agabr123

There have been a few people asking about how to reduce the current in their tanks from the filter, here's how I did it. Any sponge/filter media will work in place of the biobag

Things that you'll need:

1. whisper biobag
2. scissors
3. rubber bands

Directions:

1. remove the plastic green insert from the biobag
2. cut the biobag in half
3. put one rubber band vertically over the top of the filter and underneath the biobag
4. put another rubber band horizontally over the back of the filter and underneath the biobag

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momo9700

I can't see the pics, otherwise this would be very helpful

agabr123

you can't see them? hmm....okay let me see what i can do

Jonah

Pics are fine for me, thats a few you can't see Momo. What browser are you using?

momo9700

Yeah, I think it's just my compt though, I can't see any pics on the site. Any ideas on how to fix that? It just started doing that yesteday...

momo9700

Restarted my comp, I can see them now. I can't quite tell what the last picture is though... can you get it from another angle?

Tavel

you could also buy a rheostat to slow the motor down.

http://www.reptilesupply.com/product.php?products_id=77

(for those interested: it uses a variable capacitor and some clever circuitry to change impedance. I couldn't get the values because the PCB is riveted to the knob.)

Lucy

Great idea posting this in the DIY section. This question comes up often.
I do something similar and if you don't mind, I'll show how I did it.
I put extra filter media up the out take so it hangs down into the water. I shoved a peice of plastic plant up there to hold it in place.

Top view:

Underwater:

Minnow

I did something similar to the first method in Alpha's tank, except I didn't use rubber bands. I just stuffed half a filter bag under the lid, and it slowed the current considerably. It hasn't slipped any, the lid of the filter holds it in place.

ray_sj

In my case, I couldn't get the lid to hold onto the filter material (as Minnow suggested), and it would always slip out. So, I placed a disposable chopstick across the filter cutout in the hood, in front of the filter, and draped the filter material on the chopstick. Works great. If that doesn't make any sense, I can post pics.

agabr123

absolutely, other suggestions are always welcome!!! please post your pictures/ideas/suggestions on how this worked for you!

JWalker

By slowing down the current will you also be slowing down the flow rate\ GPH ?

agabr123

i dont think so because you aren't slowing down the intake rate, so you're still taking in the same amount of water as you were before, it's just taking a little longer to come out because it's being soaked up by the filter media

namehater

actually, you have to be reducing the flow rate. you cant slow the flow down without slowing the intake. if you do slow down the flow but the intake stays the same your filter is going to overflow, somewhere...

Minnow

The flow rate is the same, but the sponge sort of diffuses the current and makes it a little gentler.

agabr123

yeah that's more of what i'm trying to get at. rather than hitting the water dead on it splits in two and has to go over the media so it breaks it up more so to speak

Red1313

One thing to bring up is to watch out for is any back flow that this may cause... I tried slowing the water down like Lucy did and I had water running back into my tank around the intake tube.

Sarkazmo

This is a problem that I'm trying to find a solution to as well. I have a Tetra brand 1.5gallon acrylic tank that I've got a Penguin 100 HOB filter attached to. That's filtering the entire volume of the tank 66+ times an hour. Now that's perfectly fine for a nano reef as I was initially intending to make, but now I'm making it into a planted FW tank. Whiteclouds are one of a few species that can withstand such current in FW but I wasn't planning on going with them. Restricting output is not the answer. Restricting input, slowing the pump impeller, or making the impeller less efficient/effective are the routes we're looking at. The Rheostat could be one of the easiest but expensive answers. Making the intake more restrictive is a cheaper way of going about it BUT it could make the impeller more noisy which NONE of us want, heh. Trimming the impeller blades could be the answer but if it's botched you'll be wanting to make sure you can get (or probably already have a spare if you're going this route) the part(s) needed for the repair.

So I'm looking for any suggestions that might work... anyone?

Sarkazmo

Sarkazmo

Here's what I came up with: http://www.fishlore.com/fishforum/576729-post9.html

That discussion is about my 1.5Gallon tank and what I did to diffuse the flow and make the tank habitable for a betta.

Sark

ckarta

What about a handshower head?

I was thinking of attaching a handshower head to one end of a pipe and putting the other one to outlet of the filter and put the shower over the water surface. Potentially this shall work because the shower heads do slow flow down...

Sarkazmo

Not for the output, it won't. A shower head reduces flow by increasing pressure. The restriction will cause the power filter to overflow unless you're using a canister filter, and if you're using one of those then reducing flow is no trouble.

Sark

ckarta

Thanks Sarkasmo...

TedsTank

I made a diffuser out of a clear plastic mailing tube, put a slit in it and slipped it over the return flow. Also added some filter material be a second stage bio filter.....will post a picure tonight. I does not effect the gph, just keeps all the water from running out at one spot.

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coffeebean

i rigged something this morning to slow the flow on a filter as well.

I have a sponge filter with air pump on my nursery but i wanted to use the HOB as well but it creates way too much turbulence for the wee fishies. I hooked the HOB to the sponge and dispersed the flow under the surface using a media bag stuffed with polyfill. i tied it to the biological filter media cartridge inside the HOB and it hangs down the output and just under the surface of the water. works perfectly.

egkilmon

My betta is in a 6gal Eclipse tank. Initially, the flow rate was throwing the poor guy all over the tank. So my husband took a rubber O-ring, about .5cm thick, scraped out just a bit of the inside to make the "O" just a bit bigger, and I inserted it at the bottom of the intake tube. It keeps the biowheel moving slowly and gives a nice, gentle waterfall. Granted, it make lessen the life of the motor, but being magnetically driven, maybe not. Regardless, it's worth it for Jubal Early to have enough space and not tossed all over the place.