Hi folks,

If I use a pump to circulate the water in my aquarium at a rate of 1000l/h (about 260 gallons/hour), would the plants or the fish adversely affected? The reason I'm asking is that I want to buy a chiller that is rated for this minimum flow.

It isn't too high if you are directing the flow correctly in the tank. If it is a single jet it is probably too high, but if it is coming out of a spray bar it is no problem at all. In between those extremes are lots of other possibilities.

Hi, thanks for the reply.

Wouldn't a spray bar cause very high resistance? Or do you mean using multiple spray bars at the same time? When I imagine the spray bar that came with my eheim 2213, it seems I would need a very powerful pump to delivery 1000l/h and in this case the velocity of the water leaving the holes would be very high. hmm...

Maybe I should use a 1800l/h pump and 3 spray bars operating in parallel?

The ideal spray bar has enough small holes so their combined area is about the same as the area of the spray bar tube. Then the velocity of the water coming out isn't extreme, and the pressure loss isn't much either. The goal of the spray bar is to spread out the flow, not restrict or speed it up.

Personally I'd go with a 2215 or 2217 for better circulation. Be that as it may the spray bar on the 2213 is properly configured, and designed to work under that pressure and flow rate. The flow ratios on the Eheim Classic filters are pretty well established over more than 20 years time. HTH. Prof M