ReefingBuddha
New member
I would agree with rocketiengineer in that a gyre is definitely the most efficient flow for a large tank for a number of reasons and is what I use in my relatively tiny 300g. In my application the gyre direct is changed every few hours and has variable intensity. As this is a L shaped tank a true gyre would most likely not be possible.
It would however be possible to have 2 closed loops that feed and return at opposite ends of the tank. When one is running all water in the tank would be moving from the left output to the right intake and be recirculated to the left end output again. In this way all water in the tank would be moving from left to right. If your overflows are located at the ends then all water in the tank would be constantly pushed towards the overflows. It seems logical that this would produce a similar effect to a gyre in a rectangular tank in that the momentum of a large volume of water moving in one direction will move water around it in that direction as well. The other closed loop could be hook up to push water in the opposite direction. Every few hours the direction could be reversed. As in my tank, the more turbulent transition period between one direction and the other does a great job of pulling detritus up into the water column to be skimmed out.
The old standards which calls for "turbulent" or "chaotic" waterflow are really conceptd which are past their day IMHO. Anyone who has been on a reef knows flow is not random or chaotic and the attempt to create such an artificial environment requires more equipment and therefore is less efficient and more complicated that the alternatives. This it not just my opinion, in the last few years the trend towards gyre setups for efficiency and more importantly effectiveness has been detailed in a number of articles. Im sure I can dig the up if your interested.
Looking forward to seeing whichever direction you take. Best of luck and happy reefing!
It would however be possible to have 2 closed loops that feed and return at opposite ends of the tank. When one is running all water in the tank would be moving from the left output to the right intake and be recirculated to the left end output again. In this way all water in the tank would be moving from left to right. If your overflows are located at the ends then all water in the tank would be constantly pushed towards the overflows. It seems logical that this would produce a similar effect to a gyre in a rectangular tank in that the momentum of a large volume of water moving in one direction will move water around it in that direction as well. The other closed loop could be hook up to push water in the opposite direction. Every few hours the direction could be reversed. As in my tank, the more turbulent transition period between one direction and the other does a great job of pulling detritus up into the water column to be skimmed out.
The old standards which calls for "turbulent" or "chaotic" waterflow are really conceptd which are past their day IMHO. Anyone who has been on a reef knows flow is not random or chaotic and the attempt to create such an artificial environment requires more equipment and therefore is less efficient and more complicated that the alternatives. This it not just my opinion, in the last few years the trend towards gyre setups for efficiency and more importantly effectiveness has been detailed in a number of articles. Im sure I can dig the up if your interested.
Looking forward to seeing whichever direction you take. Best of luck and happy reefing!
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