Endugu Posted April 10, 2009 Report Share Posted April 10, 2009 Liberties have a lip that shoot the water across the surface, aquaclears don't and they shoot the water down into the tank. That's odd because with the acception of my 2 AC 500s all of the other models that I own have a lip that diverts the water across the surface. I believe that the early models from the late 70's and early 80's did not have the lip. This newest line of aquaclears were launched around 2000. It was shortly after they released the new Flopual and their Nutrafin scam. Prior to this date they were called the mini, 150, 200, 300 and 500. These filters had the return flow jetting down into the middle of the tank. If the new aquaclears have a lip that allows the water to jet across the surface of the water, I do not know as I gave up on Hagen's product in the late 90s when they released the new internal fluvals. It's interesting to note the the aquaclear was an attempt at copying the Eheim AquaBoss (what a filter) and Hagens biggest complaint about the aquaclear was that they made it too well; it didn't break down often. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oneiroid Posted April 10, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 10, 2009 Try this... http://www.petfish.net/kb/entry/347/ Haha, great stuff! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oneiroid Posted April 10, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 10, 2009 Prior to this date they were called the mini, 150, 200, 300 and 500. These filters had the return flow jetting down into the middle of the tank. If the new aquaclears have a lip that allows the water to jet across the surface of the water, I do not know as I gave up on Hagen's product in the late 90s when they released the new internal fluvals. I have an AC50 and an AC200 (same size as each other) and the outflow spouts are exactly the same. Infact, the only difference I can see at all between the two is that one lid is stamped with AC50 and the other AC200. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Endugu Posted April 10, 2009 Report Share Posted April 10, 2009 Prior to this date they were called the mini, 150, 200, 300 and 500. These filters had the return flow jetting down into the middle of the tank. If the new aquaclears have a lip that allows the water to jet across the surface of the water, I do not know as I gave up on Hagen's product in the late 90s when they released the new internal fluvals. I have an AC50 and an AC200 (same size as each other) and the outflow spouts are exactly the same. Infact, the only difference I can see at all between the two is that one lid is stamped with AC50 and the other AC200. I didn't think they made any changes, but couldn't say for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vallisneria Posted April 11, 2009 Report Share Posted April 11, 2009 OK here is a crappy pic of one of my filters. In real life the filter isn't as crusty as the pic shows, stupid flash lol. Its an AC mini with about 3" of plastic taped to the output. The plastic is bent about 3/4" of an inch of the end so that the water flows down under the surface and then out. That way the surface isn't too disrupted(to help reduce co2 loss) but the bend directs the water horizontal so the sand is ok. The plastic projector paper works ok for the smaller models but for the larger AC filters a stiffer plastic works better. Otherwise the plastic isn't able to stand up to the flow and it still flows downward. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oneiroid Posted April 11, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 11, 2009 Looks like a nice solution! Thanks for the pic - good to see where you've taped the plastic to the spout. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oneiroid Posted May 4, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 4, 2009 Try this... http://www.petfish.net/kb/entry/347/ So, for the record, this method is extremely effective. And you can actually make the attached plastic much more inconspicuous than what is shown in the final picture too. As an added bonus to stopping the downflow from cratering my sand, it diverts the flow in two different directions (right and left), breaking up the current that much more. After the first successful mod, I modded all my other ACs this way too. Brilliant. For anyone trying this, try to use the cola bottles suggested as they seem to be more rigid. As a test, I also tried a smooth-sided water bottle (Aquafina...Dasani...) and I found that their plastic doesn't keep a tight 'curl'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EowynJane Posted May 5, 2009 Report Share Posted May 5, 2009 Great! Glad to have helped out How did you make it more inconspicuous? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oneiroid Posted May 5, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 5, 2009 How did you make it more inconspicuous? Depending on the size of the AC, you can trim down the circumference of the plastic 'tube' and tape the one edge fairly close to front edge of the AC lid. This way, you will not have any excess plastic sticking up, and the tape (and start of the plastic) may be mostly hidden by your canopy. A couple that I have which are on tanks with glass lids actually get vertically compressed a bit because I haven't cut the plastic strip on the glass any wider to account for the plastic attachment on the filter; this actually seems to stabilize the units a bit more, so I haven't bothered widening the gap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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