help with my aquarium sand waterfall

[eddiegunks]

hey,

i am having trouble with getting my sand waterfall to work.

i am not sure what the issues are. i am trying to build one like joey at DIY.

i am using a coralife sl38 pump (2.9 psi, 38 liters per min). 1 inch pvc.

pool filter sand: mystic white II. i believe it to be 1mm or less (i can not find my calipers right now)

i have tried 18 inch tall pipe and a 12 inch tall pipe, notched at the bottom. neither makes a difference. i have tried big air stones, small ones, fat ones and skinny ones.

i get a bit of sand out but not very consistent and not a good flow. i believe the sand to be the right size. it is pretty small.

any suggestions? that should be plenty of pump power.

thx

eddie

 

[millerkid519]

Try 3/4 pipe

 

[millerkid519]

I'm just thinking this because you will get more velocity in a smaller tube it should work. When I made my sand fall I used 3/4 and it worked great with a small 30lpm pump

 

[eddiegunks]

Thx

I will try yhe 3/4 stuff today.

Yesterday i bought some finer sand. It works better with finer sand. Still not the volume i would like.

How do you all deal with the air bubbles? I put a T facing up but i still get bubbles out of the outlet. Should i drill a hole in th elbow for yhe air so it gors straight out? Thx

This is the sand that is working now. 1 inch pipe. 12 inch pickup (was too lazy to hook up the 18......too lazy to wait to fill the conatiner with h20. Ha ha ha)

 

[Irecruitfish]

Thx

I will try yhe 3/4 stuff today.

Yesterday i bought some finer sand. It works better with finer sand. Still not the volume i would like.

How do you all deal with the air bubbles? I put a T facing up but i still get bubbles out of the outlet. Should i drill a hole in th elbow for yhe air so it gors straight out? Thx

This is the sand that is working now. 1 inch pipe. 12 inch pickup (was too lazy to hook up the 18......too lazy to wait to fill the conatiner with h20. Ha ha ha)

View attachment 1237786 View attachment 1237787

How did things turn out? I'm also in the process of setting up a sandfall.

 

[Justin David]

I agree with millerkid, smaller diameter pipe should work.

 

[eddiegunks]

How did things turn out? I'm also in the process of setting up a sandfall.

The smaller pipe and the the above sand worked a lot better. I have yet to actually produce the waterfall in the tank but my practice set up was working better.

 

[marksmo4]

I had to buy 1/2 inch cpvc to fit on the connectors of the pump. You think the pipe will be too small?