I made a spray bar - now need help

[iluvfish]

I made a spray bar the other day. It measures 28.5 inches in length. I currently have a 7 mag pump. When I hooked it up to the spray bar, it doesn't seem to be very effective. Do you think I need to go with a bigger pump now and if so, what size?

 

[iluvfish]

:help:

 

[rsd]

A few more details might help. what is the spray bar made of? How many ports does the spray bar have? what size ports?
I am not that familiar with mag's so I am not sure about pump size... but I should be able to offer some assistance beyond that.
My spray bar is 48". It has 37 3/16 holes evenly spaced along it but pointing in different directions. it is powered by a little giant pump. Each hole does not have a huge force coming from it BUT the over all effect is a great amount of water movement.
Hope this helps.

 

[squidd]

How many holes do you have in the spraybar and how big are they?
Whats the diameter of the spraybar...how many elbows do you have to plumb it ...and how far down is the pump (how high does it have to pump)...??
And what do you mean "it doesn't seem effective"...whats it doing and what do you want it to do..??

 

[ldc3000]

I recently mad a spray bar for my 90 gallon. I used three locline tubes as my outputs and I'm having to move up to a Mag 12. You can check several sites that sell the mags to get gph at different lengths from pump.

 

[iluvfish]

Here's what it looks like. Everything is threaded, so for now I made it half sized. It is 4ft from pump to top of tank. I drilled 1/4 inch holes in each of the black parts between the pivotable outlets. The elbows that let the water out just don't seem to feel like there is much water pressure. The other thing I have come to dislike about it is it is very noticable from the front of the tank. Thanks for the input and advice!

 

[rsd]

You may not have really strong jets... but you aren't building a jacuzzi. Continual medium to low flow is a great thing. My output of my spray bar is light enough that I have watched snails walk over the jets and not disturb anything. Ditto with feather dusters growing wild infron of each jet. (BTW my spray bar is located at the bottom of the tank with siphon breaks at the top) But the amount of water movement created by a continual pressure is awesome. After a while it will develope a current.
I use individual PH's to create surges and such. My spray bar is just a current creator.
Your main concern should be if the pump will wear out if it is over worked.
But as I have read before. Your tank, your choice. IMO don't be afraid of a low flow output.