modified filter for planted rekord 60

[jimbooo]

Hi Everyone.

i have a planted rekord 60 with diy co2. the tube which attaches to the pump throws water over the filter box agitating the water resulting in co2 loss. with the tube removed this problem is solved however the water circulation is significantly reduced.

i have added a small piece of tubing to the outlet of the tube directing the flow to the front left corner but submerged to avoid co2 loss.

it takes 5 mins and makes a big difference.

pic below

you can see the outlet at the top right of this pic

hope someone finds this usefull
Jimbooo

 

[Sime]

very useful thankyou very much

is the end of the tube pointing upwards - i can't realy make it out in your bottom pic, is that it next to the CO2 reader?

 

[zig]

That 12 gallon really looks great i have to say, i know how well it looks because i have one exactly the same and it doesnt look anything like that, i had been thinking of doing something with the tank, basically planting co2 etc, anyway a few weeks ago i started messing with the filter to try and reduce the surface agitation, first off i took the tubing out of the powerhead in the filter alltogether (it says you can do this in the manual) and left it like that for a day, it was nearly a disaster, the fish were gasping and some of them were totally still, probably near death, basically there was absolutly 0 aeration and circulation of the water. it was totally still, so i immeaditaly stuck the tubeing back in and within an hour or so the fish were all fine.

A few days later i had another bright idea and pointed the tube to the back wall of the filter or somewhere in that direction and this was fine for a day or so, but whatever way i had it pointed it obviously wasnt correct and the same thing was happening again, but not half as bad this time only a few fish were looking for air at the surface, since these little experiments i havent tried any others (my fish are greatful) but i hadnt thought of what you have done, which to me thinking now was the logical way to do it in the first place, so thanks for the tip, it obviously works, and is the way i shall progress on this little project.

Btw how did you fit another tube in the hood, is it the origional juwel hood?

Cheers

 

[jimbooo]

sime: directly above the right hand riccia clump, almost horizontal but outlet 1cm below the surface

Zig: yes it's the original hood. Heres a link

Big C's lighting upgrade

mine is simmilar but Big C's walkthrough is a touch neater than mine.

 

[zig]

Thanks jimbooo

Seems easy enough.......and thanks BigC for the upgrade info

 

[daza]

it's funny you posted this because I was thinking of doing the exact same thing a couple of days ago...not because of co2 but to see if it improved flow.

Looks like you did an excellent job. I'm more tempted to give it a go now

edit...

one thing that bothered me was the thought of the outlet end of the pipe falling and spurting water out of the tank. A small risk, and no different to an external filter setup I guess, but I'm wondering if you took any precautions against that and what you did if so. I was thinking of fixing the pipe along the back of the glass with suckers.

 

[jimbooo]

the pic is a little confusing. getting my lid off to take a top view is a major job (with all the wires and stuff)

the tube actually comes over the front left corner of the filter box (pointing to the front left corner of the tank). it cant go anywhere.

also i've bent the tube slightly (fag lighter in the centre for a few seconds) so it points downwards.

this may sound silly but i've got loads of the pipe spare (it's eheim pipe so fish safe) and it's the right diameter.

pm me your address if you want a ready made bit for your tank.

 

[daza]

thanks for the offer jimbooo, but I see what you have done now. I thought you had run the pipe all along the back so that the outlet was at the front-left (which is what I was thinking of doing), but I now see you used a short lenght to point that way.

My filter is also slightly different to yours. I have the outlet coming from the left side of the filter, with a couple of adjustable elbow joints.

 

[jimbooo]

ahh yours must be a 70/125 then (edit: just read your sig, doh). my rio 180 has that filter. this mod will not work on yours i'm afraid as the outlet is already under the water surface. (you'll have a lovely bit of hose in view otherwise)

the rekord 60 has a very basic pump as you can see from the pic. the circulation is no way near as good as on my rio 180.

 

[Stealth]

I tried to make and run that "device" but still have some questions.

