Loaches Online Forum

I just bought a 128l (34 gallon) tank that I'm planning to build into a hillstream tank using the river tank manifold design from the forum. The measurements of the tank are 80*40*40 cm.

I think i'm going to use two powerheads. Maxi-Jet PH1200 seems to be the one i'm going to go for. 2 x 1100 l/h. Views?

I've seen so many variations of the manifold design. There's one with only two pipes running the length of the tank, and one with three pipes. And in the Loaches book, there's a drawing with four pipes running the length of the tank, and three intake sponges. But still only two powerheads.
What would you suggest to be the best solution for a 128l tank?

If you want to use smaller diameter pipe, easier to hide under the substrate, then go with more of them. If you are planning a significant background and have room to hide things, then you could plumb everything to one much larger pipe, about a 1" (roughly 2.5-3 cm) at the back of the tank.
This would be about the same as 2 pipes @ .75" (a bit under 2 cm) or about 4 pipes @ .5" (about 1.5cm)
Whatever size pipes are most similar to these measurements, or slightly bigger will be better than going too small.

If you have a choice between thin wall and thick wall pipe, thin wall PVC works just fine.

Try to get as many intakes and as big pipes as you can. I'd go with the 4-pipe design if there's enough space to do so, and I'd use the 25mm ones. The pipes can slow down the flow quite significantly, and that means that even if you have a big powerhead, you'll probably not get near the L/h that the pump is rated for.

Choice of pipe can come down simply to the options available locally. I'm guessing that Norway probably has similar plumbing products to Sweden, so the 25mm tube sounds good to me. How many length-ways pipes you can fit depends on the available internal tank width versus the dimensions of the T's and 90 degree bends available.

I would advise at least one central tube because it allows heavier decor to be placed so that it weighs down the manifold. I've had serious issues over the years with units having no central pies. They tend to lift and get exposed and are then really difficult to get buried properly again.

Your powerhead choice is right on the money. It ought to turn over that tank over 17 times an hour. I always work on 16 times as a minimum sizing requirement for Hillstream Loaches.

Martin.

Why not fix down the manifold with a few dots of silicone at the corners?

Thanks for your pointers Appreciate it.

So I think I'll go for three maybe four 25mm pipes running the length of the tank and three intakes.