HOB MaxiJet Closed Loop

Inflames

Inflames

New member
Its basically 2 mj1200s running externally that use 2 u tube returns back into the tank. I drilled holes in 3/4 pvc for the intake and to prevent any large objects from being sucked in. Neither of the powerheads gets hot at all, they stay rather cool and its totally silent once all the microbubbles work their way out. The only downside is restarting the siphon but its not that hard, i just use a smaller powerhead in the intake to restart siphon. Enjoy!

42708closedloop.jpg

42708closedloop1.jpg

42708closedloop2.jpg
 
May I ask why you would need to start a siphon on a closed loop. I am planning on a closed loop for my tank. I assumed that a closed loop would be self priming but this must not be the case. I just purchased a mag 5 for my project. Do you just use the powerhead to push water into the pump before you start it up? My tank is not drilled so I will be going over the top as well. Any help would be appreciated.

Walt
 
May I ask why you would need to start a siphon on a closed loop. I am planning on a closed loop for my tank. I assumed that a closed loop would be self priming but this must not be the case. I just purchased a mag 5 for my project. Do you just use the powerhead to push water into the pump before you start it up? My tank is not drilled so I will be going over the top as well. Any help would be appreciated.
Click to expand...

Since you are going over the top of the tank you have to create a siphon of sorts to get the loop working. The pump will not be able to pull the air out of the tube going over the top of the tank, that is why you have to fill the tube with water so the pump can begin to pump water. At first there will probably be some bubbles going through the pump as all the air in the U-tube is being sucked into the pump (from the water pushing it, not from the pump pulling it). This should clear in a few seconds to maybe a minute or two. Once the siphon is created you won't have to do anything unless you shut the pump down.
 
AAB-- Thanks. It makes sense. I just did not think, I assumed it would work without creating a siphon. The nice thing about not thinking is you always learn something new.

Walt
 
Right now its working ok. The only problem i run into is making sure there's no air in the siphon or before the powerheads. If there is then i get tons of microbubbles.
 
Inflames,

Looking good and you totally stole my idea!!! :) Just messing. People have done it before with mixed results. I was wondering, did you epoxy the impeller housing of the maxijets to make them waterproof or did you use something else to prevent leakage or is that acrylic box to catch any drips that are leaking from the Maxijets.

Also, with my idea. I was just going to epoxy the impeller housing on and then use one larger tube as an intake for both maxijets and the two maxis would be put together with a T fitting. I would then put them on a wavemaker, but then I think the biggest problem is that when one powerhead cuts off and the other one cuts on and since I'm connecting them to the same source, it'll suck back through both the intake as well as the other powerhead which might not be good because i definitely don't want to suck little critters and snails into the powerheads.

Peace,
John H.
 
skier , right now its constant because i need to make sure everything is air tight. I might just try to get a normal overflow U tube instead of pvc fitting and just heat gun it around the intake of the powerhead.

rufio, sorry dude :) Im surprised people didnt do this a long time ago. There's a misconception maxijets cant be run externally, but thats totally untrue. I didnt epoxy the impeller because i didnt see a need to. The newer maxijets have an o ring already installed around the impeller housing. Can you make a diagram of your idea? Im curious to see if there's a better way to do this.
 
Great idea! I like it. I dont get the losing siphon part though. If the intake and outflow are both under water, no air should get in to cause a siphon leak. In fact, there really is no siphon. It's just a "bend" in the tubing. I think you are right about checking for air leaks. You must have one somewhere. Is everything glued?
 
Ah. Once you get it put together in a more permanent fashion, and get the air leaks plugged, the power loss startup and micro bubble problems should go away.
 
Here's a quick diagram to show you what I was thinking

Here's a quick diagram to show you what I was thinking

Here it is. It's pretty simple, but like I said, if you run them off a wavetimer, you have to be careful that those pumps that are off don't become intakes themselves. If you are running all pumps all the time, then there shouldn't be any worries.

4686maxijet.JPG


Peace,
John H.
 
Great Idea!
What would happen if you drilled a small hole at the middle of the bend Then put a airline valve in, so when you wanted to start a siphon you could open the valve suck on a piece of airline tubing to get the air out then shut the valve.
I could be worth a shot.

Matt
 
goblue, ya i was going to do that idea. Ive seen the same thing used for overflow boxes. Ive also read you can then feed that line to the venturi of a powerhead to keep out air bubbles but that would defeat the purpose to have another powerhead in the tank.
 
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