ABSolute Flow Limiter (for small chinese aquarium pumps) by Luni

Last crawled date: 3 years ago

And now: the "ABSolute Flow Limiter"!!!
Do you plan to build an aquarium for your children by buying a small glass bowl, filtering and oxygenating its water with a very cheap chinese pump?
Good thought! You are a clever person! You're also going to save 20 to 30 bucks, if you compare the price of your new aquarium with the commercial ones!
You need of:
A small glass bowl (mine has a radius of 25cm... Yes, metric system! :-): not too far from 10,00/11,00 euro
A pair of kilograms of aquarium pebbles: 2,00/3,00 euro
Some ornamental object to submerge: from 2,00 euro and up.
A small filter with integrated oxygenator pump like the one in the picture (model XL666 3W): less than 5,00euro
Then...
Ahhh! You will be very satisfied with your work, but...
Wow! The pump ... pumps very well! Even too much! And it does not have a flow regulator!
Your little fishes will surely be slammed around the bowl with no chance of escape!
But ... You're lucky!
I already had and overcome this problem with my "ABSolute Flow Limiter": I called it that because now I only have ABS here, in my cave, but you can also call it "PLAbsolute Flow Limiter" and print it in PLA!
So... Go to print it! And don't forget the fishes! :)
Now seriously: remember to submerge the pump vertically and wait until it starts to pump, before fixing it to the glass with its suction cups; this is especially true if you install the limiter having a single hole (1/4 of flow).
If you will use this limiter, the "Venturi" effect used to oxygenate the water is very low and can't suck the air more than a few millimeter down in the water, so, please, install the pump so that the outlet nozzle remains as close as possible to the surface.