JBlaze

Anglinarcher, great video. I have been looking at this for over an hour and am still guessing as to how they are created this flow. Atlasstone, I hope you get something back that is useful.

Wayne, will have a look at that. By the nature of it's intended use, I am sure it would not offer resistance to water flow. Thanks for the suggestion. John

So am I, just the weight of the incoming water may have put a little pressure on the baffle but it was not enough to force the water through. The water actually rose behind the baffle and flowed over the top of it. I thought that would create some surface current but I could not see or find it. What you said about pressure in a cylinder, I was lying awake last night thinking about that same thing. Maybe making an open faced box with the baffle sealed to the open side and the outlet of the pump plumbed to the box on the side or back of it. this should force the water to come through the baffle holes in small streams. I have an auxiliary live well aerator installed in my live-well. It has a discharge pipe with 6 holes under its cap the force of the six streams of water shooting out of these six holes is very strong and drives air down into the tank at least a foot. Something along these lines might be another option but how would you know how many holes to make before the pump would not have any resistance and therefore no pressure? Maybe it could be plumbed to a couple of or three or four shower heads. Just another thought. John

Yes my friend, the math was good. But, there are more ways than one to skin a cat. I am hard headed and stubborn. I will be giving this another shot. I did learn a lot through this project about water flow, laminar flow, friction of liquids in a pipe. All by reading about the things that were posted by others who were interested in making a test tank. If I didn't gain anything other than that, at least I am a little smarter than I was Hopefully someone will come up with an idea that works. I am thinking it will be similar in its design to the one that Atlasstone posted. John

Don’t know that anyone wants to see this or not but at least you will know one idea not to give a shot or maybe you might have an idea that would make it work. My first attempt at making a test tank was a failure. In this clip, I am filling the tank and turning on the pump for the first time. As Dave suggested, I only used the one baffle for the initial testing. In this second clip, the pump is running but there is nothing happening. In this third clip, I open up the pump and find that it was airlocked. In this clip, I have removed the baffle to see if there was any flow without it. As I lifted the baffle out of the tank, I noticed that it was very heavy. With the pump running, there was water flowing out of the pumps three discharge holes but I was still getting little to no water flow across the tank. In this final clip you will see that the baffle is just full of water for some reason that I don’t comprehend/understand. It retained all the water in the channels even though I had set it down. Watch what happens when I tap it on the ground. After seeing that, I realize that water is not going to go through this baffle unless it is under some kind of pressure. So,its back to the drawing board. Atlasstone, I meant to say your name in this clip instead of Anglinarcher.. Thanks to all for your encouragement and enthusiasm with this little project. Be assured that I will be giving it another shot. John

Thanks Dave, I will give that a try. I had not even considered that. My thoughts were that the three intakes at the end of the tank would somehow distort the even flowing of the water.

Up date on the Test Tank. This is what I am using to make my Baffles This baffle is almost finished and ready to install. There are ninty-five of the 3/4 inch strips in it for a total of 4750 channels/holes for the water to flow through. I have to make another one for the other end. I hope to finish this thing this week and find out if this was a good idea or not. What do you fellows think. Will it have enough flow to be able to test lures. I some how deleted the pic of the tank in the other post, Here it is again.

Am off to a start on the test tank. Still need to make and install the end baffles. http://s253.beta.photobucket.com/user/JBlaze1952/media/P2250065.jpg.html?sort=3&o=0

wchilton, I do already have the material. So I am going to give it a shot. Also, I think you are right about the increasing velocity/pump capacity effect caused by the no head and the retained momentum of the recirculating water. This thread is getting more and more interesting. Thanks everyone for all the input and a very big Thank You to Atlasstone for starting it. John

Atlasstone, I think you are spot on. But, I am not a physics major neither. A couple of days ago, after reading and trying to understand the things I read about Laminar Flow. I decided that my end pieces with matching holes drilled was no good. I liked the idea of building a baffle out of straws but if I figured right, it was going to take close to 8000 cut straws placed in a frame side by side and top to bottom with each straw glued together. Dont think I have that much time or patience. So instead I am opting to build a baffle for each end made of stacked and glued strips of corrugated plastic sign material. The plastic is very thin and strong and should have several thousand small holes/channels for the water to flow through. I am thinking that the secret to a good strong flow will be to have the pump pumping the maximum amount of water that this baffle will allow to flow through all those holes. If it pumps more than the baffle will handle then the space between the baffle and the end of the aquarium will overflow. On the opposite end, The same thing should occur since the baffles will be identical and the return inlet of the pump should be pulling from behind this baffle the same amount of water it is pumping out to the other end. This may take two or three pumps. I have no idea how to figure how many gallons of water can flow through this thing. My biggest worry with using the corrugated material is that the channels are so small that there may be too much friction and the water may not flow well. Ain't but one way that I know to find out if it will work or not so with that said. I am going to be busy for a few days.

Atlasstone, I think that is a good idea, worth trying. I have another idea also, I'm not sure this would work but maybe drop in a small hose from an aquarium air pump and blow a single bubble and see how far it traveled before surfacing. No weight or mass to affect its momentum so it would instantly travel at the speed of the flowing water. I think Geez, I can't sleep at night for thinking about this thing.

This is my thoughts are taking me. I started putting it together last night will hopefully have something to show in a couple of days. I thought maybe a suspending lure might do the trick as far as measureing the speed/flow. Thanks for the reinforcement

Dave, I was hoping you would sign in on this one. Thanks for your input, I have much respect for your knowledge. Even though your calculations are a little disheartening, I too am going to continue on with this project. I have already spent the money so I might as well try and find a design which will work. Thanks John

Attlasstone, maybe not a formulaic approach but it worked and you did good. And, You did understand my idea perfectly. After reading Anglinarchers post, I may try building the false ends out of plastic straws. Will have to do some research to figure out how many straws it will take to build these two walls 12" by 20" . OK, ( height of sides / divided by diameter of straws) x (width of bottom / divided by diameter of straws). Will that work? Don't know if I can afford that many straws Will keep you posted as this idea progresses. Again, thanks. John Attlasstone, I hope this is not considered Hijacking your thread. Should I start another one with this?

Anglinarcher, thanks for your input on this. I do not know the math so my method of doing things is mostly trial and error I am going to start on this one soon, again Thanks. John