Length of straws

Hi Glad to see that the forum has woken from its winter break. Currently I am using a 9" dia pipe with foam filters and straws. Straws are 7" long by 4.5mm dia(sorry about mixing units) The total length of nozzle including splash guard at the top and entry for fibres at the base is getting on for 24" Ideally I would like to make it smaller in length. Has anyone tried using shorter straws? What is the minimum length that will work? I am also hoping to incorporate a 5w RGB led in the water immediately below the outlet adjustable up and down to eliminate disturbance of the laminar flow. The led I have looks waterproof and cooling in the water should not be a problem John J.

Hi John, i use 5mm straws and about 185 mm = 7.28". Its working perfect, better than with my old 8mm staws.
I think it should work with shorter straws, but then you need a mesh or two section after it. Can you post the link where you got the 5W RGB led? My fiber Luxeon setup Light is now that brigt! Amazing!

Thanks. Good luck.

What is the length of your fountain straws?

I would like to cut mine down to 3 inches. This would allow enough room to put the cutting unit
inside my 18 inch fountain tube.

Will 3 inch straws work?

If you look at the youtube videos by Zachary, he takes his straws and cuts them down to about 3" and they work just fine

I tried shorter straws and the result was not so good. I also cannot understand how Zachery gets such good results with a narrow (6" I think ) tube.

I agree - he gets fantastic results but the laminar stream does not appear to reach the lengths or heights that many of our fountains obtain.
I believe that a smaller diameter tube results in smaller laminar flow streams - if the flow pressure was pushed to reach a the distance we obtain - laminar flow
would most likely decrease.

I have personally seen the Wet Design fountains at Bellagio and in a Discovery channel video - they are large, long diameter fountains.
Thanks - I will stick with my 7 inch straws for now.

I agree. Yes you can shorten the straws, but you must be aware that your arc throw will suffer. We are trying to push these nozzles to the maximum and so I will keep my very long laminar jet. It's going to be difficult to bury but it will be worth it to see the beauty and splendor of it all.