New Build (Questions about closed loop plumbing) 225Gallon

M

mtraylor

I'm working on plans for my new rebuild, and wanted to ask some of the people on the forum that have a tank plumbed for a closed loop. My plans on the new tank build are to have 2 two inch drain holes on the back of the tank with 4 one inch returns randomly placed on the bottom of the tank to complete the closed loop with a dart pump running on a 4way OM squirt. I would like to here from those of you that have this setup what the pros and cons are. Do you still have to have pumps in the aquarium for water flow? I'm trying to set this tank up so I can have nudibranches in it.

Thanks in advance?
 
why do you want a closed loop...they seem more hassle than they are worth...but that is my opinion. you can get random flow with tunzes or vortecs.

my friend always seems to be cleaning his 4 way as sand clogs up the drum plus you have to worry if it springs a leak it can potentially drain quite a bit of water as dart are notorious to blow a seal. i am a dart owner
 
I want to run the closed loop to keep from having tunze's and vortex's in the tank. Its a cleaner look and I can have nudibranches without having to worry about them getting sucked up and killed. I'm thinking if I can get the full 3600gph through the tank from the dart, then that should be sufficient flow. I currenlty have a dart on my system right now and it has been running for several years and I have never had an issue or leak. I really like that thing. I run my protein skimmer and my return to the tank with it. I will probably run two darts on the new system. One for the closed loop and one for everything else.

I want to know if I go through all the trouble of porting extra holes for the closed loop, will I have to still buy tunzes to place them in the tank for extra flow on a mixed reef. If so, its a waste of time for me and I can go ahead and purchase a regular tank.
 
Jake Adams(presentor at NextWave 2009) thinks that flow across the polyps is very important for sps and that it needs to be reversed on a reqular basis in the tank. I don't know how you can accomplish that with flow coming from the bottom of the tank only. You will have to have flow parallel to the bottom.
 
also i thought the squirt could only handle around 3k flow and thought the dart would be too much for the motor.
 
Well I will have two regular overflows that will be returning water from the sump to both sides of the tank. The other four returns will be extended i through the bottom of the tank with PVC aprox 1.5" above the sand with 45 degree angles on them. I figure I can glue rocks on the pipes to hide them. I"m also thinking of briging one up towards the back of the tank with a 90 on it to move water through the back of the rocks.

I didn't know that 3000gph was the highest you can go. So I guess I would have to throttle that back a bit. That is my mine concern, if that will be enough flow. With the squirt it will be alternated all through the tank.
 
Hey Mat, good to hear from you since we met in Richardson.

I run an OM4 Squirt with a Snapper and I love it. It's on a 125 so it's long. I didn't think it made that much difference till the motor went out (it was quite used and they've stoped using that motor and the new one is on order) and I had to rely on the Vortecs. For my tank the 2 power heads aren't enough because of the length and the OM made up the difference.

What size tank are you putting it on? Typical 225 or long?
My recommendation would be go with the OM4 not the squirt because of the flow and the reason people have some problems with them is the hole configuration. With the two outlets next to each other the canister is pressed against the housing. IMO if you get the opposing outlets (1&3, 2&4 instead of 1&2, 3&4) it will not always be under pressure. Just make sure 1 and 3 are on one side and 2 and 4 return to the other side if you do lateral flow.
It sounds like you have been talking to the same people I have which they say that the flow characteristics your after (flowing from bottom up to the back and down) is better than the common practice we see now which is a lateral flow.
My system is not a true return loop but I like it enough that I will do it on my next tank.
I think the only other thing that would perform this well would be the Tunze wave maker or a setup with heads actually stop flow or reverse the flow but these might not be good for your nudi's.

There are a lot of people on RC that have these and I would suggest contacting them as well. I don't know anyone here that has one but if they do I would sure like to see how the return loop performs.
 
Thanks 20nascar and everyone. This is the feedback I'm looking for. I dont want to start the investiment and time and learn that it was a waiste of time. I will check the other forum out too as suggested to see if I can get some more input too.
 
Mat,

I use an OM SuperSquirt on my cube - 2 holes up high, 2 down low plus an intake and also used one on one of my former tanks. I do like it and have only had either of them get clogged once or twice over 5 years. Like any other equipment, you should clean them a couple times a year, but as long as you plumb them where you can get to them, it is a matter of unscrewing 2 allen screws. I have true union ball valves on every output and connection to pump so if I ever have to take it off (never had to) or when cleaning, I just shut off the valves. Also OM has great customer service if you ever need it. Not trying to sway you one way or another, just giving you my experience.

Good luck whichever way you go.

Lee
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top