Air flow to uplifts

[AtomicSunfish]

I am cycling a 29-gal tank with bladder snails, which I feed sinking food tablets. For filtration, I have a souped-up HOB and a UGF, using a single-outlet air pump and a line splitter. The problem is that the two uplifts of the UGF have different amounts of air coming out of the bubblers. I have played around with changing the bubblers and the air lines, but one side seems to constantly get noticeably more bubbles than the other. It’s almost as though one path is easier than the other, so that’s the way more air flows. But I’m not really sure why, and it’s really frustrating, because that means one side of the filter will not work as well. Anyone else ever face this problem, and does anyone have a solution?

Edited April 4 by AtomicSunfish

[AllFishNoBrakes]

Add an adjustable valve to the line that had more air. Turn it down a bit, and even them out. Restricting air to the one will push more air to the other. 

[johnnyxxl]

Add a valve, but question are you using two pumps or a single pump with dual outlet?  My dual outlet air pump one side is stronger than the other not vastly but enough I can tell 

[bryanisag]

You can tune it yes but it will always need further fine tuning. Either run a dual outlet pump or 2 single outlet pumps. Also "work as well" is perhaps not the right way to think of it. You likely will have more than you need with one side completely off so I'd say it's more a matter of aesthetics or personal preference. Maybe try to ignore bubble count and just ensure the bubbles never completely stop

[AtomicSunfish]

Okay, yes thank you for those replies. To clarify: this is a single line coming from a single air pump outlet, which I then split using a T-connection to get the air to the two UGF uplifts.

One side always seems a bit stronger than the other, but you’re right: both the filter plates are getting filtration. I just want them equal / maximized. Plus it’s annoying to see that they’re not quite the same. Visitors might not notice, but I do! 😆

It sounds like adjustable valves are the way to go, so I will get some. Thank you!

Edited April 4 by AtomicSunfish

[Lonkley]

If recommend a metal valve as well

[AtomicSunfish]

On 4/4/2024 at 12:47 PM, Lonkley said:

If recommend a metal valve as well

Is that right? Is plastic not as durable?

[Odd Duck]

On 4/4/2024 at 4:11 PM, AtomicSunfish said:

Is that right? Is plastic not as durable?

Some of the plastic ones are OK but if you do much adjusting, they wear out quickly.  Plus the metal ones tend to be a bit more precise.

[Pepere]

I like the Ziss adjustable valves.  Much more fine control than others.

ensuring your airstones to both uplift tubes are clean and flow equally plays a big part too. As does equal length airline hose.  
 

And having air feed in to a bigger manifold, and then into individual runs…

Having said all that, The flow through your plates being equal from the risers is nowheres near as important as one would think intuitively.  You have a big plenum under those airrisers with low restriction and then inches of gravel on top.  The flow equilibrates fairly well under the plates…

 

And flow is not nearly the issue one might think with ugfs.   Fitting powerheads with dramatically higher flow than air driven does not increase biofiltration nearly so much as the increase in flow.  The increase of biofiltration is around 20% more…

 

Flow does have benefits other than biofiltration though… and if you want lots of flow but sticking with air driven, you can make adapters to fit the Easy Flow kits to standard PennPlax type ugf air riser stubs for about $2.00 of material and about an hour of your time for a pair….