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I am in the process of setting up an aquarium, and experimenting with the water flow.

It's 100x40x60cm (60cm high). I employ an HMF in one of the back corners, so there is no well defined "inflow" - water is entering the HMF over a large surface area.

The output is currently a relatively tight beam on the top edge of the HMF, blowing diagonally horizontally across the water surface, then finding its way downward at the opposite side of the aquarium, while the side nearer to the HMF sees only very little movement. There is quite some motion going on at the surface, in a relatively tight stream originating at the outlet.

Is this generally an OK approach? How would I know whether everything is fine or not? I see no immediate problems, maybe except for the fact that larger plants near the "hard" part of the stream will be quite impossible (which in fact could be a problem for me; I'd like to have plenty of plants in the background...).

Right now, since there are no animals yet, it is a good time for experimentation. I use a 3D printer to make my own pipe/fitting stuff, so am not limited in any way either.

TL;DR: What would be the "standard" / optimum way to distribute the water in such an aquarium?

EDIT: The HMF (Hamburger Mattenfilter) looks like this: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Eck-HMF.png#/media/Datei:Eck-HMF.png (not mine). The pump sits at the bottom, the outlet at the top, angled diagonally across the surface.

AnoE
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  • http://www.seriouslyfish.com/a-basic-guide-to-the-hamburger-mattenfilter/ – trond hansen Jul 25 '19 at 03:07
  • @trondhansen, yes, that's what I have built (it's reasonably well known in Germany but seemingly not so much elsewhere). I'm really just concerned about the water flow (which, I guess, is not specific to this filter solution...). The answer you've written is fine for me, I'll accept it. – AnoE Jul 25 '19 at 08:39

2 Answers2

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There is no perfect way to do this,as long as there is good movement of the surface water the tank will be well oxygenated and the gass exchange air/water will be good.

You will want to have the inlet of your filter as low as possible to collect the maximum waste you can in your tank.

The normal turnover rate of water in a fresh water tank is every half to one hour,So your pump needs to be able to move twice the volume of water every hour(in very large tanks once an hour is fine)Marine tanks needs a faster turnover rate(this is not my field of experience so i do not know the rate for salt water tanks).

There will always be areas in a tank where the water movement is low,this is the area where your fish will stand when they are resting and where the most waste ends up in a tank(it kind of makes it easier to clean the tank).

trond hansen
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That sound good for fresh water; Marine aquariums require more vigorous circulation.

blacksmith37
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