H.O.T Magnum on 5 gallon?

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BlindSight

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jan 1, 2011
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Denton Tx
Picked up a little 5 gallon tank kit from petco on clearance for $6, normally $50 :). Setting it up at my office with a couple plants and will probably just put a few tetras in there for the kids to watch. (work with CPS and used to have a tank and the kids loved it but we moved buildings and they wouldn't let me take it to the new building but this ones small enough for me to hide :)) So it came with this little dinky in tank filter that takes up a ton of space and probably doesn't do much. So I have a HOT Magnum cartridge filter sitting at home not being used since I upgraded to a 405 and im thinking about putting it on this little 5 gallon. Think it will be way too much? I will probably make some kind of spray bar for it so the current won't be so crazy but even with the bar do you think it would put too much stress on the fish? I mean the magnum is for upto 55gallon tank and moves 250gph...not worried about power consumption since im not paying the bill just don't know if it will be too much for the fish.
 
should I make an intake bar for it as well so it wont suck the fish to it? how would I get the suction even along the bar? would it just be a matter of bigger holes towards the end and smaller ones towards the beginning?
 
Put a big intake sponge over the intake to diffuse the suction. The return force won't take too much thought. You'll see ways to baffle it once you install it. I've used things from slate to cut curls from soda bottles to baffle returns for bettas and the like. You could probably even point the return at the glass and move the pump toward it until a satisfactory flow is attained. Try to extend the return a little deeper, though. I don't know why they designed the return to be right at the surface of the water. I've used clear hosing to extend it down.
 
was thinking a 12" spraybar along the entire back of the tank would give a nice even flow through the whole tank and maybe keep poop from settling on the gravel.
 
whats this petco tank? was this just a location only special or something?
Thinking about checking my local petco if not.
Thanks
 
not sure if its at every one...ours has a clearance area in one corner near the front windows and these were sitting behind a big 6'shelf I only noticed when I moved the rack...looks like an old model that got marked down multiple times because it was hidden :)
 
knifegill;4807596; said:
Put a big intake sponge over the intake to diffuse the suction. The return force won't take too much thought. You'll see ways to baffle it once you install it. I've used things from slate to cut curls from soda bottles to baffle returns for bettas and the like. You could probably even point the return at the glass and move the pump toward it until a satisfactory flow is attained. Try to extend the return a little deeper, though. I don't know why they designed the return to be right at the surface of the water. I've used clear hosing to extend it down.
Click to expand...

+1
 
haha so I set it up today and HOLY POOP...was like a tsunami with the normal sprayer on there no matter how I situated it. SO I went to lowes and bought a 12" section of clear 3/4"tubing and 1/2 plug, heated the tubing in the microwave on medium power for a couple minutes until it was soft and cramed it over the outlet tube and cramed the plug in the end. used an exacto (at work so no drill) and cut out some holes along the lenght. enlarged the holes more and more but the flow is still pretty crazy. Right now the can is just filled with some pot scrubbies from my old tank filter so im hoping once I put the foam pad and normal filter in there it will cut the flow back a bit more. Going to be one crazy filtered 5gal.
 
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