Ditching the MJ-mods for a closed loop?

[coralreefing]

I started my tank with 5 MJ-1200s on a wave maker. The corals were happy but that's a lot of hardware in the tank & 5 pumps to maintain. I replaced them with 2 MJ-mods mounted on magnets last year. Now I have more flow & less hardware. Happy? Well I could be if there weren't kids in the house. Seems like every time my daughter has friends over, one of them grabs one of the magnetic mounts & says what does this do? Then I have a 4000gph. sand storm.

I'm trying to figure out how to plumb a closed loop on a tank that isn't drilled. Any Ideas?

 

[aquaman67]

Have you seen this?

http://melevsreef.com/closedloop.html

 

[c_stowers]

You could do an over the tank return with no problem. Just make sure that you get a pump that can handle slightly negative NPSH (Net Pressure Suction Head). Alot of pumps can handle this as long as you prime them before startup.

 

[Fanof49ASU]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11661266#post11661266 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by coralreefing
Happy? Well I could be if there weren't kids in the house. Seems like every time my daughter has friends over, one of them grabs one of the magnetic mounts & says what does this do? Then I have a 4000gph. sand storm.

Glue a plastic spider to the magnetic mount?

 

[coralreefing]

Thanks guys. I knew I had seen pics of an over the wall loop before but I didn't remember where. I'm thinking of adding an internal overfolw box to hide the intake plumbing & loc line returns, maybe with penductors....

 

[rcmike]

I have mine set up pretty much like Melev's. I have an oceans motions on mine instead of the scwd though. It works very well, just doesn't look as good as the drilled tanks.

 

[crumbletop]

c_stowers' CL on his 120 is a nice one. Very well thought out and provides really nice flow. Worth a look.

 

[mamagoose45]

My only advice if you do an over the tank is to watch where you put your plumbing. I've seen people run them in a big circle around the tank with locline coming off. This gives you a lot of flexibility in providing flow, but the piping can block a surprising amount of light, especially around the edges and in the corners where there is already lower light areas.

 

[Pickupman66]

i have a cl on my tank and love it. tank is not drilled. use a pcx 40 punp and never turn it off. i done have penductors, but could. my system is all 1". will post pics later.

 

[coralreefing]

You have all given me a lot to think about.

I am currently considering 2 closed loops (1000-1500 gal. each) to get enough flow. I think 2 small pumps will be better than 1 larger pump. I could also add an inline filter, like a lifegard cannister, to one loop for mechanical filtration.

I'm undecided about wave makers at this point. The SCWD is priced right but I've seen a lot of bad reviews about them breaking & I think their size might restrict flow too much. The oceans motions looks like a quality unit but it's expensive & very bulky. I don't know if I would have room for it.

Please reply if you think I'm heading down the wrong path.

 

[fishdoc11]

I think your reasoning is right on. The closed loop with penductors is hard to beat for the price/maintenance/child proofing and I have used one for years. With that said I am converting to three Tunze steams, 2 on controllers. These are much more expensive and probably not an option but IMO provide random flow with much less wattage than a typical closed loop. I would consider the Squid or an OM 2 way on at least one CL if you are doing 2. The squids have a bad rap from some but others such as I and cee (Dave) have used them with success (I have one on my 29 and it has worked well for over a year now). If you feel brave you can drill them out a bit to relieve some of the back pressure caused by the restriction. The OM 2 ways aren't too expensive....around $130 if I remember correctly. Either way you may have to still add a powerhead or two but overall I think you will be happier than with the 1200's alone.
Chris

 

[coralreefing]

Chris
If I use 2 Quiet one 6000 pumps (1506 gph each) you think I will still need a couple power heads. I'm only using 2 MJ mods now & trying to reduce hardware in the tank.

 

[c_stowers]

First, I wouldnt use the quiet one pumps. They have horrible restart problems, which I am sure that you don't want to deal with. Secondly, I would only use one pump, because two smaller pumps are generally more innefficient than one large pump. I would also check into the sea swirl. I use the 1" model on my tank and love it.

 

[fishdoc11]

If you already have the Quiet one's I would'nt use them with penductors as they don't handle pressure well. If you don't have them I would think about an external pump/s instead.
That would be about 20x's turnover in your tank which might be ok for what you want to do. I have about 80x's in my tank but of course I'm mainy keeping SPS. In general I think it's good to shoot for at least 20 - 30x's in most tanks with that being variable depending on what you are keeping, randomness etc....
FWIW I have planned 2 tanks now with the initial idea being just getting down to a CL and the return for flow and I've always wanted/needed more flow.
Chris

 

[coralreefing]

Thanks for the advice guys. I haven used a quiet one before so I didn't know about their restart problems. I was just reading up on the penductors this morning & learned about their need for a HP pump. I haven bought anything yet & I don't plan to until I have a solid plan.

2 pumps...
I was planning 2 pumps because I wanted to run one loop through an inline mechanical filter & no filter would handle 3000+ gph. Maybe I should just get a big cannister filter for filtration & a big external pump for a loop.

Sea swirl...
I like the idea of the sea swirls but they mount in the back & direct flow toward the front glass. If there's a way I could mount them at the front where the flow could be directed toward the reef that would be awesome.

 

[DMBillies]

Alternatively, you could split the output of the pump and put in gate/ball valves after the split to control the flow of water through the filter (this is what I did for my return pumps to feed fluidized bed reactors).

On the quiet one, I had one that I was using for a return pump that had very serious restart problems (I'm talking maybe 20% of the time it would restart properly). I'm not aware if they've done anything to remedy that situation, but not restarting is totally unacceptable, especially for a return pump.

 

[Siffy]

c_stowers's plumbing

c_stowers's plumbing

Chris's tank, I just took the photos. I'll even let him do the Q&A.

 

[Siffy]

 

[c_stowers]

You could possibly mount a sea swirl to the front of a tank, but it really isn't neaded. If you set it up similar to mine, the flow of the sea swirl collides with the flow of the penductors to create a random flow pattern around the front of the reef. It's all a matter of trial and error. But in reality, the huge advantage of a CL over a couple of Tunzees is the fact that the flow is more versitile. You can do your plumbing so that you have many directable outlets to create more possible flow patterns.

 

[coralreefing]

DMB
I think if i tried to split the output, the restriction from the filter media would cause the water to just bypass the filter all together. It would probably work better on a fluidized filter because there is less restriction. Do you agree?