LobsterOfJustice
Recovering Detritophobe
I've never heard anything bad about the flow surge tanks produce. Everyone who has had the ability to set one up always says they love the flow from it, but when people no longer have them it's always because they made too much noise, or too many bubbles, or took up too much space, or didn't work with the new setup. Most people never even consider setting one up because of the complicated plumbing and space they require. But there's just something about introducing a rush of new water that really gets all the water in the tank moving, more than just pushing the same water in the tank around. I've wanted a surge tank since I first heard about them. I've never had the space to set up a surge tank above the display, so I've just been waiting for the day I had an in-wall tank and could finally set one up. Now that I finally have an in-wall tank, it looks like I don't even need the extra space anyway thanks to my genius development of an entirely new surge system.
You've heard of the Carlson Surge, the Borneman Surge and now for the unveiling of the Lobster Surge...
An oversized DC return pump connected to an aquarium controller.:idea::hammer:
Say what? If you think about it, the effect is the same. What you are looking for is a sudden rush of water being added to the tank in a short time frame, repeating every so often. My specific situation uses a Jebao 12000, plumbed with 1.5" pipe to get the maximum rated ~3170 gph out of it. It is controlled by an apex, which runs the pump at 60% power most of the time. However, every couple of minutes the apex ramps the return pump up to 100% for 30-45 seconds, resulting in a huge rush of water into the tank and creating awesome flow that you just can't get from powerheads.
I wanted to post about this because every time I hear DC pumps mentioned, someone asks something like "yeah, but how often do you want to change the speed of your return pump?" My answer is, every few minutes! It's like a lot of people don't even view their return pump as a tool for adding more flow to the tank, they just think its part of the filtration or something. Make that return pump useful! If you're scared to run a high flow rate through the sump all the time (which I'm not, but that's a discussion for another thread), consider using it in a surge scenario like I described. I think most people would find they need a lot less pumps (including powerheads) if they use the ones they have more efficiently. I have my return/surge on a seaswirl to make it even more useful by covering even more area in the tank.
People invariably question the water level in the sump and how this works with an ATO. First, I should point out that a surging DC pump actually messes with the water level in the sump less than a surge tank, because the sump water level is only affected during the 30-45 seconds that the surge is active. That said, there are two main ways to deal with this. The first is to set your ATO to the lowest level that the sump will reach, i.e. the level when the surge is active. The second way, which I use, is to add your ATO in a dosing type regime (i.e. activate for 14s every 30m) with the float switch used as an OFF override. This method has the added benefit of being a much safer way to perform ATO overall when compared to a system that is float-activated.
So there you have it. The effect of a surge tank without the surge tank. No bubbles, no noise. Unlike a traditional surge tank, you can easily fine tune the amount of flow produced, and the timing of the surge. For better or for worse, I really think this concept can kill the traditional surge tank (not that they ever really caught on anyway), except in the largest-scale cases where such high-flow DC pumps aren't available. Personally, I am LOVING this setup on my tank and I think other people could benefit from it too. The flow provided from a surge setup is literally unable to be replicated by any other means, and now you don't need a surge tank to get it. I haven't seen anyone else talking about this or putting this in to action, but now that cheap DC pumps are readily available, I'd love to see more people realize the awesome flow that a setup like this can provide.
You've heard of the Carlson Surge, the Borneman Surge and now for the unveiling of the Lobster Surge...An oversized DC return pump connected to an aquarium controller.:idea::hammer:
Say what? If you think about it, the effect is the same. What you are looking for is a sudden rush of water being added to the tank in a short time frame, repeating every so often. My specific situation uses a Jebao 12000, plumbed with 1.5" pipe to get the maximum rated ~3170 gph out of it. It is controlled by an apex, which runs the pump at 60% power most of the time. However, every couple of minutes the apex ramps the return pump up to 100% for 30-45 seconds, resulting in a huge rush of water into the tank and creating awesome flow that you just can't get from powerheads.
I wanted to post about this because every time I hear DC pumps mentioned, someone asks something like "yeah, but how often do you want to change the speed of your return pump?" My answer is, every few minutes! It's like a lot of people don't even view their return pump as a tool for adding more flow to the tank, they just think its part of the filtration or something. Make that return pump useful! If you're scared to run a high flow rate through the sump all the time (which I'm not, but that's a discussion for another thread), consider using it in a surge scenario like I described. I think most people would find they need a lot less pumps (including powerheads) if they use the ones they have more efficiently. I have my return/surge on a seaswirl to make it even more useful by covering even more area in the tank.
People invariably question the water level in the sump and how this works with an ATO. First, I should point out that a surging DC pump actually messes with the water level in the sump less than a surge tank, because the sump water level is only affected during the 30-45 seconds that the surge is active. That said, there are two main ways to deal with this. The first is to set your ATO to the lowest level that the sump will reach, i.e. the level when the surge is active. The second way, which I use, is to add your ATO in a dosing type regime (i.e. activate for 14s every 30m) with the float switch used as an OFF override. This method has the added benefit of being a much safer way to perform ATO overall when compared to a system that is float-activated.
So there you have it. The effect of a surge tank without the surge tank. No bubbles, no noise. Unlike a traditional surge tank, you can easily fine tune the amount of flow produced, and the timing of the surge. For better or for worse, I really think this concept can kill the traditional surge tank (not that they ever really caught on anyway), except in the largest-scale cases where such high-flow DC pumps aren't available. Personally, I am LOVING this setup on my tank and I think other people could benefit from it too. The flow provided from a surge setup is literally unable to be replicated by any other means, and now you don't need a surge tank to get it. I haven't seen anyone else talking about this or putting this in to action, but now that cheap DC pumps are readily available, I'd love to see more people realize the awesome flow that a setup like this can provide.
