Constantin
New member
Initially placed this in the advanced section because water flow is one of the most important aspects of a reef, but not too many people read the section, and most dont have the same tank volumes, so hopefully, you guys will be abel to help me!
I have a 72x30x36 tall tank, with dual internal overflows, so actual inside volume is not that great.
I have 2 hammerheads - 1 for return, one on the 4 motions closed loop ver. 3 - the opposing version 1+3, 2+4 open , and 2 vortech mp40 running in reefcrest anti sync mode.
here is a picture of my setup -
It seems that the closed loop hammerhead is a bit too strong for my tank, there is almost no headloss, so its getting its full 5800gph - my problem is that when 4 motions opens only 2 out of the 4 1" pipes, it pumps about 2500gph out of a 1" pipe, and the fish and corals that are in the way dont seem to like that - i have tried not placing any in the way, but in general, there seems to be too much flow in the tank, at least compared to most the other reef tanks I have seen.
I am trying to keep some simple LPS(bubble, frogspawn, torch) and they dont seem to be too happy(doh), they might adjust but still...
Fish also seem to be acting a bit more naturally when i throttle down the closed loop.
I was thinking of replacing the closed loop for a controllable red dragon(that would be cool).
As far as the return pump - I dont know of any better options than the hammerhead, even restricted, its energy consumption vs flow is better than a pressure rated iwaki, even though maybe with a couple eductors, it might work out better... dunno.
Flow gurus, sps keepers tell me what you think, am I just looking for trouble where there is none (tank has been running this way for 6 months, params are very good, but the flow just feels wrong!, even though the sand is silky white and everything is in suspension
I have a 72x30x36 tall tank, with dual internal overflows, so actual inside volume is not that great.
I have 2 hammerheads - 1 for return, one on the 4 motions closed loop ver. 3 - the opposing version 1+3, 2+4 open , and 2 vortech mp40 running in reefcrest anti sync mode.
here is a picture of my setup -
It seems that the closed loop hammerhead is a bit too strong for my tank, there is almost no headloss, so its getting its full 5800gph - my problem is that when 4 motions opens only 2 out of the 4 1" pipes, it pumps about 2500gph out of a 1" pipe, and the fish and corals that are in the way dont seem to like that - i have tried not placing any in the way, but in general, there seems to be too much flow in the tank, at least compared to most the other reef tanks I have seen.
I am trying to keep some simple LPS(bubble, frogspawn, torch) and they dont seem to be too happy(doh), they might adjust but still...
Fish also seem to be acting a bit more naturally when i throttle down the closed loop.
I was thinking of replacing the closed loop for a controllable red dragon(that would be cool).
As far as the return pump - I dont know of any better options than the hammerhead, even restricted, its energy consumption vs flow is better than a pressure rated iwaki, even though maybe with a couple eductors, it might work out better... dunno.
Flow gurus, sps keepers tell me what you think, am I just looking for trouble where there is none (tank has been running this way for 6 months, params are very good, but the flow just feels wrong!, even though the sand is silky white and everything is in suspension
