Hi All,
Just set up a new 55 gallon and planning to make it a light- to
moderately-planted tank, without CO2. I currently have an Emperor 400 on it
that is making more noise than it should, and I am going to return it,
either for another one or for a cannister (Eheim 2235). I would prefer not
to spend the money on a cannister, especially since opinions of the Emperor
are almost unanimously good.

My question relates to turbulence. There is *a lot* of it on the surface of
the water with the Emperor, and in my research I've come across some info
regarding turbulence being detrimental to plants (robs them of oxygen?).

How much of a concern should this be for me?

Thanks for any input,
Howard

As I understand it, surface turbulence is only a problem when you are
injecting CO2. If you're not injecting, then the amt of turbulence
doesn't really matter, AFAIK.

FWIW, I used to use a Whisper power filter - it's a similar design as
the Emperor 400, outside mounted, etc. - but replaced it with an Eheim
2026 a few months back. I anticipate doing the CO2 thing sometime in
the next 6 months or so (when I get around to it), so I have the return
spraybar pointed downwards towards the back wall of the tank (55g).
Plenty of current in the tank, but the surface is very smooth and quiet.

pete

HDH wrote:
Hi All,
Just set up a new 55 gallon and planning to make it a light- to
moderately-planted tank, without CO2. I currently have an Emperor 400 on it
that is making more noise than it should, and I am going to return it,
either for another one or for a cannister (Eheim 2235). I would prefer not
to spend the money on a cannister, especially since opinions of the Emperor
are almost unanimously good.

My question relates to turbulence. There is *a lot* of it on the surface of
the water with the Emperor, and in my research I've come across some info
regarding turbulence being detrimental to plants (robs them of oxygen?).

How much of a concern should this be for me?

Thanks for any input,
Howard




--
--
pete

"It is unwise to insult a doughnut be refusing to eat it."

See the thread "CO2 and Surface Agitation Debate", from 2/6/2003. Lots
of info/opinions there.
pete

HDH wrote:
Hi All,
Just set up a new 55 gallon and planning to make it a light- to
moderately-planted tank, without CO2. I currently have an Emperor 400 on it
that is making more noise than it should, and I am going to return it,
either for another one or for a cannister (Eheim 2235). I would prefer not
to spend the money on a cannister, especially since opinions of the Emperor
are almost unanimously good.

My question relates to turbulence. There is *a lot* of it on the surface of
the water with the Emperor, and in my research I've come across some info
regarding turbulence being detrimental to plants (robs them of oxygen?).

How much of a concern should this be for me?

Thanks for any input,
Howard




--
--
pete

"It is unwise to insult a doughnut be refusing to eat it."

"HDH" wrote in message .net...
Hi All,
Just set up a new 55 gallon and planning to make it a light- to
moderately-planted tank, without CO2. I currently have an Emperor 400 on it
that is making more noise than it should, and I am going to return it,

BioWheel filters take a good 3-4 weeks to break in.
You might be experiencing a waterfall/splatter effect now to go with
your strong current.

To reduce that effect, fill the tank as high as possible. The
additional water will prevent the water from falling as far, thus
reducing the turbulence and the splatter noise.

You can also try reducing the amount of water intake. I wrapped a
piece of velcro around the intake tube which raised the tube a quarter
inch or so.

Once broken in, the biowheel will become water logged, spin much
slower, cause less turbulence, and drip very little to make splatter.
At that time you can remove the velcro if the current is too slow.

I got a Magnun 350 with the bio-wheel pro 60, and is a lot bigger than the
Emperor 400 on a 33 G and I'm using a spray bar from a fluval 404 (because
is easy to clean) and a PowerHead 402 and I have alot of turbulance under
water and the bio-wheel wasn't doing a good job because my pH was 7.2 - 7.6
but after a month or two is no doing noise at all and my pH is 6.6 - 6.8 all
the time, my plants are doing just fine and if you have plants you need some
movement in the water as it is in nature, if you have no movement all waste
and extra food will burn your plants...


I hope you understand my english, because is my second language and I'm not
very fluent.... and remember aquariums are try and error !!!



"Phil Dietz" wrote in message
om...
"HDH" wrote in message
.net...
Hi All,
Just set up a new 55 gallon and planning to make it a light- to
moderately-planted tank, without CO2. I currently have an Emperor 400
on it
that is making more noise than it should, and I am going to return it,

BioWheel filters take a good 3-4 weeks to break in.
You might be experiencing a waterfall/splatter effect now to go with
your strong current.

To reduce that effect, fill the tank as high as possible. The
additional water will prevent the water from falling as far, thus
reducing the turbulence and the splatter noise.

You can also try reducing the amount of water intake. I wrapped a
piece of velcro around the intake tube which raised the tube a quarter
inch or so.

Once broken in, the biowheel will become water logged, spin much
slower, cause less turbulence, and drip very little to make splatter.
At that time you can remove the velcro if the current is too slow.

*snip*
To reduce that effect, fill the tank as high as possible. The
additional water will prevent the water from falling as far, thus
reducing the turbulence and the splatter noise.

Just a word of caution some tanks (like mine) will leak towards the
very top where the plastic edge meets the glass I had that happen and
it started a syphon and a little stream of water started running down
the corner of the tank and(it made a mess before I noticed even though
it was quite slow) it wouldnt stop till I broke the syhpon by taking
the water level down past the plastic edge...