Closed Loop 60

[Joe's Coral Reef]

For the coral I want in the tank, I would like a turnover in the range of 30-40. I have done some reading on the closed loop systems and just wanted to get some opinions before I start blasting holes in my 48 x 24 x 12 tank. Just trying to make sure I have implemented the design theory right.

2" drain in the center of the tank and 2" piping as recommend by reeflo connecting to Dart 3600gph pump (Just seems huge, but thats what they recommended ). Dart pump will be about 3' below tank.

1 1/2" piping from the pump to a 1 1/2" manifold. The manifold will be under the the tank and be connected to 4- 3/4" bulkheads. From the manifold to the end of the nozzles will be about 6". Connected to the bulkheads will be a Y with flex line connecting to the nozzles. This will give me 8 nozzles.

30 gallon sump, with a separate drain and pump, maybe 300-500 gph return. I plan on plumbing the return for the drain into the 1 1/2" manifold.

With piping I am figuring about 740 gph loss. This should give me 35-48 turn over. Its is a bit higher then what I wanted, but I would like to error on the high side.

Thanks for reading.

 

[tgfrench]

The 2" intake sounds good, 3600 gph CL seems like a lot in a 60. I admit I'm running somewhere around 1500 +/- in my 90 and I'd like a lil more flow but its difficult to run without blasting everything to bits. A local reefer buddy of mine ran a pump your size on his 90 barebottom and I did well. He had his returns split into two 1 1/2".

The sump return sounds good.

 

[dreamreefer]

the 3600 gph seems a little too much for your tank as stated above, if you really have to go with that i suggest tee-ing the return with a "bleeder" line, simply a tee-off from the return (before hitting the manifold) going to the sump, that way you can alleviate any back pressure caused on the pump if the returns are not enough, otherwise the pump will break in time because of the back pressure caused by not being about to push out as much water as it was made to do...hope this makes sense. also, for the other pump, think about teeing off for inline chiller, ca reactor, etc...that way you won't need extra pumps in your sump leading to more heat, more things to maintain, more expenses, etc...hope this helps...

Steve

 

[sixfins]

I went to a local club meeting a few weeks ago. We discussed different setups that everyone's using, most of the senior guys (15-30 years in the club) have been tearing down the closed loop systems. Saying with long periods of time that they are detritus factories. The current way of thinking seemed to be wavemaker/boxes and tunze or koralia pumps for circulation.

 

[Ocean In A Box]

sixfins -

closed loops = detritus factories ???

can you explain that line of thinking a bit more?

i am about to do a CL on my 33g cube (HATE power heads and such in the viewing tank) so i'm interested in some opinions on CL's...personally i had never read anything other than postives on CL's...

tx, matt

 

[sixfins]

like I said that was what the senior guys were saying, most of them have had CL systems running for over 10 years. They have been tearing them down and replacing them with systems that have wave boxes attached. A few that have ungodly amounts of $$$ invested have tunze heads which are hidden in the rock structures, without them pointing them out we didn't even notice them. The artificial reef covers are very realistic, especially the higher end ones.

 

[hyperfocal]

With just a closed loop, you're limited to the plumbed outlets. It is much easier to get rid of dead spots with powerheads. Need some extra flow in a bottom back corner? Slip a powerhead down there; Koralias are cheap, and their magnet mount makes positioning a breeze.

 

[kjreiniger]

With my flex hose, after a year or so I can find a build-up of algae along the inside surface. I can imagine that a few yards of PVC over that amount of time will retain a lot of gunk and cost a bit of money and/or time to clean/replace.

 

[sixfins]

Yeah, I think they were saying something along those lines. After listening to people talking about their systems in detail for a few hours I start to tune out. At that meeting we had 12 systems we looked at and discussed in detail. It got very boring, these guys were even talking about which fittings to buy (brand name) and where they bought everything etc... I can tell you the 2 nicest tanks I saw that night had Tunze's for flow and were computer controlled. One of them had a 1 car garage dedicated as the maint./ equip. area. Yes, the whole garage.