITFS or other fish keeping clubs, we may redirect traffic to them or to a Facebook group but will not actively manage it.

I'd like to thank everyone over the years who helped with forum, posted a reply, started a new topic, ask a question and helped a newbie in fish keeping. And thank you to the sponsors who helped us along the away. Hopefully it made the hobby stronger.

I'd especially like to thank John Howell and Valerie Rousseau for all of their contributions, without them the forum would have never been has successful.

Thank you
Darragh Sherwin

Advantages of a spray bar?

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26 Apr 2011 18:14 #1 by barr (declan)
Hi All

My external filter comes with a spray bar that I can attach to the outlet pipe.

Are there any advantages to using the bar over the normal outlet?

Thanks

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26 Apr 2011 18:25 #2 by Katherine (Katarzyna Glebocka)
Yes, there are. In my opinion it creats surface movement (when put in proper way) that helps better oxygenation of your tank water. I always use spray bars with my filters. :)

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26 Apr 2011 18:41 #3 by Fishowner (Gavin fishowner)
Actually does anyone have a spare end to the spraybars for the tetratec spraybar. Ive lost mine and hence the spraybar is not being used fully as a result of the increased flow.

In terms of their use,they are very useful, the create surface tension which is vital for the O2 content of the water. The normal outlet doesn't always create sufficient movement in all areas of the tank which the spraybar can.

Gavin
Ps: Sorry for the hijack of thread.

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26 Apr 2011 19:08 #4 by igmillichip (ian millichip)
Well apart from many of our spray-bar ends being flushed down the toilet (hinting about when someone else does a filter clean), very useful.

Some of mine have been adapted to have a portion of them feed an overhead trickle filter (old cricket box...bore some holes....a bit of filter wool or micro-mec......and part of the spray bar sprays into the chamber).

ian

Irish Tropical Fish Society (ITFS) Member.

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26 Apr 2011 20:47 #5 by barr (declan)
Do the spray bars go under the water level ?

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26 Apr 2011 21:07 #6 by joey (joe watson)
yes unless you dont mind running to the toilet every 5 minutes with the sound of trickling water, but aim the holes accross the surface to give plenty of rippling and surface movement for good oxygenation

Location: Portlaoise, Midlands

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26 Apr 2011 21:12 #7 by igmillichip (ian millichip)
I have mine well above the water.....and that includes the tanks in the bedroom.

Irish Tropical Fish Society (ITFS) Member.

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26 Apr 2011 21:23 #8 by JustinK (Justin Kelly)
I have mine just above the surface, so the spray breaks the waters surface.
Also when using in conjunction with a sump tank it wont cause back syphonage if the pump stops.

@Fishowner: I rolled up some polyfilter pad and stuck it in the end. It can easily be removed if air or dirt needs to be removed. It also helps with changing the flow of water through the tank. In, makes the spray holes stronger. Out, reduces their strength but gives a stronger flow from the other end of the tank back to the overflow.

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26 Apr 2011 21:31 #9 by barr (declan)
Would it not be a bit noisy if its above the waterline ?

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26 Apr 2011 21:46 #10 by JustinK (Justin Kelly)
I think its makes less noise the closer to the water it is.
Its just a light water movement noise with the lid closed, calming.
(My only gripe is the damn hum off the pump, which I can hear in bed.)
Did it say anything in the literature about the placement of the spray bar?
You could try the spray holes barely under the surface to create some movement with less noise?

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26 Apr 2011 21:58 #11 by igmillichip (ian millichip)
There's no real right or wrong with the exact position...depends on the effect and what noise you can tolerate.

With our tanks having the hill stream loaches, the holes are aimed backward towards the glass to give a stream of water down the back of the tank.

With my original killi set-up (before moving house) the filter was in a separate compartment and each hole of the spray bar had a piece of air-tubing attached and fed into each killi compartment.

For some, I have removed the end-stop plug and attached a pipe of syphon tubing that feeds into an additional filtration chamber.

Multi-use. It almost sounds as though I make and sell the things. :)

ian

Irish Tropical Fish Society (ITFS) Member.

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26 Apr 2011 22:13 #12 by JustinK (Justin Kelly)
@ Ian: Do you make & sell spray bars ? :)

@ Barr: Try the different positions and see what suits you/your setup

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27 Apr 2011 07:47 #13 by Katherine (Katarzyna Glebocka)
I've been always keeping the spray bar under the water surface - I couldn't resist the noice. At the begining it was just 2 - 3 cms under but currently it's nearly 10 cm. I wanted to check its work in this position because I am considering purchase of CO2 atomiser and in my opinion the filter outlet should be positioned as low as possible. It also works very well.

@Fishowner, I lost my tetra tec spray bar stopper too. So, I decided to add additional spray bar unit from the other filter.

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27 Apr 2011 14:52 #14 by Fishowner (Gavin fishowner)
Shoved a thermometer into the spray bar end and its working a treat at slowing the flow and creating a nice spray!!!(Just happened to be ideal size to allow some water flow (for my filter shrimp underneath the outlet!)
Will get something abit better when Im more organised!
Gavin

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27 Apr 2011 16:50 #15 by igmillichip (ian millichip)
I looked at the cost of a replacement spray bar for one of my 'big-name' filters......and nearly dropped through the floor when I saw the price.
So, off to Woodies.....buy one of the cheapo filters they sell for about 20 euro.....so got my replacement spray bar S-bends as well, a spare filter and lots of other goodies for not much more than just a piece of plastic.

@JustinK......I don't make spray bars, but if I did they would probably be..... (you finish that one off).

ian

Irish Tropical Fish Society (ITFS) Member.

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