Circulation patterns for larger tanks.

[Trex420]

Hey all as most of you know and as I'm sure some of you are sick of hearing of I'm setting up a 75 gal. I was wondering what you all thought of recommended cirulation patterns. I am use to using a circulation method, #2 in the pics below, that has all the water constantly flowing in the same direction. I had been toying with a several ideas. I had tried to do this as a poll but I wasn't directed to the poll page after selecting that option instead this was actually posted. I tried to delete it immediately and then recreate it with the poll but I'm not allowed to delete my own posts, just edit. :hmm4:

Flow Pattern 1

Flow Pattern 2

Flow Pattern 3

 

[wetWolger]

IME you don't want a whirlpool. You want to try to get somewhat random pattens so ditrus does not collect and to simular the ocean better. You can do this by ethere directing flow to the glass....or having two powerheads point directly at each other. Based on that I would say 3 is your best. But I think with a little thought you could do even better. Like howabout the two powerheads under the overflow point so they meet at the center of the front glass, making a kind of triangle. And then having your return setup similar as flow pattern 1. Just a thought, you can do many many things.

 

[roguemonk]

My plan is roughly like this:

Do a closed loop, and the return from the closed loop will be to an exterior manifold that has perhaps three outlets, each with a gate or ball valve for tuning. Then each outlet goes to a manifold on the bottom of the tank (drill the top of each pipe just above where it enters the water to prevent siphoning in case of a catastrophic pump malfunction. Scatter the outlets (3-5 each depending on how much room you have and how you plan to 'scape it) in areas that will be under live rock--do not glue the elbows/tees but point them in various directions and allow them to be adjusted later if necessary. The flow through each will not be huge, but should produce some eddies. Then once you've tuned each manifold you can tune them from the outside when everything is in place using the valves to change the ratio of flow to turn some eddies into streams and vice versa.

The return plumbing will be to a manifold at the top. No need for anything fancy there, just point them in directions that interfere with each other (and leave them adjustable also).

As always, the devil is in the details, but I look forward to putting it together.

Brad

 

[cubuffs]

Place the powerheads on the edges like you have them, and point them to the front-middle of the tank. This will create a triangle pattern. This is what I do with my tunze's, and it works very well!

 

[Trex420]

hmmm.... I guess I'll have to think this out a little more. I also should note that I'll be using sweeping PHs.