closed loop system

[floridabob]

hi ,
i am a newbie to this salt water thing (7 months)
have a 75 gallon tank with a 600 gph pump, a protien skimmer and 2 low gph power heads. with that said would like to make this into a reef tank,and need to know !!!!
1st how much flow should i have?
2nd i want to get rid of power heads and run a closed loop from a intake in my tank to a pump and back up to 3/4 inch pvc around the top perimiter of tank with 4 spray nozzles for circulation
what size pump would i need?(gph) and would a mag drive pump be good or should i go to something else
also ( sorry for all the questions)
i have an corallife
65 w 10,000 daylight and a 65 w actinic 03 blue lamps
what kind of coral, leathers polups anemones ect can i keep?
thanks for your answers in advance
florida-bob

 

[30mini]

Welcome!
The flow you should have is dependant on what kind of coral you want to keep. With that said, the lighting is the same situation. If you want to keep softies, the you would proabably need a little more light, maybe get some VHO's or a Halide to get a little more light down to the bottom of the tank. For the closed loop, you may want to look into an external pump like a dart or something of the sort. That will give you more flow, and with that manifold you want, it will help you out with pushing more water out of all of the holes. If you have 3/4" returns then you are looking to have about a 1" or larger intake! So, you wouldn't want a mag pump for this. A mag drive pump is used for more submersable kind of applications! They are known to leak when used externally. If you want to upgrade to start doing a reef, then you may want to look in the lighting, filtration, and other equipment forum and ask them there too.

 

[cowfishy]

Check out Steve Weasts site www.oregonreef.com for closed loop inspiration/specs.

Tank FLOW:You will need to aim for between 1- and 20 times volume of your tank as a rule of thumb for flow dependent on what you are keeping.

CL FLOW: Have a good look at Loc-line for the nozzles IMO. Depenmding on where the pump is (head height) I would be aiming at about 500GPH per outlet at least from the little I know. ( I am setting one up now but it is under-flowed/pressured by a long way)

Corals: Stick to softies with the lighting you have IMO. Anemones might struggle.

Cheers,
Mike

 

[floridabob]

thanks 30 mini
aprox how many gph should the dart pump be?
i was thinkin 1900 -2000

 

[30mini]

That sounds good! I would stick with the 2000 gph pump that is pressure rated, that way you can get around 500 gph coming out of each outlet if you have 4. If you want to keep some SPS, anemones, or even LPS, upgrade that lighting!! You can keep what you have, and change out the 10K bulb for an Actinic, and get some 10K Halides to put over your tank. If you don't like the Halides, then you can get VHO or T5's to put over top!

 

[floridabob]

now for my next question since i got your attention (hehe)
i want to move the skimer in the wet dry sump i dont like too much in my tank but fish and rocks. is that a good idea will it skim junk out after the water went through the course filter pad and bio-balls?

 

[30mini]

TAKE THE BIO-BALLS OUT!!! Not to sound mean or anything, but talk about a nitrate factory!! Replace them with LR if you can. It will still skim in the wet/dry, but you may want to make some modifications to that wet/dry to make it more reliable for a reef system! Take out the bio-balls, replace with LR, and maybe try to make a fuge somewhere in there too if you can! The skimmer will still get the stuff out of the water you want it to, no problem. It will work if it is in the sump, or hanging on the back of the tank.

 

[floridabob]

thanks for your time and answers mini
ill try to get some snaps of my tank so far
need way more live rock and corals to make it look decent
but its only the beginning of this expencive hobby we call fun