Coral Tank from Canada (1350gal Display Tank)

[nineball]

Hi Peter

not to confuse you but I just move out from Ocean Motion 4 ways because I was tired of opening and cleaning the unit to 4 tunzes 6305 in my 660 gal tank
to find out that a Tunze burns really easy to

So there are no sure things

The Idea of the big Thruster pump is not so Desperate , it os expensive but who knows may be the right compromise

god luck with your tank

Claudio

Thanks Claudio, you are right, there is still alot to be learned in this hobby. I appreciate your experience and hope there is a way to integrate the best practices into a workable solution. My 2200 lbs of live rock arrives tomorrow night which will start the clock ticking on finding a solution very very soon.

Peter

 

[Untamed12]

I have two OM-4ways on 2 closed loops on my system. They have been running for over 3 years now with minimal problems. My intakes are on the back wall of the tank, so I've not had any problems with sand jamming them. One of them wore out recently, but it was a quick fix with replacement parts that were easily obtained.

You won't get away with doing no maintenance on anything. I take the pumps and OM-4ways apart annually to ensure they are still in good shape.

I dislike the look of powerheads in my display and have found the closed loops and OM-4ways the best solution for me.

So there you go...there's always another opinion.

 

[Jar*Head]

Everything has it pro and con especially when you have it running 24/7 of course ware and tare will take place. As for tunze pump burn out pretty fast there is two explanation for that.

1. Lack of maintenance
2. You happen to get the earlier version of tunze stream 2 which weren't build to the right spec i.e thinner coating and thinner wire inside the motor. All that bugs has been fix and Tunze USA willing to replace the motor block for those own the earlier version of stream 2.

Peter, i appreciate your kind word. IMO the two most important things in reef keeping is Flow and filtration and lighting is the third. You will find yourself changing stuff around a lot which is normal. It is easy to change the lighting and filtration around but flow is nearly impossible once you have the tank filled.

For example: I had all the tunze running in my tank but i want to make it look cleaner and i would like to incorporate the Closed loops so i could minimize the amount of pump or powerhead inside the tank. I have 2 options:

1. drain the tank and start drilling holes on the bottom (we are talking about taking a big risk on all the live stock) so this option is no go

2. Go with the ghetto-rig i.e stick a pipe inside the tank to suck water into the pump and run all your plumping on top. IMO, that should work but i am making it even uglier cuz i am now having all the plumbing on the top of the tank.

What i am trying to say is, think really hard of what you want to do for flow. picture the tank in your head with all the rock work that you want and how you want to config the flow. Good luck Peter

 

[Moser]

Mo, how much do you think I need to be concerned about stress with this pump?

If its not an issue then it seriously could be the answer.

I assume that the current flow dynamics would still be ok in the background or does this fit in the closed loop....somehow?

Peter

Hi Peter,

This pump can be run on zero rpm if you need to and it is basically a stream pump. I asked the same question and apparently stress on the tank is not an issue.

I will be glueing a pvc pipe to the floor of my tank and fixing the stream pump to that. The ceramic rock will suround it and completely hide it.

Torsten has been using this technology for large systems for several years now without problems.....

Mo

 

[Moser]

Well as long as I don't have to climb into the tank to pull the rope starter. I assume it would have an electric start and I could just use an extension cord?????

Peter

Peter,

This is exactly like a Tunze stream, only bigger!.
The motor is taken from the Tritron 400 series return pump and the impellor is a custom Titanium model.

This is the equivalent of the Red Dragon stream pump picture that was posted up earlier in your thread....

It's just that it is a bit bulky to be hanging it like a Tunze stream, so you just fix it/ hide it in the rock work.... Torsten supplies everything you need.

There is an alternative in the form of a Bow Thruster, but that pushes out even more flow and probably isn't required.

You wouldn't need multiple Tunze's or drilling your tank for Vortech's etc. It also has the controllers if you want to create waves etc and it is a magnetic drive pump that is electronically controlled......

I really think thsi is what you should be looking at.....

Korallenwelt deals with systems this size and bigger for a living and this stream pump was designed simply becauase he didn't want to be dealing with having to put in 20 Tunze's into each system and having the hide them all ...


Mo

 

[Moser]

Hi Peter,

This pump can be run on zero rpm if you need to and it is basically a stream pump. I asked the same question and apparently stress on the tank is not an issue.

I will be glueing a pvc pipe to the floor of my tank and fixing the stream pump to that. The ceramic rock will suround it and completely hide it. You can weight down the base with some rockwork attached to it if you will be turning it up, because the flow can be HUGE if you want it to be.

Torsten has been using this technology for large systems for several years now without problems.....

it's not a closed loop. It's just like putting a massive Tunze stream in your tank and when you hide it in the ceramic rock, you don't have to worry about trapping any fish etc....

Mo

 

[Moser]

Yes, unfortunately there will be strings attached, that is until I invent a cordless extension cord

It comes with a power cord, just like the Tunze's. This has either a 3m power cord or a 10m power cord, but Torsten can custom size the length of cord you need. It plugs into an electric controller that has a knob on it to control the rpm and switch it off if you wnat to. This is totally remote but you can also get a digital controller for controlling up to 8 of them and having wave functions etc.....

It is very sophisticated.

Try this link

http://www.riffkeramik.de/ and click on "Strömungspumpen" on the left hand side menu...




