Closed loop advice
 

Well since I'm not having any luck acquiring the new tank I want I'm just going to go ahead with a closed loop system on my current 65 gallon tank.

So what kind of flow should I be looking at for a 65 gallon tank? (36x18x24")

Are there good pumps and bad pumps for closed loops?

Is there a specific configuration that I should consider as far as hole placement for the intakes and exhausts?

I have hole saws for 1" and 2" bulkheads and plan to hard plumb everything.

thanks,

Danny

What do you currently have for circulation?

My biggest concern about CL's is that the pumps tend to have a heavier electrical draw than powerheads. A little easier to hide the hardware though, I suppose, plus you can have eductors. But the one nice thing about things like Tunzes is how ridiculously little electricity they use.

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Actually, I haven't given energy consumtion much thought. I'm so sick of dealing with power heads that I just want to get rid of them. Right now I have 3x MJ 1200s and one JBJ ??? its the one that pushes about 600 gph through dual nozels.

If I could get Tunze's for cheeper than a closed loop I'd consider it but I'm doubtful about that.

What are eductors?:redface:

My biggest complaint about powerheads is that suction cups suck! Or that.. they fail to suck after a while. I pretty much switched all mine to magnet holders (or clip ons).

Eductors are nozzles on the pipe outputs that use a venturi/bernoulli principle to move more water, you get a fan shaped output of water movement. You need a pressure rated pump though since they put a lot of backpressure on the pump.
http://www.kthsales.com/website/vend...g_eductors.htm

I dunno I'm pretty happy with Tunzes but I agree they're costly. But the energy consumption is definitely a nice payback and they put out a nice flow. I even have one (one of the smaller models) in my FW tank.

On a tank like yours though I guess you're not looking at a huge pump, probably something like a mak4 or something like that would be adequate.

One nice thing you can do with a closed loop, I think people call them Calfo manifolds since Calfo was one who talked about this idea a lot, you create a loop of pipe that sits on the tank perimeter. Then you add as many outputs on T's down into the tank that you want. The nice thing is that this is a great way to get a customized flow pattern, while keeping the majority of the hardware out of sight.

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I'm out for the weekend but I will definately be back to discuss on Monday.

Here's some reading for when you get back :lol:
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issu...2003/short.htm

If I had that tank I would get an OM 4 -way and a dart pump.

That would arguably be an awesome combo!!!!!!!:mrgreen:

Little pricey, but 5 years from now you would say it was the best thing you could have done.

Power consumption isn't usually a big concern, people figure electricity is cheap at 5.5 cents a kilowatt hour but it can add up quickly. That being said I don't know what kind of power some of these pumps use but for sake of argument lets say one uses or is rated at 100 watts. That means the pump has to run for 10 hours to use 1 Kilowatt hour or 5.5 cents worth of electricity which means if you run the pump 10 hours a day 7 days a week you are looking at 100 watts x 10 (hours) x 31 (days) x 5.5 (cents/hour) = $17 a month give or take a bit. That all being said, if the pump is rated at 1000watts um for sure I'd stay with powerheads. I just did a quick search and found a dart that's rated for 3600gph uses 160 watts a Tunze 6100 is rated at 45 watts so the difference would be with the Dart $27.28 per month vs $7.67 per month for a tunze 6100. I didn't check price difference between the power head and the pump but you'd be looking at $20 a month in electrical usage difference between the two.

Doug

Not doubting the #'s just curious why you based it on running a pump 10 hrs a day. I don't know about anyone else but my pumps run 24/7.

I have both closed loops and tunzes on both of my larger tanks (230g and 190g) On the 190 I have the closed loop being powered by a sequence hammerhead - through an OM 4 way and then split into 8 returns. I also have 2 Tunze 6100's. On the 230g I have 2 Tunzes and the closed loop is more basic and is just 2 returns and powered by a Mag 24.
Personal preference for flow and the ability to move and direct flow is definately the Tunzes. If you decide that you want more flow along the bottom of the tank - simple - move the powerhead. Not quite so simple with a closed loop.

When/if I ever set up my 300g cube I am not going to drill for a closed loop at all - all tunzes. the bonus for me is
- I don't have to drill my tank
- less plumbing to try and figure out and hide (plumbing impared)
- no leaky bulkhead that I am currently dealing with on my 110g cube
- I can play around with flow and change it in the future as corals grow or I change the direction I want the tank to go in.

That's just my thoughts:mrgreen:

Hey Ruth, I based it on 10 hours a day for two reasons, nice easy numbers, I like 10s and I like to have some of the flow shut down at night when the lights go off, still lots of flow but not as turbulent. I have two Seio 620s and an 820 in the cube, the 820 goes off with the lights at night.

Doug