Yep, but this is not about the $$, while still considerable less than a Pollen Glass 20 mm etc and more than likely more effective.

I think it will appeal to folks that do not enjoy stuff in their tanks, like in line devices, are more interested in the mist effects vs the 100% dissolution methods reactor tubes provide.

If you have used disc and blasted the mist around with current, you can see the long term and short term growth differences vs other parts of the tank, the goal with such mist devices is to how best distribute them.

Venturi's and spray bars appear to be one of the more effective methods.

Regards,
Tom Barr

BTW, here's a new photo of the tank, I redid many things this time and it should be left alone for the most part.

The client is going to add 100 Erio's(Bare spot on right hand side), 50 dowoni(a little towards the middle), some Bolbitus(on some wood on the middle and right sides), and more HC in the front.
I think removing some Crypts and replacing with Lobelia will also look a bit better and not be a hard to prune as the Green Rotala.
Hard getting all the plants you want when you need it.

From there, it is a prune and wait.

RE: "sanitary elbow" You make a significant point. I'll try a radiused turn from the venturi, and a sanitary elbow to merge the line. Can't hurt ? I'll note any difference in flow, and mist.

I'm testing a 1/2" at a dedicated 187 gph. I'll run it straight, and then attach the bye pass. One thing I figured out today was my old Eheim 2217 Classic pushes twice the head pressure of the 2224. Of course the 2224 draws 8W and the 2217 pulls 20W. Apparently that efficiency comes at a cost ?

Alright ! I'm actually jealous...Doesn't happen very often. I don't have the space these days for any more large tanks. Prof M

On the Mazzei website, they show it how you describe. I thought I had tested that configuration and had no luck. I'll try it again this weekend. I'm using the Mazzei model number 287 (1/2"mnpt, 3/16 suction port).

VaughnH- I guess I can test that when I start getting mist and see inside the clear tubing if the mist is going back into the booster pump. Another person brought up the thought that maybe hobby pumps are not engineered to deal with pressure in the line. But having the injector right after the pump would probably help.

Tom-Yeah, I saw the picture that you posted. Looks great. Love the contrast of the color of the green and the wood paneling. Can't wait to see it with all the fish in. I'm sure the zoo is going to be sold on the project. I think everyones cheering for you Tom, the hard work shows.

A nice low flow venturi seems like a wise idea.

IU- I'm heading to Albany to redo the 125 for Guy this SAT.
I've never used the African root in any scaping before, but will this time.

I recently got some Aquaticmagic.com ADA beetle knock off diffusers, the 1000 and the 5000's.
10mm and 50mm basically.

You can check out the effectiveness in the coming weeks with good flow and the mist method.

I suppose the tank is big enough to add a 3/16" venturi cheapy Kent.
I'm going to do all disc though, the set up is perfect it for it and the tank has lots of plants for scaping very close by

The AM disc seem to be every bit as good as the ADA stuff but about 4-5x cheaper.


Seems like if you could have a little bubble chopper like the needle wheel thing/ides but driven faster by flow rate, that might be better for low flow applications than venturis.

No pump, just a drive system that spins the chopper impeller wheel around, that would not take much energy to zip the speed of the impeller fast.
The constriction from the venturi does drop the flow down considerably.

That's the rub with the darn thing.
I use 2 seperate large powerheads for the large behemoth.

On future Zoo exhibits, we will use venturis and disc, the mix gives the desired results like a 20 gallon tank in terms of getting enough CO2 in there fast, great response time.

Larger tanks are a bugger to get enough CO2 with high lighting.
I know I've solved that issue now so I have no problem doing anything massive. If you control the CO2 effectively, then the rest is easy, dosing/lighting/water changes etc.

Massive planted tanks in the Zoo's will be awesome.
BTW, Tenji, the group I work with for the engineering is doing a lot of the Steinhart tanks in SF's revamping of their Aquarium.

Mark might have me do some of the work there.
We will see.

I have the wood, I have the rock, I have the CO2, I have the lighting, I have the soil, I have the routine/dosing/ferts, I have the plants.

Not much else will stop me from promoting planted tank world domination

If those in power have them and like them, then the rest will follow.

Regards,
Tom Barr

Seems like common sense now, but VaughnH's observation of of the T inlets is actually pretty significant. Given the restriction of flow all those 90* turns add up quick ! The bye pass is text book, but I don't think that book covers power heads, and mag drive pumps ?

I did recently discover that Mazzei already offers a selection of precision machined stainless steel drop in ports for gas injection venturis. This is good !

Of course I also discovered that the 2100, and 2700 needle wheels are on back order, and the smaller Ocean Runner Pumps are hard to come by. This is Bad !

Then I discovered that the needle wheel pumps for the Super Skimmers can't supply an adeqaute line pressure for remote placement. This is VERY Bad since Coralife appears to be the only source of needle wheel pumps that has even the slightest chance of hitting their @$$ with two hands and a catchers mitt !!!

Difficult to spec a product that can't be supplied ??? The Ocean Runner pumps are good, but if any one knows of any way short of dynamite to motivate their salesmen, Please by all means do fill me in on it ???

The Kent Venturis arent bad. They're not quite as nice as the Mazzei, but they're a good value, and Kent's VERY Reliable. I'm finding out that Reliable counts for alot more than any feature at this point.

Rather than constricting the water flow, think about making the inlet for the gas smaller, much smaller.

We do not need large violumes of gas right?
Generally that is what the venturis do, add lots of air.

Bubbles per second, maybe up to 5-10 at most.

A tiny inlet in the tube for gas will also produce a tiny bubble.

Regards,
Tom Barr

An inexpensive venturi with a microscopic size orifice for CO2 at the throat sounds like it would work great - for a short time. Then the orifice would plug up. But an inexpensive venturi with a CO2 port having a very small limewood, for example, difuser in the end might work for a substantial time. On one of the forums a poster was promoting the idea of using short pieces of chop sticks - bamboo, I assume. That might work well too. The goal should be, in my opinion, to have multiple microscopic orifices, so until the last one plugs up you still have CO2 mist being generated. I can't see myself doing this experimenting, but I hope someone does.

And, it won't be at 10 bubbles per second, with such small bubbles, but more like 100 per second. That suggests that it would take multiple parallel orifices to allow that much flow.

Sourcing the Venturis, Pumps, and impellers is only a consideration of convenience. Won't do much good to supply a simple process, if the parts themselves are exotic.

I'm focusing on the gas intake for now. As far as constriction goes you can actually go from a 5/8" barb to a 3/4" npt venturi and still supply adequate pressure if the gas intake is appropriately sized. So far this has been the simplest application with my Eheim 2217 canister.

Mazzei's drop in ports do go down to sufficiently small sizes, and only cost $2.50 USD, but the cap tubes work really well, and If I can cut these with a laser, labor is trivial, and 300 tubes will cost $6.70 USD, and the 1/8" bulkheads are $2.25 USD.

While I prefer the Mazzei injectors folks can buy the Venturi of their choosing screw in the metered bulkhead, and adjust the Co2 flow rate until their tank looks like a glass of Club Soda ! LOL. If it's stupid and it works, is it still stupid ??? Grtz, Prof M