Lucerne 218 Posted February 28, 2012 (edited) Hey everyone :] Bit of a query! Some time ago Alistairw very, very kindly gave me a free rena xp2 external canister filter - how awesome is Alistair?!! After alot of boring time and trouble I fiiinally got the right size tubing to set it up with but when I went to set it up I discovered it is very fractionally too tall to fit in the stand under my tank! Not a huge issue really but it does mean that I cant situate it behind or in the middle of the tank, itll have to go to one side, but thats cool as its in the corner of the room and I can hide it between the end of the stand and the wall. The thing is I want to have the inlet and outlet on opposite ends on the tank, because thats quite effective and means i dont have to cut the hood. This does mean either the inlet or outlet tube will have to be longer than the other, and my questions are: Is it ok if theyre not the same length? Which would be best as the shorter one? (i.e. should the inlet be the shortest or the outlet?) What do you guys think? I instinctually thought inlet should be the short one so the filter pulled water in quick and never ran itself dry, but that only works if the impeller "pulls in" rather than "pumps out", if that makes sense? (im not sure if the filter just fills from pressure and then the pump pushes water back up or vice versa). Sorry for wall of text! Edited February 28, 2012 by Lucerne 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sand 6 Posted February 29, 2012 i have two canisters, the both have diff lengths in out & input hoses, it absolutely is fine that way. it also doesnt matter which is longer. BUT i have two Fluvals, i dont think they are much diff from the Renas, in that it doesnt matter if the hoses are diff. 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
alistairw 89 Posted February 29, 2012 In theory the shorter your outlet the greater your final output. I know this works for vertical pumping. I would have your output as short as you can the input you can have longer. 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lucerne 218 Posted February 29, 2012 Oh thats great news, thanks guys I think coincidentally the outlet will be the shortest one because of the location, perfect! 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
claire_uk 15 Posted March 6, 2012 My intake on my Tetractec is very long and the outlet is short, on my fluval the intake is short and the outlet is long! Both seem to work just as well. :-) I have an intake and outlet at each end of the tank from the opposite filter. 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
austinado16 19 Posted March 7, 2012 One thing to consider is that eventually you'll be cleaning the inside of that super long tube. Might be a challenge. I have my Fluval 405 on the floor at the right end of the tank (facing the tank in my siggy pic) and both hoses are the same length and go up over that right side. The outlet is a full width spray bar. 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites