Where to get lily pipe. Please inform.

[Urban Aquaria]

Thanks for tip off. I'll keep this in mind.
Can you spare a few moments and clear my doubt on the placement of the pipes.

I saw these BorneoWild pipes. Are they better? I see the slots are more and spread higher.
Thanks :-)

Attachment 47471

I haven't personally used that brand before, but it looks nice... from what i've seen in stores, BorneoWild products are usually good quality stuff. I guess the extra intake slots will help cover more sections of the water levels.

There are also other intake designs which seem interesting too, like the VIV violet inflow pipe:





Photo sources: http://www.aqua-paradise.net/

Not sure if it fits your tastes though... i guess you'll just have to shop around and see which designs you prefer.

[Maru]

Yeah, if the intake slits are wide enough... juvenile and sometimes even adult shrimps will occasionally get sucked into the canister filter. Not a big issue though, they will usually live and grow in there until you retrieve them during the next filter maintenance anyways.

Huh??? the shrimp can live in the canister filter??? LOL.

I admit those glass one look very nice, but i always got this phobia of breaking it while installing/dismantling...... esp when my psychomotor agility seems to getting on with age....LOL.

Possible to not disconnect them with the hoses but just get a very long cleaning brush to clean them??

[Filet-O-Fish]

Possible to not disconnect them with the hoses but just get a very long cleaning brush to clean them??

Yes that looks workable. I can also have a tap control valve just nearest to the glass pipe. Then it would be easier to take off the inflow with less struggle. Does this sound OK?
tap control.jpg

[Filet-O-Fish]

There are also other intake designs which seem interesting too, like the VIV violet inflow pipe
Not sure if it fits your tastes though... i guess you'll just have to shop around and see which designs you prefer.

The VIV pipes can function almost the same as the Eheim plastic inflow pipes judging from the bigger opening and longer slots. I'll try to locate this in LFS.
Cheers.

[Maru]

Yes that looks workable. I can also have a tap control valve just nearest to the glass pipe. Then it would be easier to take off the inflow with less struggle. Does this sound OK?
tap control.jpg

Sounds workable. I have a double tap in the mid of both hoses linked to the filter. I haven't used any glass pipes yet but just reading it off peoples' experience in forums enough to scare me off (when many of them are seasoned/veterans like UA hahahaha). And the price of the glass pipes gives me no allowance for "accidents" :P

[Filet-O-Fish]

Sounds workable. I have a double tap in the mid of both hoses linked to the filter. I haven't used any glass pipes yet but just reading it off peoples' experience in forums enough to scare me off (when many of them are seasoned/veterans like UA hahahaha). And the price of the glass pipes gives me no allowance for "accidents" :P

AND I'll be using 2 inflow pipes....so double trouble.

[skytan]

So you guys usually put the control valve near the lily pipe?
But so its pretty at the side of the tank .
I place mine inside the cabinet , speaking of which it is kind of troublesome

[Urban Aquaria]

Most people usually position the double taps closer to the canister filter, so that its hidden out of view inside the cabinet... looks much neater, rather than having the tap exposed in view outside.

Btw, when cleaning lily pipes, its better to just disconnect all the pipes, hoses and taps for cleaning, then you can do a proper scrub through with the flexible brush and clean everything properly... if you just leave them connected together while cleaning, the areas where they are joined at will tend to still be dirty.

Honestly, you all don't need to be so over-worried about breaking glass lily pipes, its not as difficult as what you read. Just allow yourself sufficient space and time to work on it and it'll be fine. Once you have done one or two cleaning sessions, you will quickly become proficient in disconnecting and cleaning them easily. It'll become very straight forward to do regularly.

[Urban Aquaria]

Huh??? the shrimp can live in the canister filter??? LOL.

Yeah, shrimps can live happily in canister filters... actually i find that they seem to grow faster and healthier inside the filter.

Nowadays i don't put any mesh/sponge guards on my intake pipes and just allow shrimplets to get drawn into the canister filter. They thrive in there with no predators, along with an abundance of food and detritus to graze on. Its like shrimp paradise for them.

Every 2-3 months when i open the canister filters for regular maintenance and cleaning, i will usually retrieve dozens of juveniles and adult shrimps, all healthy with nice colors.

[Filet-O-Fish]

Yeah, shrimps can live happily in canister filters... actually i find that they seem to grow faster and healthier inside the filter.

Nowadays i don't put any mesh/sponge guards on my intake pipes and just allow shrimplets to get drawn into the canister filter. They thrive in there with no predators, along with an abundance of food and detritus to graze on. Its like shrimp paradise for them.

Every 2-3 months when i open the canister filters for regular maintenance and cleaning, i will usually retrieve dozens of juveniles and adult shrimps, all healthy with nice colors.

I wish I had know this a few moths before introducing Congo Tetras into my tank. Those guys have eaten all my baby Red Cherry shripms. I had more than 15 babies but now no more.

[Urban Aquaria]

I wish I had know this a few moths before introducing Congo Tetras into my tank. Those guys have eaten all my baby Red Cherry shripms. I had more than 15 babies but now no more.

I stumbled upon this phenomenon when i removed a sponge guard from one of my tank intakes for convenience (it was clogging up with debris so often that i had to clear it almost everyday), then over the period of a year, i noticed each time i retrieved more and more shrimps from the canister filter to add back into the main community tank, the shrimp population in that tank was growing exponentially... while in my other tanks that still used sponge guards with fishes and shrimps living together, the shrimp population stayed stagnant or only grew very slowly.

Then i started to realize its because many of the shrimplets were growing up safely inside the canister filter, while in my other tanks most of the shrimplets there were getting eaten up by fishes.

