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Nano sized DIY Vortech style pump

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Anonymous

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lbv126345s.jpg

Mag Stirrer

I've used on of these on a 5 gallon container. It actually does a really good job of stirring water. The cool part is that it can switch directions every 30 seconds.

My idea is to place it under a tank, in the stand, and place the stir bar inside the tank. Some questions....

Is teflon SW safe? Are there any places to buy very small (like 1") plastic propellers?[/url]
 
tinyreef

tinyreef

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won't it eventually wear out the glass? kinda like the long-term problem of kalk mixers using mag stirrers. maybe if you suspend the magnet with a string or something.

what are you trying to accomplish with the mag stirrer and the small azoo pump unit (in your other thread). are you looking for a low profile water mover or a central vortex or some kind of vortex biotope?

you could pre-install a manifold setup and cover it with substrate and rock if you're just looking for a central circulation system. i saw one setup waaay back here or rc.
 
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Anonymous

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rcsheng":1c3qqpas said:
won't it eventually wear out the glass? kinda like the long-term problem of kalk mixers using mag stirrers. maybe if you suspend the magnet with a string or something.
Click to expand...

I believe that's only an issue on acrylic. Should be fine on glass AFAIK.

what are you trying to accomplish with the mag stirrer and the small azoo pump unit (in your other thread). are you looking for a low profile water mover or a central vortex or some kind of vortex biotope?

you could pre-install a manifold setup and cover it with substrate and rock if you're just looking for a central circulation system. i saw one setup waaay back here or rc.
Click to expand...

A little bit of both. It's super low profile, obviously. The type of flow isn't really meant to be like a vortex. It switches back and forth, and once it bounces off rock it's pretty chaotic.

The Azoo pump does this great if you have a sanbed about 1.5" deep to hide the powerhead. The mag stirrer would just do the same thing in a bare bottom setup. I have a suspicion it would put out a really good flow too, but I can't be sure until I hook up a propeller to one.
 
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Omni2226

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Could still use a substrate with this one too just take a large petri dish,cut out the ends, or a short piece of say 5 inch pvc pipe and silicon it to the bottom where you plan to have the propeler/magnet.

1/2 inch or so of some coarse crushed coral for looks. If you wanted substrate that is.

Get some pics of the works in progress as ya go :)
 
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Nautilus1

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I have often thought about this idea. I dont think u need a magnetic propellor spinning for good water movement. Your average magnetic stirrer bar can move a lot of water. I have also seen floating stir bars that are suspended in the water column.
I work with magnetic stirrers everyday and they can end up bouncing around the container. This usually happens after a few minutes. Once it is set and spinning well it can stay on track , spinning for days with out jumping around. I would like to try one of these on the side of the tank. Not sure if the magnet is strong enough . I can try tomorrow .
 
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Anonymous

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teflon isin't safe for birds, at least not hot teflon....

Don't know about for fish.

I think its a cool idea but pretty expensive to buy just for an experiment....
 
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Nautilus1

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Today I tried the magnetic stirrer on the side of a tank. It worked really well. Actually , I did not use a fish tank but just turned a magentic stirrer on its side and held the bottom of a 1 liter flask with stirrer magnet inside. The flask was full of water. The magnet continued to spin well even when there was about 1/2 inch space between the stirrer bar and the magnetic stirrer. This could really work if one was able to fabricate some kind of housing for the spinning magnet inside the tank to prevent it from potentially flying off its rocker. Im going to take a part one of the magnetic stirrers and try to get it down to its bare bones so its not so bulky. It would not be economical to buy a new mag stirrer for this application but a used one would be fun.
 
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Anonymous

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I'm surprised it worked on the side of a tank. 8O

My plan was to do it on the bottom of a tank so the stirrer could be hidden in the stand. A housing to fit the stir bar could be as simple as a PVC cap with holes drilled in it.
 
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Nautilus1

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Ya I was surprised also. What was really cool was that the mag stirrer did not even have to be in contact with the glass in order to spin the magnet that was submerged.
 
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Anonymous

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2 questions

1. How fast does this thing spin?

2. What if you were to fasten the main chunk of live rock to the bar, and have it spin in the tank, including all the coral's fastened to the live rock...

Now that would be interesting....
 
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Anonymous

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knucklehead, you are lucky that coral is invert, otherwise, suggesting the spinning rock idea with coral will get you as much trouble with PETA as putting people on roller coaster.

Telfon is fine for this, since you can't get temperature more than 212F with fish tank.

Work with stirbar in chem labs, I can tell you that it can work even upside down.
 
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Anonymous

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Don't you think spinning the coral would produce some interseting growth effects?

Similar to my idea of growing frags upside down with the light on the bottom....
 
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