system 1 pressure filter

[MartinOsirus]

How do you control the outflow pressure(decrease it ) on one of these - I
hooked it up to a 20 gal and the extreme turbulence killed a couple fish

[bannor]

On 09 Mar 2004 03:24:54 GMT, (MartinOsirus)
wrote:
>How do you control the outflow pressure(decrease it ) on one of these - I
>hooked it up to a 20 gal and the extreme turbulence killed a couple fish

It's a great filter, but it has that one limitation. There is no way
to slow that powerful electric motor down... About the only way you
might be able to help the issue is to aim the outflow against the side
of the tank that the filter rests against... IE backwards. That
outflow tube is adjustable for direction just not for the power. This
would result in the water flow hitting the glass and weakening that
way. Optionally you could grab a few feet of tubing and direct the
flow through a spray bar but that would end up being a major pain to
move around and since the pump is only designed for a very short
period of time that sort of mod would make it difficult to move the
filter around.

I have used it that way on a 29 gallon tank(spraying backwards against
the glass). However, be prepared for you gravel to fly around the
tank until it clears an area out against the glass.

The system 1 is actually designed for much larger tanks, starting with
55's and working upwards. The main reason for the high flow rate
though is that the high pressure is needed to forced the water through
the diatom powder as it starts to clog... on a 20 gal tank, the power
would probably never clog unless the water was almost thick enough to
stand a spoon up. In a larger tank, the powder will eventually start
to clog but still function with the higher pressure and will run long
enough to clean the tank very nicely.

[MartinOsirus]

>Subject: Re: system 1 pressure filter
>From: bannor bannor-at- echoes - net - mind the spam block
>Date: 3/8/2004 11:16 PM Central Standard Time
>Message-id: >
>
>On 09 Mar 2004 03:24:54 GMT, (MartinOsirus)
>wrote:
>>How do you control the outflow pressure(decrease it ) on one of these - I
>>hooked it up to a 20 gal and the extreme turbulence killed a couple fish
>
>It's a great filter, but it has that one limitation. There is no way
>to slow that powerful electric motor down... About the only way you
>might be able to help the issue is to aim the outflow against the side
>of the tank that the filter rests against... IE backwards. That
>outflow tube is adjustable for direction just not for the power. This
>would result in the water flow hitting the glass and weakening that
>way. Optionally you could grab a few feet of tubing and direct the
>flow through a spray bar but that would end up being a major pain to
>move around and since the pump is only designed for a very short
>period of time that sort of mod would make it difficult to move the
>filter around.
>
>I have used it that way on a 29 gallon tank(spraying backwards against
>the glass). However, be prepared for you gravel to fly around the
>tank until it clears an area out against the glass.
>
>The system 1 is actually designed for much larger tanks, starting with
>55's and working upwards. The main reason for the high flow rate
>though is that the high pressure is needed to forced the water through
>the diatom powder as it starts to clog... on a 20 gal tank, the power
>would probably never clog unless the water was almost thick enough to
>stand a spoon up. In a larger tank, the powder will eventually start
>to clog but still function with the higher pressure and will run long
>enough to clean the tank very nicely.

That explains it well - thanks much.

[Bruce Abrams]

"MartinOsirus" > wrote in message
...
> How do you control the outflow pressure(decrease it ) on one of these - I
> hooked it up to a 20 gal and the extreme turbulence killed a couple fish

You should be able to get an inexpensive AC potentiometer from an electrical
supply house (or perhaps even Radio Shack) and wire it into the filter's
power cord. If you want lower flow, just reduce the amount of power the
filter can draw.

[JTech]

> > How do you control the outflow pressure(decrease it ) on one of these -
I
> > hooked it up to a 20 gal and the extreme turbulence killed a couple fish
>
> You should be able to get an inexpensive AC potentiometer from an
electrical
> supply house (or perhaps even Radio Shack) and wire it into the filter's
> power cord. If you want lower flow, just reduce the amount of power the
> filter can draw.
>
>
Do that and the motor will die. It will try to draw too much current and
burn out...