Closed loop advice

[danny zubot]

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

[Delphinus]

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.

[danny zubot]

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?

[Delphinus]

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.

[danny zubot]

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

[marie]

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

[danny zubot]

I found this product http://oceanaquatics.com/store/produ...cotech-Marine/

Anyone have any experience with it? It claims to be controllable from 100 to 3000 GPH, but doesn't mension if the controller can create wave actions.

[Der_Iron_Chef]

It says "wave-like flow", but I wonder what that means, exactly!

[Delphinus]

They're really nice units. At the time they were first introduced to the hobby they were claimed to beat Tunzes in cost but in the end that's not really the case. But they are pretty slick units. For one there is no electrical part in the water. And with the controller they can create some serious flow patterns. There were demo videos from about a year ago, here check out this one from melevsreef, http://www.reefcast.com/episodes/reefcast15.mpg

The only real drawback to me that I see, it has to sit square on the glass so that limits your placement options and you can't rotate it to be at an angle to the glass like you can with a Tunze.

Otherwise though they are pretty darn slick little units!

[danny zubot]

Thats a crazy video! I could find a way to make that work in my tank. I emailed the tech guys from the manufacturer's website, and he said the controller would be available "this summer". I'm going to look into this one some more.