[Maru]

I positioned the tap further (sorta) to my inflow pipe so that when i do maintenance, there will be water in the hose that will flow into the filter when i switch it on (so no need to suck the other end again). But the outflow its very near the lily pipe (bascially i got only like less than 10cm to the connection end of the pipe). Guess i will do with it until i intend to upgrade to a 3ft cabinet glass tank then get those ADA/etc ones :P

[Filet-O-Fish]

while in my other tanks most of the shrimplets there were getting eaten up by fishes.

Yes I remember those cute little guys hiding among the carpet plants in my tank. Now I have also removed the net covering the inflow pipes.

[Filet-O-Fish]

I positioned the tap further (sorta) to my inflow pipe so that when i do maintenance, there will be water in the hose that will flow into the filter when i switch it on (so no need to suck the other end again). But the outflow its very near the lily pipe (bascially i got only like less than 10cm to the connection end of the pipe). Guess i will do with it until i intend to upgrade to a 3ft cabinet glass tank then get those ADA/etc ones :P

What's your present tank's size?

[mercur1al]

1. The good quality glass intake pipes shouldn't be restricting inflow, unless the intake slits are really narrow and few... usually they have sufficient gap size to maintain the required amount of inflow. I guess you just have to check and see. The glass intakes i've used so far which have worked well without issues are the gUSH and VIV brand glass intake pipes.

2. For most setups, the lily pipe and intake pipe should ideally be placed close together centrally on the same side, this is to generate an optimal circular flow pattern in the tank. Here is a diagram for reference from ukaps.com:



Photo source: http://www.ukaps.org/index.php?page=...h-planted-tank

3. Both acrylic and glass pipes will still get dirty at the same speed, the main difference is that acrylic is easier to clean without requiring as much extra care in terms of handling (it can withstand knocks and drops), but acrylic does tend to slowly lose some clarity over time as its is brushed and cleaned (fine scratches/scuff marks slowly develop on its surface)... on the other hand, glass lily pipes maintain their clarity throughout even after repeated brushing and cleaning, but they require more care when cleaning and handling.

Glass pipes also come in many different designs for different flow pattern requirements (ie. lily, jet, poppy, violet, spin etc), so there are more choices... whereas acrylic pipes currently only come in the standard lily design.

Inflow pipes do need abit more work to clean compared to outflow pipes, but its still relatively easy with a good flexible pipe brush, its just a matter of scrubbing the pipe walls and slits properly to clean off the algae and dirt.

I actually have a slightly different way of placing my lily pipes. In principle it is similar to what UA posted, but what i did was separate the inlet and outlet in this manner, with my light set in the centre.



My own train of thought is that it reduces dead spots in the tank. Water flow goes in a similar pattern as the one UA posted, but in addition, it moves from front to back as well. The outlet will direct the water towards the far end of the tank, and the current by the drawing of the water from intake creates sort of a circular flow in the tank, from top to bottom, as well as front to back. This is quite evident when i feed the fishes using floating pellets. I feed at the front, and the pellets get drawn by the current towards the end.

[Maru]

What's your present tank's size?

Just 2ft. first time doing planted tank though which alot of members here had been a great help esp UA.

[Filet-O-Fish]

I actually have a slightly different way of placing my lily pipes. In principle it is similar to what UA posted, but what i did was separate the inlet and outlet in this manner, with my light set in the centre.
My own train of thought is that it reduces dead spots in the tank. Water flow goes in a similar pattern as the one UA posted, but in addition, it moves from front to back as well. The outlet will direct the water towards the far end of the tank, and the current by the drawing of the water from intake creates sort of a circular flow in the tank, from top to bottom, as well as front to back. This is quite evident when i feed the fishes using floating pellets. I feed at the front, and the pellets get drawn by the current towards the end.

Hi mercur1al,
Thanks for your input.
Your plan does seem to cover all parts of the tank.
Since my tank is 4 feet, I'll be using 2 sets of lily pipes ( 2 separate canister filters). I'm planning to have a flow something similar to the diagram I drew below. What do you think?
planned_flow.jpg

[mercur1al]

Hi mercur1al,
Thanks for your input.
Your plan does seem to cover all parts of the tank.
Since my tank is 4 feet, I'll be using 2 sets of lily pipes ( 2 separate canister filters). I'm planning to have a flow something similar to the diagram I drew below. What do you think?
planned_flow.jpg

I'm no expert but this is probably how I will place my lily pipes too if I had a 4 feet tank.

With a tank this length, good idea to place the pipes on separate ends to minimize the dead spots in the tank. Though I always test it out by using floating pellets or leaves after setting up a filter to test how effective my placement of the inlet and outlet is.


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[Filet-O-Fish]

I'm no expert but this is probably how I will place my lily pipes too if I had a 4 feet tank.
With a tank this length, good idea to place the pipes on separate ends to minimize the dead spots in the tank. Though I always test it out by using floating pellets or leaves after setting up a filter to test how effective my placement of the inlet and outlet is.
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Hi
So you suggest something like this photo below where the pipes are at the corners?
planed-flow-changed.jpg

[mercur1al]

Hi
So you suggest something like this photo below where the pipes are at the corners?
planed-flow-changed.jpg

Sorry I wasn't clear earlier, I meant I would place my pipes the same way you planned originally, with the inlet and outlet together and the other set at the diagonal corner.

I thought about the placement you just put up, with each pipe at each corner. The worry is that the flow will be just be at the front and back of the tank, with the flow near your driftwood relatively stagnant.

Alternatively, could consider placing both inlets slightly apart at one end of the tank, with the outlets placed similarly on the other end of the tank.

A lot would depend on the flow rate of your canister, and how far the pipes can push the water.

Do a search on muar_chee's 4 feet riverscape, he similarly employs 2 canister.


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