Mo

 

[PauChi]

Hey Peter,

This was at least a year or two ago and I'd read about this one South African reefer who installed an outboard motor (with a protective cage) to his massive tank ... I can't seem to recollect what was supposed to be in his tank though

Paul

 

[nineball]

Hey Peter,

This was at least a year or two ago and I'd read about this one South African reefer who installed an outboard motor (with a protective cage) to his massive tank ... I can't seem to recollect what was supposed to be in his tank though

Paul

I think I recall it was an 18ft great white................But I haven't seen the reefer around lately!!!

 

[nineball]

Hi Peter,

This pump can be run on zero rpm if you need to and it is basically a stream pump. I asked the same question and apparently stress on the tank is not an issue.

I will be glueing a pvc pipe to the floor of my tank and fixing the stream pump to that. The ceramic rock will suround it and completely hide it. You can weight down the base with some rockwork attached to it if you will be turning it up, because the flow can be HUGE if you want it to be.

Torsten has been using this technology for large systems for several years now without problems.....

it's not a closed loop. It's just like putting a massive Tunze stream in your tank and when you hide it in the ceramic rock, you don't have to worry about trapping any fish etc....

Mo

Mo, I'm assuming I would need at least 2 of them or more?????? or less?????

One at either end off center..........possibly one in the L bow??

Peter

 

[PauChi]

I think I recall it was an 18ft great white................But I haven't seen the reefer around lately!!!

Uh oh ... :eek1:

Paul

 

[Hoser283]

Tagging along
Awesome build
Thanks for sharing
All the best in your venture
Can't wait to see the aquasculpture

 

[Moser]

Mo, I'm assuming I would need at least 2 of them or more?????? or less?????

One at either end off center..........possibly one in the L bow??

Peter

Hi Peter,

If your whole tank was straight, you'd run 1 for the whole tank!.
I'm not sure with the L shaped tank, so I would ask Torsten as I'm sure he's tackled similar things before.

My guess would be run 1 in the corner of the L that "sees" both ends, but I'm sure Torsten could advise. You may end up running 2, turned well down.

The flow out of these is not comparable to normal stream pumps. It's in a different league with regards to water movement.

Mo

 

[mseepman]

Peter, I just wanted to chime in and tell you what an amazing job you're doing with this tank. Your open and accepting attitude about everyone's opinion is great and I think all this experience will really help you build the best tank possible.
Keep up the good work!!

 

[Ken_Baird]

Well as I stated before I only have a 120G nano LOL

But, I will throw in my 2 cents on power heads vs closed loop

I have used power heads in the past and feel they are just to dangerous to the live stock.
My Ritteri anemone (currently ~ 16" across) found a power head one day and the power head won. (I almost cried)
Thankfully the Ritteri was strong enough to over come the damage and healed fine after a few months.
Then there was a baby tang (about 1.5") that just loved to feed on the body of the power head's until it got sucked on to the side of one and died four days later.

As for maintenance of these things from my personal experience you will have to pull them out every few months to clean off the coralline algae build up as it will grow over the body blocking the intake restricting the flow.
I have seen the builds were they have been placed in to the rock work to hide them, but boy how do you get them out to service them?

Now, as for a closed loop system, yes they will also need servicing but designed correctly I feel it can be less work then power heads.
Also you can create multiple intakes to reduce the vaccume effect but still benefit from added flow.
I have a Reeflo Snapper running on a OM and it is setup with a manifold intake, in that my pump intake pipe is 1.5" but it is fed from a manifold that has four 1.5" inputs.
My lawnmower blenny very happily jumps in and out of the intake pipes daily to keep them clean, I'm sure if I only had one single 1.5" intake sucking + 2,000 GPH he would never make it back out!

As for the OM jamming sure they may if you have sand getting sucked in but again if the system is setup correctly then it's just a matter of maintenance.
I have been running my OM for over three years and it only jammed once when I first set it up.

It has also been said that all the valves that are required in a closed loop system will jam and then your in trouble, most likely true but if you do maintenance then the valves will be getting cycled thus preventing them from seizing, again this has not been a problem for me.

HTH's in your plight
Ken

 

[nineball]

Tagging along
Awesome build
Thanks for sharing
All the best in your venture
Can't wait to see the aquasculpture

Hoser, I can hardly wait as well. Thank you for you support.

Peter

 

[G.H. Dorr]

.
.
Note to self --- buy this house when it goes up for sale. :idea:

I know that half the fun is the actual build ... but it would be incredible to move into a house already fully equipped with a slice of the ocean.
Looking forward to following this one ... good luck with it.
.
.

 

[Aquarist007]

Tagging along
Awesome build
Thanks for sharing
All the best in your venture
Can't wait to see the aquasculpture

Good day eh Hoser and like welcome to RC--beauty

<img src="/images/welcome.gif" width="500" height="62"><br><b><i><big><big>Like WelcomeTo Reef Central Hosers</b></i></big></big>

 

[nineball]

Hi Peter,

If your whole tank was straight, you'd run 1 for the whole tank!.
I'm not sure with the L shaped tank, so I would ask Torsten as I'm sure he's tackled similar things before.

My guess would be run 1 in the corner of the L that "sees" both ends, but I'm sure Torsten could advise. You may end up running 2, turned well down.

The flow out of these is not comparable to normal stream pumps. It's in a different league with regards to water movement.

Mo

Thanks Mo, I am getting better information at my end which should be helpful. I will be taking some more pics this weekend and hopefully have a plan emerge that gets a general agreement from the peanut gallery. These pumps are a very compelling solution I think combined with a much better plan than was initially apparant at the outset.

Peter

 

[Aquarist007]

Peter---I am intrigued by the Mars system so I want to learn a little more about it.

Do you have a link to it--tried searching the net with no luck

Thanks
Scott