Rena Filstar xP ... outtake/intake hose length...

[BrownBullhead]

This may be common sense to most owners of Rena Filstar xP3/xP2/xP1 filters... but if/when you purchase one of these filters, follow the recommendation in the user manual and trim the intake/outtake hoses down to the "proper" size. The hoses are manufactured at 48" I believe??? Keep reading...

When I installed xP3 on a 55-gallon (48 x 12 x 18) on a standard height (?) wooden cabinet stand, I simply hooked up all the accessories, placed the canister under the cabinet and fired it up. However, I noticed that after a month or so, the hoses which I believed I had "coiled" as to eliminate the excess length and prevent the hose from "sagging" or "crinkling" was not as I intended it to be. Immediately above the connectors to the canister main unit, the hoses had indeed folded over, thus impeding the flow rate over 50%. Nothing I tried short of duct taping the hoses to the wall behind the cabinet would work... the hoses kept "sagging".

This morning, after working the night shift, I arrived home and decided to do some much needed maintenance on a 55-gallon that houses 19 x Tropheus Moorii "Nkonde", 12 x Syno. Multipuncatus, and a SURPRISE, 1 x Atyopsis Gabonensis who was bought with two others, one of whom passed away while I was on vacation in August and another who vanished without a trace. Don't blame the Syno... the A. gabonensis are larger than the Syno! ANYWAY... after a struggle, I was able to remove the hose clamps from the connector interface, and I prcoeeded to cut the hoses down to a length where they are "tight line" with little to no slack. I cleaned out the filter canister while I was at it... and proceeded with a 50% water change as it had been over two weeks since my last one! Well, everything is back up and running and to make a long story short (I kind of failed at that already, eh!?)... I am seeing flow rate like I have never seen from xP3 filters before (I own two of them!).

Follow the instructions and cut the hoses to a proper length for the height/length of your cabninet/aquarium, and save yourself 3 months of pissing around with the hoses like I just solved!

 

[Lateral Line]

This is not a Rena specific problem. Always try to keep the hoses as short as possible without making them inconvenient to use. In addition to the problems of kinking, the pipes impose drag on the water, the longer the pipe, the bigger the drag.

Experiment:

Blow through a 1m length of airline, then blow through a 100m roll of airline - note the difference.

Ideally, keep the return tube shortest. The pipe from the tank to the filter has gravity working on it in the right direction so the effeects of drag are a little less. The opposite is the case with the return pipe.

 

[Jen]

On my canister, the hoses are the lenght that the previous owner had (same tank, same filter, new owner). I keep it in the same place as my friend did, but both the hoses kink. The hose has to come down the back, under a support, then back up to the filter. Here is a picture to show you what I mean (I like making pictures).

For the life of me I cannot get the hose to straighten, my only idea being to cut a section out of the back of the stand, but that would jeopardize the structure.

Any ideas?

 

[BrownBullhead]

Your image documents the exact dilemma I was suffering. The only way to fix it is to do what I did, remove the hoses from the connector and chop them down so you have a "straight" (as possible) line from back of aquarium down to connectors on the canister.

 

[Jen]

My problem is that if I cut the hoses... they won't fit. They are at taut as they can be.

 

[BrownBullhead]

My problem is that if I cut the hoses... they won't fit. They are at taut as they can be.

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By your diagram, your connections do not match what you describe.

You show the hoses, dropping down, then turning approx. 90 degrees... toward the open space inside/center of cabinet...

What I explained was that the pieces would come down approx. 45 degress from back of the tank, into the inside/center and connect to the canister.

The hoses would not loop or droop or curve as shown in your diagram.

 

[Jen]

Thats not an exact replica. If i drew it exactly you wouldnt be able to see the second hose. They both come from the same side, running parallel to eachother.

 

[BrownBullhead]

I was going to come back today to take a second, closer look at your diagram, but now it is gone! Oh well.

Anyway, as long as we both got our hose issues worked out, then it's all good.