Millennium 3000 question

[Enki]

I just got my first tank in a long time. I am really excited to be able to get some big cichlids. Green Terrors are the plan, hopefully a breeding pair.

My question is regarding the filter. Its intake is right below the output. In a tall tank this would be good it seems, but not so good for a long skinny tank like mine. (see my gallery of 1 photo so far)

Would it be worthwhile to make a long intake tube that takes water in at the other end of the tank from the output.

It seems to me chances of all the water going through the filter more often is increased, and that it would create sort of a slow current similar to the GTs natural conditions. But this is all theory, no practice yet.

Any thoughts?

[Allivymar]

Hiya Enki and welcome to Aquariumadvice

Not totally sure about this; not my area of expertise, but I would think there needs to be a certain amount of "pull" by the filter to move the water thru a long tube. I know the Millenium3000 moves around 295g per hour; how big is the tank? The pic hasn't been approved yet so I couldn't check it.

[Voodoo Chilli]

Enki-

I have several Millenium filters and love them!

All of mine have adjustable intakes that will allow you to make them the exact length you need. You just pull/push the end with the strainer to the desired position.

[Enki]

Thnks for the responses, My pic has been approved and is up now.

It looks like the filter will work well, confirmation from here makes me happy. The adjustable tube thing looks cool, but I am always the type to think about how I can make things 'better'.

I was thinking that if I got good piping I could put a 90 degree elbow where the pipe hits the bottom of the tank, run a pipe to the opposite end and with another elbow have the intake stick up out of the gravel in the corner.

Feeble attempt at asci illustration follows:


....../------------\
-----------------------------------------------------------
......|...Filter.....|.........^top edge of tank^
......\------------/
..............P..^water comes out here...................
..............P................................... ..................
..............P................................... ..................
..............P................................... ..................P<Water comes in here
..............P................................... ..................P
..............E................................... ..................E
..............EEPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPEE

.....................^About 3 feet of pipe here^

[Enki]

So all advice and info I have got from here and at my good LFS says that the 295 gal/minute should be plenty of 'pull' to do what I am looking for.

I am debating whether to attach the pipe to the floor of the tank with silicone or not. I think a permanent attachment to the floor may save trouble later with digging fish. I would hate to have to rebury the pipe while the tank is running.

I am going to be attaching 'some' rocks to the bottom to make a couple of permanent structures, so I will already be in there with the silicone anyway, why not tack down the pipe?

Are there any problems y'all see with this that I am not anticipating?