Plumbing Part Needed!

[timpetty]

Hey guys, ive been looking for a few days now and i cant find what im looking for. I need a U-shaped part that is flat (no more than 1/4 inch high) at the top. It needs to accept 1/2inch plumbing from my fluval 205. The U-bend has to go over a very thin plastic divider to get the flow into the main tank. I drew a picture on paint but i cant figure out how to attach it!!

 

[Lateral Line]

That is going to be tough. After allowing for the thickness of the material the part is made of, you are going to have hardly any space left for water. Worse, without going into any fluid dynamics, the resistance to flow increases with the area of material, (simply - the walls of the conduit slow the water flowing past them - large wall area - large drag), so you are going to have to have a VERY wide part to get the flow through the component without imparting some serious drag, which will reduce your flow rate and possibly cause overheating of the impellor, (the water flow cools it - low flow, low cooling).

I'd be looking at drilling the plastic divider.

 

[timpetty]

Yea i was afraid of that. The tank is already occupied so i dont really want to risk getting pastic all in the tank. The Fluval 205 actually comes with a u-bend and nozzle which is too wide. I cut it though and if i hang just the flat nozzle over the wall it fits. I want it to hang down into the water though because hanging above it is very noisy and splashes a lot.

Now that i think of it, the clearance may be closer to 3/8" or 1/2" but no larger. I know the original u-bend provided is 1/2" and will not clear due to thickness of the material.

 

[Tolak]

Heat melt plastic, they sell soldering iron tips that are flat & narrow for cutting things such as this. In a pinch you could wrap a length of solid copper wire tightly around the soldering iron tip, and use this to cut once you drop the water level a little. No particles of plastic this way.

 

[timpetty]

Do u know if the plastic melting will release any chemicals into the water?