Smokin, I thing the 6080 may be hard on a large colt in the center. Not sure how you could work around it. I have to be careful to protect my huge bubble coral, but the 30in. depth helps a lot, plus some protective rock.

Hey Jon ... I am drilling holes for a closed loop on my 300 right now actually ( tonite ! ... just taking a dinner break :smile: )

I am drilling a 1 1/2" input ( to pump ) on each side and (2) 1" outputs ( back to tank ) also on each side ( total of (2) x 11/2" and (4) x 1" )

I will be reducing everything initially to 3/4" so that I can run my 2 Mag18's and as my circulation needs increase I can adjust accordingly

My return from my sump is a 4MDQX also but I found that too much back pressure will cause it to cavitate and produce microbubbles so it is pretty unrestricted and plumbed closer to the surface to keep the surface clear and produce a nice shimmer :cool:

Cheers

Yea I don't really know what to do at this point. I suppose just continue with my origional plan.

I could drill another intake for a 2nd pump on the closed loop and have one pump per side?

Yea that may be the best option. Basically all my SPS are fairly small sized pieces with the largest acro being about tennisball size. Most are frags though.

Hey Jon ... another intake is a great idea at this point ( I assume there is no water in it yet ) ... better to do it now than a year from now when your tank is full of corals and fish :eek:

Just a suggestion

Cheers

If you do another closed loop and run another Mak4 on it, there will be a nice current, however,
Another Mak 4 and plumbing is about the same cost as the 6080. Also a concern of mine, besides the current the Mak4,s produced, was power consumption.

My 2-Mak4 pumps used 100 watts each and my 3MD used 90 watts, which comes to almost 300 watts.

My pair of Tunze pumps use 18 watts each, or something like that.

Another consideration for the long run is current generators in the tank. You already have powerheads, so the streams, although larger would be no different. Perhaps if you dont like that look though, and while your doing closed loops, all the inside units could be gotten rid of, if you prefer closed loops and the larger pumps on the outside.

Many prefer that option as they dont like power thingys in their tank. Also many larger pumps, like Little Giant and Genex, have an excellent reputation for longevity.

If you were interested in that option, then I would look at direct drive pumps like the Ampmaster or Sequence. They can make some kinda flow.

Hope I have not thrown to much confusion into the mix. :lol: Just trying to bring up all different options for ya.

No confusion at all Doug, Thanks for the ideas!

I mentioned another pump on the closed loop because I have another one allready. Basiclly on my 90g I am running a LG 4mdqxsc on the closed loop. I got the mak 4 for the new tank because it will have a little more power( I hope) and also I need the Lg on the 90g till I make the swithch over in the beggining of July. I am going to fill the 230 soon(no Rasta there is no water in it) add the salt and sand bed and some scoops of sand from the current setup to seed the sand bed. This is why I need the mak 4 so I can have some flow in the 230 while it's cycling/sitting/seeding/aging.

So If I drill another intake then I would just plumb one side of the closed loop with the mak 4 and have nothing on the otherside till I make the switch over at which time I can plumb the lg4 onto the other side of the tank. Make sense? Kinda confusing myself :rolleyes:

So I wouldnt nessecarily have to purchase another pump because I have one :mrgreen:

You do make a good point though Doug about the power consumption. I don't really mind the look of the Tunze's but I have never seen one in person.

Maybe a good plan would be to just use one pump for the closed loop like I had planned, add the 4 mj powerheads. Once the tank is running and the basement is done I can save up my pennies and purchase a few Tunze's and take out the mj's and add the tunze's.
So at that point I would have the sump return, closed loop and 2 tunze's. That should be plenty of flow for an established sps 230g tank?

As you already have the pumps, closed loops may be fine for now. They addition of the 4MD on a closed loop should generate decent current. I had one that was not drilled. Just a "U" pipe over the top, with a slotted down pipe intake. The return also went over the top. Drilling is neater though. Later on you could purchase the larger 6110 controlled, pulsing stream pump and run in on one end along with a closed loop.

I think you will be fine with your plans for now.

You could also do as I did. Sell my Mak4 pumps to buy Tunze,s. :lol:

Jon, how are you drilling this many holes :eek: Aren't you worried you're going to run out of luck and it cracks on you?

Sounds like you're really giving this tank all the thought, should be nice to see the final product.

I am "grinding" these holes with a diamond impregnated bit. not worried at all :cool:
On 1/2" glass there is not much to worry about. I'm just using a hand drill. If I was drilling very thin glass like a hagen 10g then I may be worried.