How can you place the water-tube above the filter box, In my case the tube will be disconnected from the pomp. I tried to point it to the heater but the plastic tube (connected to the water-tube) is not that elastic and does not go smoothly in the water.

Another thing : with the plastic tube you have the water circulation in the tank but as I think the water circulation at the surface (where the oxygen enrichment actually is going on ) is worse than in the case of the original setup.

Maybe the problem can be solved by using the filter without the tube (poor water circulation but no currents) and air stone (air pomp, for better water circulation). In my case I have some plants in the background and they swing all the time because of the water-tube. But I could place air stone wherever I want (not too close to the plants).

Tnx.

 

[Fella]

I have that very tank, and I thought I read in the instructions that you could simply remove the original powerhead if you didn't want disturbed flow?

The instructions say

"if you wish to see the waterflow in your aquarium you should use the water tube supplied and attatch this to the powerhead"

and then it shows the upside down J shaped filter tube?

On the next page when it mentions the tube again it says

"...
2. If you do not wish to use the water tube attatched to the powerhead, disconnect it from the power head".

Does that mean having it not connected still causes water disturbance?

Still, cool setup

 

[Stealth]

I found the hose which has the same diameter as the original water tube from the juwel filter. So I was happy to install it without any tricks but the problem is that when you put the hood on the tank it squeezes the hose. Did you do something to the hood? because there is no space between the filter box and the hood.

and once again: would it be better to use the filter without the tube and an air pomp? (for instance only during the night, or 24 hours). In that case one would get the water circulation and controlled aeration. Anyway I'm going to try this idea.

to Fella: there is also a small discussion here.

 

[Fella]

I found the hose which has the same diameter as the original water tube from the juwel filter. So I was happy to install it without any tricks but the problem is that when you put the hood on the tank it squeezes the hose. Did you do something to the hood? because there is no space between the filter box and the hood.

and once again: would it be better to use the filter without the tube and an air pomp? (for instance only during the night, or 24 hours). In that case one would get the water circulation and controlled aeration. Anyway I'm going to try this idea.

to Fella: there is also a small discussion here.

[snapback]913332[/snapback]​

Thank you

 

[jimbooo]

I tried to make and run that "device" but still have some questions.

How can you place the water-tube above the filter box, In my case the tube will be disconnected from the pomp. I tried to point it to the heater but the plastic tube (connected to the water-tube) is not that elastic and does not go smoothly in the water.

Another thing : with the plastic tube you have the water circulation in the tank but as I think the water circulation at the surface (where the oxygen enrichment actually is going on ) is worse than in the case of the original setup.

Maybe the problem can be solved by using the filter without the tube (poor water circulation but no currents) and air stone (air pomp, for better water circulation). In my case I have some plants in the background and they swing all the time because of the water-tube. But I could place air stone wherever I want (not too close to the plants).

Tnx.

[snapback]906328[/snapback]​

Hi Stealth, sorry for the delayed reply my notification emails never work!! (note to mods)

you've missed the point a little. this is for a planted tank with co2 addition not a standard setup. reason being co2 is lost very quickly if the surface is agitated. my mod removes all agitation. the oxygen is irrelevant in a planted tank as it all comes from the plants (which will grow much better with co2).

 

[jimbooo]

I have that very tank, and I thought I read in the instructions that you could simply remove the original powerhead if you didn't want disturbed flow?

The instructions say

"if you wish to see the waterflow in your aquarium you should use the water tube supplied and attatch this to the powerhead"

and then it shows the upside down J shaped filter tube?

On the next page when it mentions the tube again it says

"...
2. If you do not wish to use the water tube attatched to the powerhead, disconnect it from the power head".

Does that mean having it not connected still causes water disturbance?

Still, cool setup

[snapback]906528[/snapback]​

true, i originally did that but you massivly reduce circulation. with the mod you get much better circulation AND no aggitation